CityView Magazine

living An old barn has become the perfect 'man cave' for one Fayetteville resident M BY KIRSTEN HARR lax. When Fayetteville resident Billy Wellons wants to relax, he gets on I-95 North and drives five miles to Falcon, North Carolina. Though ocean waves are enticing, over 100 miles separate Falcon from the closest beach. The big city feel is not what draws Billy to Falcon; Falcon is a small town with a population well under 400. Mountainous terrain is certainly not what Falcon is known for, the elevation there is only 141 feet. So, what draws Billy to Falcon aſter a busy day or week in the office? It is what lies on his family's 280-acre plot of land: his man cave. Billy, a native of Dunn, North Carolina, has fond memo- ries of visiting his grandparents in Falcon. From the time he was five-years-old until he graduated high school, he went to visit his grandparents there at least once or twice a week and lived there in the summer time to work on the farm. Billy remembers working long hours on the farm with a mule and any people think of driving to the beach, heading for the city or escaping to the mountains when they want to take time off from work to re- 24 | September/October • 2012 sled and how excited he was when his grandfather bought him his first tractor. He also has fond memories of churning homemade ice cream with seasonal fruit every Wednesday night with his mother, father and three brothers. His mother, a native of Falcon, grew up right down the road from where Billy escapes to now and he purchased her family's old property in 1984. Billy's mother named the house, which was built in 1910, "The Gathering Place." The house earned its name aſter Billy's mother and father began a family tradition of gathering at the farm every Christ- mas and Thanksgiving. To this day, the family has not missed having a Wellons Family Christmas at The Gathering Place. Across from The Wellons' Family Gathering Place, sits an old barn built about 30 years aſter the house. Any visitor on the property may expect to find a few of the 32 Tennessee walking horses Billy raises inside the property's other barn, but this particular barn is off limits to horses. Though he was tempted to tear the barn down when they first purchased the land, Billy's father convinced him to keep it. In the almost 30 years since the Wellons family purchased

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