Devotion: The Country Farm Estate of Blitz and Dick Reynolds

We are re-posting our article on The Devotion Estate. With a wedding about to take place on the property, the owner decided that the views and the architecture should be a complete surprise. We will post and toast the happy bride and groom in our next installment!

As many of you know, I live across the street from the Historic Reynolda House Museum, Gardens and village. Our pastoral, small city is highly cultural and well preserved greatly, by the perseverance and generosity of the Reynolds family. I noted in my last post, on the Reynolda Estate,  that R. J. Reynolds was a highly progressive thinker who married an educated and energetic wife, to whom he accorded a great amount of personal autonomy. The estate was purchased in her name and Kate had full control over the vision, execution and management of this self sufficient enterprise--in 1917.  R.J. Reynolds died soon after the house was completed, which was a terrible loss.

From left: Mary, R. J., Katharine, Nancy, Dick, and Smith.

PATRICK REYNOLDS COLLECTION

I mentioned that I recently read: Kid Carolina: R.J. Reynolds Jr. /A Tobacco Fortune and the Mysterious Death of a Southern Icon, by Heidi Schnakenberg. It is a fascinating read. This is the story of the eldest son, Dick, who took his father's death very hard. Kate, his Mother had been warned by her doctors, owing to a rheumatic heart, that she should not have any more children. When she remarried a significantly younger man and died in child birth, Dick embarked upon a life long search for love and happiness that sadly left a great deal of scorched earth.

Owing to his spectacular wealth and notoriety, not to mention looks, Dick Reynolds went on the lamb from time to time, much to the horror of his family. He would simply evaporate, and the family would have to hunt him down. I believe he experimented with anonymity to test his self worth. When he checked back in, he threw his energies into new technology and projects, receiving his pilot's license from Orville Wright, founding the earliest airfields and airline companies, using his family name and wealth to secure success. The burden of legacy is heavy. Dick Reynolds inherited his family's entrepreneurial genius, yet he was plagued by loss. He cycled through presence and absence. When he was good he was very, very good, and when he was bad, he was horrid. So, through my interest in design and architecture regarding various local Reynolds's estates, I was able to visit a spectacular portion of the Devotion Estate he developed with his first wife, Blitz--Elizabeth Dillard Reynolds.

Above: In 1934, on his 28th birthday, Dick and Blitz took possession of his inheritance of more than $25 million. “I know it’s a lot of money, but I can’t get excited,” Dick Reynolds told reporters.  I wonder what it would take? 

PATRICK REYNOLDS COLLECTION

Tobacco sold briskly during the depression and fueled by the massive inheritance Dick and Blitz assembled 11,000 pristine acres of wilderness along the Mitchell River, naming their rural retreat "Devotion,"  reflecting their strong feelings for each other.  Inspired by FDR's WPA programs, Dick sought to employ as many of the rural population as possible. The rural retreat movement was on, and with Architect, Roy P. Wallace, who had worked with Charles Barton Keen on Reynolda house, they utilized the chestnut trees that had been lost in the blight and the regional stone quarried on site. Long, deep verandas, gabled roofs, board and batten walls, with exaggerated rock chimneys all combine to create charming, unpretentious rural dwellings that compliment and transition between farm and wilderness. Fish Hatcheries, turkey, pheasant and chicken houses, cattle and horse barns are scattered around the portion that I visited.

The trout hatchery still operates and the different sections hold the fish as they mature. It is fed by the creek that comes from the base of the 70 foot dam, that was built by one of the engineering firms that constructed the Hoover Dam. Note the masterful rock masonry facing the concrete.

Carolina Blue Sky in the back ground.

You can walk along the top of the dam and view the valley glade below or the magnificent lake where we spotted a pair of massive Herons that look liked Pterodactyls--I kid you not. I am just going to walk you around the dam and let nature speak for herself!

I am not going to show you the photo of me laying on the ground clutching branches for dear life, as we scaled the hillside.

My favorite quote on design is from Hutton Wilkinson: 

"Every night I go to bed and pray that people with money will get taste, and that people with taste will get money." I think this is why I am so enamored with the Reynolda family estates, as they had both taste and money. 

If you are as fascinated as I am, regarding the Reynolds family and their estates, I recommend  you read: Devotion Rural Historic District Draft of Research for Application to The National Register of Historic Places and The National Register of Historic Lands by William Noah Reynolds. It is beautifully written and detailed. As a grandson of Dick and Blitz, he chronicles the phases of their life with honor and authority. As to the dispersal of the estate, and addressing this portion, he explains : "As part of the divorce settlement, Blitz Reynolds was awarded sole ownership of the rural estate. For the next few years, she and the four Reynolds sons -Josh, Will, John, and Zach lived year-round at Devotion. After Blitz Reynolds’ death in 1961, the property was divided equally among her sons. To this day, William Neal Reynolds II and other heirs of the Reynolds family possess large parcels of Devotion. In the 1990s Raleigh resident Charles C. McKinney purchased a key portion of the estate. During the past decade, Mr. McKinney has undertaken a major restoration of more than a dozen buildings and structures on the site, including repairs made to the large scenic dam, built of concrete and faced with native river rock. Owing to McKinney’s stewardship, one is able to sense the original rustic architectural character of this 1930s-era mountain estate designed for R. J. Reynolds, Jr. and Elizabeth D. Reynolds."

PATRICK REYNOLDS COLLECTION

The Reynolds boys at the main house, which is on a different portion of the property.  

More Later! 

Written by Liz Morten 

with Ashley D'Auria

My brilliant intern from Wake Forest University

Congratulations on your graduation Ashley!

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