On a 19-acre lot once owned by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, a rare find sits surrounded by trees.
And the rare find — a beautiful Georgian-Colonial brick home with extensive hardscaping and landscaping and a generous view of Tutter’s Creek — is on the market.
Carrie Robeson is the listing agent for the home, which is owned by her mother Tricia and late father Mike Grunkemeyer.
After living in many different houses across the United States, the Grunkemeyers settled in Williamsburg in the mid-1990s.
First, the family lived in Kingsmill, but once they heard of a lot for sale in the exclusive South England Point community, they began discussing the idea of building the home they’ve always wanted. Aerial views of the wooded lot for sale along the water sealed the deal, and they soon found themselves meeting with architect Roger Guernsey to begin the layout and design of their future home.
“My parents had been conceptualizing what they wanted in a home for a long time, so they very easily articulated that to Mr. Guernsey, who sketched out the design on a napkin,” said Carrie. “He nailed it on his first attempt.”
“We were just thrilled that we could get the property and that we could move forward with this wonderful gift,” Tricia said.
Don Shields was hired was to build the almost-10,000-square-foot home.
“It truly was a labor of love,” said Tricia. Builders broke ground on the home on Tricia’s 50th birthday.
As the family worked with the builder and architect to design the home, they incorporated their favorite features from previous homes into their new estate, such as his-and-hers bathrooms off the master, and a favorite from their home in Texas — a stone wall around the fireplace is reminiscent of one of their homes in Cincinnati.
“You pick your favorite things from the different houses you live in and put it in one place,” said Tricia. “We got everything we wanted, a little bit formal, a little bit informal, a library for my husband, which was our hearth, and the fireplaces we wanted, and we wanted rooms for our family. It was just a wonderful house to have for the holidays.”
The home’s location is also rare. There are few, if any, 10,000 square-foot waterfront homes on 19 acres of private land in the area that are within walking distance to Colonial Williamsburg and a top-notch golf course.
In addition to plenty of space, the five-bedroom, seven-bath house has many wonderful features including a sunroom, a private guest suite, a sauna, screened-in porch with brick flooring and a vaulted ceiling, three-car garage, workshop space, a dock on Tutter’s Creek and a water feature cascading from a bluestone terrace.
“What is so great about this house, is it’s not just a stock plan or build, it’s a totally custom build, and it brings in some of the travels of the owner, the places they’ve lived and brings a collaboration of the things they’ve loved — but are features that anyone could appreciate,” said Carrie.
For more about this home with its listing on the Sotheby’s Realty website.
