Tasteful Friends: Tempt the Ghost of Elizabeth Edwards in this $10M Lakeside Manse

Who is going to pay $10 million for that house in that area?

I don't hate it - obviously, it's old white conservative decor which is just bland, outdated and boring.

Any home that has an oil portrait of an old white businessman over the mantle says a LOT about that owner. Some retired CEO or exec had that in one of their corporate offices and took it with him when he retired.

I can feel a lot of 'forced holidays and summer vacations' by the kids and grandkids at this house.

God, it looks cheap.

I love the house and the location, but I would be freaked out about the spirit of Elizabeth Edwards lurking about, ripping open her blouse to reveal a skeleton's chest while shrieking "LOOK AT WHAT JOHN'S DONE TO MEEEEE!"

r1, I was curious about that too, until I read the link below. It's a PRIVATE lake, in the mountains of western North Carolina, and the Fords, Edisons, and Rockefellers, (among others) , vacationed there. I wouldn't be surprised if "the wrong people" are discretely discouraged from buying properties there. There are certain places that wealthy people go just to be around each other. Jackson Hole, Lake George, the Hamptons, Aspen, etc.

I don't the ind house but the furnishings are hideous and the bathrooms a bit pedestrian.

Why has no one made an Elizabeth Edwards (or even a John Edwards) movie? So much drama and dysfunction to be had.

[quote] Tempt the Ghost of Elizabeth Edwards

Excuse me, I am the richer, higher status ghost. Elizabeth was a difficult woman. John would regularly come to me in tears after being abused and shamed by her. He never asked me for money, I insisted.

R4 - the famous people stayed at an Inn that was once there. It's not like they built compounds there like Adirondacks or Newport.

Bunch of PR and marketing hooey. There are other expensive homes on the lake - but you find that with many lakes.

I have to wonder if the guy who built this house is also connected somehow to all the development around the lake and the lots that are available for development. Built this large home to give the lake some sort of prestige.

Interesting decor within three seconds of viewing some of the rooms I thought to myself, " this looks like the country retreat for a closeted lesbian Hollywood Actress"

r8, I've copied the list of notable residents on the lake from wikipiedia. I think you'll find it interesting: These are residents, not transient visitors.

Notable residents of Lake Toxaway Bernard Marcus, co-founder of The Home Depot Bolch family, owners of RaceTrac Douglas Ivester, former chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company Tom Fazio, golf course architect Glen P. Robinson, founder of Scientific Atlanta Cliff Williams, member of AC/DC Ivan Allen Jr., businessman and politician Edward H. Inman, son of Hugh T. Inman and owner of Swan House (Atlanta) Victoria Jackson (entrepreneur) and Bill Guthy, owners of Guthy-Renker, Proactiv, and Victoria Jackson Cosmetics Lykes Family, one of the nation's largest landowners Gordon D. Giffin, former U.S. Ambassador to Canada, member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission, partner and Global Vice-Chair emeritus at Dentons US LLP Dana Deasy, former Chief Information Officer of Department of Defense (DoD CIO), JPMorgan Chase, General Motors North America, Tyco International, Siemens Americas, and member of CIO Hall of Fame Richard D. Clarke, four-star general and 12th commander of United States Special Operations Command Dennis P. Lockhart, economist and President of Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Notes

R10 - thanks - interesting. I don't get it - but the weather in Western NC is actually quite nice. (I've only been to Asheville though).

I would say they are homeowners than actual 'residents' as in full-time.

I think higher elevations in the Southeast have the advantage of much cooler summer temperatures than anywhere else east of the Rockies - without the extreme cold of the far northern states like Maine, NH, Vermont, and upstate NY.

I love the house and the location. Granted the decor needs updating ,but I actually like the kitchen and would leave it intact. Few tweaks here and there and voila ! a really a very nice home.

If that is the sort of thing one likes...

It's not terrible. As others have said, I don't hate it, for a house built in 1998. But I don't especially like it, either. Better furnishings and art could make something interesting or at least significantly better of it, but It's just not the sort of house I like, nor the location (both on a lake and in western North Carolina.). There are some very fine old houses in that part of the state, but this one has no pull. It's Terminal 20thC Architecture of Publicly Traded CEOs, people whose taste was formed not by fine old houses but by 5 Star chain hotels and corporate conference centers. It's a different sort of luxury than I prefer, never mind that I can't afford anything near $10M.

For a quarter of the price, this 1925 house in Asheville NC is much more my style. Add a greenhouse in the garden and it would be great.

Ooh, I like your taste R14; that is an amazing house.

Western NC is a beautiful area though it's a mix of multi-million dollar homes & people making meth. Some parts can be difficult to access depending on the time of year, so the really rich types helicopter in & out

I would love to see Faye Dunaway do Elizabeth Edwards. Too bad she’s too old now.

In the tell-all book "Game Change," Elizabeth Edwards was depicted as a ruthless villain and the pig-nosed banshee of John's sinking presidential campaign. She'd waddle in to strategy sessions or dial in to conference calls, always with one thing on her mind: "WHERE IS MY HEALTH INSURANCE?!?!?!" All during the campaign, Elizabeth was fixated on the campaign providing her and her husband top-shelf health coverage using donor dollars. Never mind the fact that most campaign staff were uninsured volunteers, and the Edwardses were millionaires who could afford their own shit.

And while she was screaming at people about co-pays, John was fucking that little slut with the camcorder and calling her a "spiritual advisor."

R14 is right on point. A family I know has a place there, and the mother said they furnished some of it from Rooms 2 Go. It is beautiful on the lake, but its dullness is truly the attraction: golf, boating, and the club restaurant.

I wouldn't pay half the asking.

Lake Toxaway. Terrible name. Only tacky people would live there.

The lovely English Tudor that R14 shared is worthy of its own Tasteful Friends thread. It's lovely and I far prefer it to this lake house. Its only apparent flaw is it's in North Carolina. Granted, it's in Asheville which I hear is lovely and super gay friendly, but no way in hell am I leaving California for the south.

pig-nosed banshee made me laugh out loud. She was depicted as quite the harridan. I happened to listen to her funeral on CSPAN on a long drive once (before I had Spotify) and even the people eulogizing her talked about how difficult, demanding and competitive she was. It was not mean, but you got the sense that even the people who loved her the most thought she was very difficult, though that doesn't excuse what dope John is

I am stumped. Which picture features "wall-to-wall carpeting made to look like Persian rugs"?

Lake George, r4? Oh dear...

I was gonna say…Lake George is nice but it’s a lot pontoons and parasailing.

[quote]I am stumped. Which picture features "wall-to-wall carpeting made to look like Persian rugs"?

R32, guessing on behalf of OP, I think he meant the top floor stair landing rug with a border and floral motif, photos 27 & 28. It's not at all a Persian or a vaguely Oriental pattern, just a very Western and fussy little floral repeat with a simple border. Nothing else is remotely close

r24, I'm not talking about the current visitors to Lake George. This:

"Situated on the rail line halfway between New York City and Montreal, Lake George attracted the era's rich and famous by the late 19th and early 20th century. Members of the Roosevelt, van Rensselaer, Vanderbilt, Rockefeller and Whitney families visited its shores. The Fort William Henry Hotel, in what is now Lake George Village, and The Sagamore in Bolton Landing opened at this time to serve tourists. The wealthiest visitors were more likely to stay with their peers at their private country estates"

It's decorated in a very GOP fashion.

A relative has a house there. Lots of Floridians spend the summers there as Florida is too hot. It’s seems very golf and boat focused. Near Asheville which is a city I love.