By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — At first glance, the boulder did not look like much, but as Graham Roten (Graham Roten Trucking) and Mitchell Townsend (Hampton’s Body Shop) began to lift it out of the ground with a crane and place it on a long, low-boy trailer, any onlooker would realize that looks can be deceiving.
Call Blowing Rock-based landscape architect Ron Cutlip the “Rock Hunter” or maybe even the “Boulder Conqueror,” but he is a man on a mission: to pay tribute to Blowing Rock while designing the landscaping for the newly constructed boutique hotel, The Embers.
At 18 tons, retrieving the boulder was no small task.
“We found this boulder and the smaller one with which it will be paired about five years ago, while working on another project,” said Cutlip. “Centuries of water, wind and even retreating glaciers have carved out some really interesting rock formations in this region. We look for this set to become a centerpiece for The Embers Hotel’s external grounds.
Retrieving the boulder from where it was discovered along the Hwy. 105 Bypass was no small task. It weighs 18 tons, is 20 feet long, 102 inches wide and close to four feet thick in spots.
“Because so much of it was buried,” said Cutlip, “it turned out to be much larger than we originally thought.”
The boulders are scheduled to be placed on site at the hotel on Sunday, March 24.
Cutlip, the landscape architect, is the principal of Cutlip Golf Design. He was hired by The Catellus Group, the developer of The Embers Hotel, to design the landscaping of Blowing Rock’s newest boutique hotel. Cutlip was the landscape architect for the Blowing Rock School playground, the Appalachian Ski Mountain Welcome Center, and is currently working on two other hotel projects in the region. Outside of the local area, a golf course designed by Cutlip in Rhode Island is scheduled to open in the late spring or early summer.
