Connie & Paul Hartke

This awesome Tennessee mountaintop location was discovered by family members when they traveled to the area to see the work of a certain log home builder for another project they had under development in Virginia.

My husband Paul and his brother Keith own a real estate company in Northern Virginia, National Realty, so they have an eye for property investment values. Keith and wife Kimberly purchased the original cabin, Breathless.

4th of July weekend 2005, Paul and I visited Keith and Kimberly at Breathless while searching for an investment cabin of our own. An entire day was spent looking at properties around Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville. We were excited about several options, but when we got back to Breathless that evening with its awesome panoramic view, we said “we saw nothing even close to this.”

The next day a “for sale” sign went up in the yard next door, and the purchase of Eagles View and its renovation quickly followed.

In the summer of 2006 Connie and Paul purchased the 3 bedroom cabin, Above the Clouds which has a small yard and playground.

Then on March 1 2007, all 6 of the 8 cabins on the ridge burned to the ground due to high winds and a brush fire. The Wears Valley and other firefighters tried their best, but the winds were too much. The awesome views were still there, so we built new cabins that fully take advantage of the views and we made our two cabins wheelchair accessible, which has been a blessing in so many ways. Read Connie’s blog about it here.

In 2019 we acquired a first-floor accessible vacation rental home at the Margaritaville Resort Orlando, FL. Learn More about Coconut Cabana here.

Despite our busy lives running a large real estate company, a real estate school, and personally managing these cabins, we find time to visit our favorite view in the Smokies several times a year.