The One Thing Buyers Keep Asking For — And Where We Finally Found It

Every few weeks, somebody sits down across from us and describes the same house.

They want land. Not a generous yard — actual land, the kind where you can't hear a neighbor's television. They want a house that's worth the ground it sits on. And they want to stay close enough to Augusta that none of it costs them their job, their doctor, or their Saturday mornings.

That combination used to be easy to find around here. It isn't anymore. Which is why we've spent most of this fall about 20 minutes west of town, in Thomson.

What Montgomery Place Is

Thirty-eight homesites in the McDuffie County countryside, laid out along two quiet streets off Cobbham Road. Every homesite runs between three and five acres. The smallest is an even three. The largest is over five.

Both streets — Gray Hill Road and Grady Pond Road — end in a cul-de-sac, so nobody is cutting through anyone's morning. A pond sits between them.

That's the entire plan. No amenity center. No four elevations rotating down the block. Thirty-eight families with genuine room between them.

The Land Came First

This is the part that's hard to explain until you stand on it.

Three acres changes what a house can be. Your driveway is a driveway, not a shared alley. The garden goes where you want the garden. The shop, the pool, the barn your spouse has been sketching on napkins for six years — all of it fits, with trees left over.

And the trees stay. The covenants here cap how much original timber any owner can remove at twenty-five percent, safety work aside. Nobody gets to scrape their lot bare and leave you looking at it. On a property like this, that single line may be worth more than any amenity a developer could have built.

What's Going Up

The first home out of the ground is already under contract.

River Haven Homes broke ground on Lot 21 with The Ruskin Place — brick and board-and-batten, timber porch columns, standing-seam metal accents. Inside, 3,839 square feet opens into a two-story family room under a beamed ceiling, anchored by a fireplace and overlooked from the floor above.

The kitchen is built around a generous island with a walk-in pantry, flowing to the dining room and out to a vaulted covered porch. Behind it sits a proper working wing — mud room with a built-in bench, laundry with a sink, separate storage. The owner's suite is on the main level with its own beamed ceiling and porch access, a freestanding tub, a glass-enclosed shower, and two separate walk-in closets. A guest bedroom with a private bath is on the main floor as well. Upstairs: three more bedrooms, two baths, and an optional bonus room reached by its own rear staircase.

Parking runs three deep between the two-car garage, an additional one-car garage, and a separate carport.

When a builder puts his own family on the first lot, he's making a fairly specific statement about the next thirty-seven.

The Rules Are the Luxury

Most buyers skim the covenants. Read these.

Every home is a detached single-family dwelling — no mobile homes, no modular, ever. No lot can be subdivided, by you or by anybody who comes after you. Exteriors are masonry or wood: stone, stucco, brick, siding, or wood, full stop. Minimum 2,000 square feet of heated living area with a garage, 2,500 without one. Outbuildings have to conform to the design of the house, and none of them go in front of it.

Fences are side and back only, in brick, stained wood, or decorative iron. No chain link. Satellite dishes go behind the house, out of sight from the road. Utilities go underground wherever it's practical. Mailbox cubicles are provided by the developer, so the entrance doesn't turn into a row of mismatched posts.

None of that is decoration. It's the mechanism that makes the view out your kitchen window in 2045 look roughly like it does the day you close. Communities that skip this step are the ones people quietly regret buying into.

Where It Sits

From I-20, take exit 175, head south on Cobbham Road for about a mile, and turn left into Montgomery Place onto Gray Hill Road.

The interstate is minutes away. Augusta is a straight run down it. You get the quiet without trading away the hospital, the airport, the schools, or dinner in Evans on a Friday night.

Two Ways In

Buy a homesite and build with River Haven Homes. They're the builder on site, they know the lots, and they have plans already drawn for this community. 

Buy a homesite and bring your own plans. That's welcome too, with one condition: the plans get reviewed and approved first, and the home has to conform to the community's standards. The developer and builder sit on the board together specifically so architectural control stays in one place. It protects every owner, including the one who came first. The builder will meet with you to finalize design and pricing.

What's Available Right Now

Lot 21 is already under contract.

Lot 25 at 510 Gray Hill Road is active — another Ruskin Place, under construction now, with time remaining to choose finishes. Lot 24 at 508 Gray Hill Road is planned for the Coles Crossing plan on a slab and is starting construction also.

Homesites are available on both streets, including cul-de-sac and pond-adjacent positions. Pricing varies by lot; we're glad to send the current plat with availability.

If You're Even a Little Curious

Come walk it. That's the honest recommendation. Photographs flatten land, and this is land that doesn't photograph the way it feels — you have to come see how quiet and tranquil this community is for yourself.

Call or text Ehrin at 706-480-5203 or email her at [email protected], and we'll send the plat, the available homesites, floor plans, and construction timelines. If you'd rather meet the builder first, we'll set that up too.

Land like this, this close to Augusta, isn't available anymore. Thirty-eight families are going to get it. Contact us at www.ehrinfairey.com/contact-us and we will get the additional information to you!