"The Treehouse Guys" build on Kendigs’ historic property

DIY Network's The Treehouse Guys will feature a Roanoke connection this month. Louisa Kendig '10 and her parents, John and Carolyn, had the show come in and build an amazing treehouse on their historic property. The Kendigs are related to Roanoke's seventh president, Dr. Perry Kendig. He was John's father and Louisa's grandfather.

The treehouse was built on Louisa's paternal grandmother's farm, Ben Dover, in Goochland, Va. The family divided the property and sold the farm house in recent years, but kept part of the land. The house was built in 1853 on Dover Plantation and named Ben Dover because the farm was at the bend of the river. The farm and house was first owned in the family by Louisa's great, great grandfather, William T. Reed, Sr., who was a highly successful and very prominent businessman in Virginia. Reed was close friends with Governor Harry Flood Byrd and aviator Charles Lindbergh, who landed his plane on Ben Dover farm when he visited to hunt with Reed and Gov. Byrd.

The green development for the treehouse was done by Biocraft Designs, an ecosystem design company in the Richmond area whose president and founder is Kyle Dubee '05. Biocraft Designs, along with participating in the entire build, was tasked to install an outside shower that incorporates greywater catchment into a rain garden, Dubee said. (Greywater is any household wastewater with the exception of wastwater from toilets.)

"The treehouse project was very special to us because it allowed us to be creative and showcase aspects of ecosystem design in a really unique way," said Dubee, whose mother, Gwendolyn Spooner Dubee '76, and brother, Seth Dubee '10, also are Roanoke alumni. "A water-wise landscape...was a necessity and ended up being a really fun feature to include in the aesthetic of the build."

The Kendigs' appearance on The Treehouse Guys airs for the first time on Tuesday, June 14 on DIY Network. Check your broadcast provider for specific schedules. The episode will likely be rebroadcast several times.