Les Jones

East Tennessee > News-Sentinel Story on Millennium Manor

Knoxville New-Sentinel - Rescue operation: Fireman's commitment puts Alcoa's stone fortress back in shape:

Some weeks, Wells says, she and Fontaine work 20 to 30 hours on building projects. Other weeks they're lucky to squeeze in two or three.

Their work is often tedious and dirty. Pressure-washing ceilings and walls sprays bits of sand, grit and cement. While each of the 14 rooms is about the same size, they're different enough that materials must be customized. "You can't get something from one room and use it to fix another," Fontaine says.

Before he could renovate, he had to hack out a jungle. "The first summer I spent hauling off five dump truck loads of trash and brush."

And sometimes I think I have home maintenance problems.

Be sure to watch the slideshow of Clay Owen's photos, which put my humble efforts to shame. Compare, for instance, his photo of that blue downstairs hallway to mine. The picture I took is pedestrian (and not even well-exposed). His composition is brillant. Granted, I was chasing a 1 and 3 year old and he obviously has a lens wider than any of mine, but he also has a great eye. The gargoyle picture, the stairwell picture, and the landscape with the gazebo on the left are standouts.