The home of Dr. Challie Minton, Catherine Perkins-Minton and their daughter Grace Elizabeth is a hidden retreat tucked deep in the woods of the Beulah community and the ultimate do-it-yourself project.

The family’s home will be featured on this year’s Mount Airy Tour of Homes.

Dr. Minton, a former Navy corpsman, Eagle Scout, aspiring farmer and local family-practice doctor, was drawn to this area of Surry County due to his lifelong association with Raven Knob Scout Reservation.

Minton purchased the land the home is built on in 1996 and began clearing the land to build a small cabin in 1999. A few reclaimed logs from a tobacco barn along with multiple logs cut on the property and hand hewn by Minton were used for the main area of the home.

The Minton home features extensive rock work that was completed over a period of 10 years.

Minton along with his wife, Catherine Perkins-Minton, a Mount Airy native and school psychologist with Surry County Schools, did all of the rock work themselves. Almost all of the rock was found on the 87-acre property. Stacked boulder pillars support the porch in addition to an impressive rock foundation.

The most inviting feature of the home is the three-story rock chimney with an unexpected bathroom in the chimney base, along with fireplaces in the living room and master bedroom. In 2007, the Mintons along with contractors from Whitley’s Custom Builders, added onto the back of the home making the once 1,200-square-foot cabin into a 4,000-plus-square-foot retreat.

The Minton home has a story behind every corner from custom cedar kitchen cabinets made from an old growth cedar tree that was cut by a road crew in Charlotte and almost destroyed, to an antique claw-foot tub found buried in the woods and refinished by Minton, and an actual tree in the living room made into a staircase. The Mintons’ style is an eclectic blend of old and new, family antiques and rustic décor, original art and family photos, and yard sale finds and recycled materials.

Christmas at the Minton home reflects the family’s love of nature, animals and the sentimental. As members of Grace Moravian Church, the Mintons also incorporate traditional Moravian Christmas elements.

“Come on out to the woods and warm your hands by the fire, we’d love to have you as our guest,” said Perkins-Minton.

The Minton home is at 1118 Blevins Store Road, Mount Airy.

From Mount Airy, travel N.C. 89 West, turn left on Woltz Atkins Road. When the road deadends on Haystack Road, turn right. Go past the Edwards-Franklin House, turn right on Blevins Store Road, the driveway is about one-tenth of a mile on the left.

The Mount Airy Christmas Tour of Homes is on Dec. 5 and 6. Tickets for the event are $10 and the tour is self-guided. Tickets are available at the Greater Mount Airy Chamber of Commerce, at the Gertrude Smith House, by calling Betty Wright at 786-4512, or at the individual’s homes on the days of the tours.