The Loblolly House near Briar Chapel blends rustic charm and thoughtful hospitality, creating a peaceful woodland escape in Pittsboro
By Anna Rhesa-Versola | Photography by John Michael Simpson
For Anna Ferrin, it was love at first sight.
She and her husband, Rhett Ferrin, live in Briar Chapel, where they are raising their four daughters, ages 11, 9, 6 and 4, and one 18-month-old son. “Every night, I was on Zillow, and then this [home] came up,” Anna says.
The listing of a two-bedroom, one-bathroom home on Manns Chapel Road would be too small for their growing family.
“But I wanted to go see it,” she says. “It was just 5 minutes away. … I remember driving down the hill, seeing the pond and the trees, and being like, ‘Oh, this is it.’”
It became the Ferrins’ investment home away from home in May 2025.
The original 1,052-square-foot cabin was built in 1978 and sits on a .85-acre lot. It was once part of a group of homes used for hosting executives and business retreats for Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company, a Durham-based cigarette manufacturer. Renovations by different homeowners over the years maximized available interior space to 2,312 square feet.
Tropical Storm Chantal hit the home only five weeks after the family purchased it, knocking down trees, splitting a newly built dock and destroying a storage shed. Winds and drenching rains washed away the gravel driveway, damaged the roof and flooded low-lying areas, including the house’s entire first floor. By August, repairs and rebuilds – including a new roof and dock – were complete, and the Ferrins welcomed their first guests to The Loblolly House via Airbnb.
Anna says she and Rhett daydreamed about building a business empire of rental properties as a source of passive income, but the reality is a bit different. “This is not passive,” she says plainly. “This is not that.”
Anna arrives at the cabin after guests check out at 11 a.m. to inspect the property, clean the rooms, change the sheets, restock the kitchen and prepare for the next guest arrival at 3 p.m.
“I love coming out here in between guests,” Anna says. “For all of us in suburbia, it’s so nice to get out into the woods.”
Be Our Guest
A new gravel driveway slopes down into a wooded hollow surrounded by towering loblolly pines – the home’s namesake. A shallow stream curls into a pond stocked with fish and patrolled by a pair of dabbling ducks. Behind the home lies a tiny A-frame shed that opens to an unencumbered view of the scenery. A vintage rowboat offers possibilities of adventure.
Stained wooden steps lead up to a spacious deck that wraps around a twisted maple tree. Anna has visions of outdoor meals at the picnic table, relaxing by the tabletop fire pit, or the open-flame fire pit beneath the trees. Inside, the light-filled kitchen’s original hardwood floors complement the sage-colored cabinets and butcher block countertops. Guests immediately discover signs of a heartfelt welcome.
Propped atop the built-in corner bookshelves is a chalkboard greeting next to a generous basket of s’mores supplies. A freshly baked sourdough loaf, homemade by Rhett, sits in the center of the table along with a half dozen shelf-stable eggs harvested from a friend’s local farm. A mason jar of fresh flowers brightens the table scene where the wood-burning stove once stood. Anna, a ceramicist with a home-based pottery studio, creates bowls and mugs that can be found inside the glass cabinet by the refrigerator.
One short set of stairs leads up to a former attic space that now holds a spacious bedroom with two beds, an upholstered reading chair, and a wide writing desk that overlooks the woods and pond below. Other stairs descend to the lower level with the primary bedroom, an arched doorway into the living room, and the laundry room. The updated bathroom, which still has its original doors and forged hardware, is on the main level with the kitchen.
Reasons To Stay
The Loblolly House was originally intended as a place of retreat, reflection and rest. “We try to honor that,” Anna says. “It’s still tucked away from the rest of the world. … It’s not a party house. People come here to see their kids at UNC. We’ve had people come back already two or three times to visit family in Briar Chapel.”
Guests travel from near and far to enjoy the cabin. “We have people coming from England,” Anna adds. “I had a couple that came in from [Los Angeles] a month ago.” Anna’s parents visit every few months from Kansas City, Kansas and stay in the cabin, too. “We built the dock so Papa and the kids can go fishing. We love that. We have a place to make recurring memories with them, and my dad loves to fish.”
Anna says the process of creating a warm and inviting space and meeting new visitors has yielded some unexpected blessings – like when she receives guests with oncology appointments at UNC. “I feel like it’s a sacred honor that they want [to stay here], especially if these are their last days to get treatment,” Anna says. Her eyes begin to fill with tears. “They come with their siblings, or they come with a parent. I’ll bring cookies, and it’s just special to meet them. It’s beautiful.”
“We come over here a lot, just to run in the woods and take rides out on the boat. I love being out under the trees. My kids do better here. I push them on the swing. My little boy feeds the ducks.” – Anna Ferrin
A Hopeful Ode
Previous homeowner Sarah Pohlig, who now resides in Bynum, wrote a poem in hopes that the cabin would pass safely to the care of a kindred spirit.
“I actually think about these words when I’m out walking in the woods,” Anna says. “I love the sentiment, the intention of looking for someone to take care of the trees from here on out. The first time I read it, I cried happy tears, because it described me – I first came just to say hi to the trees.”
Did I love it enough, the full
throttle foliage?I’m watching for the Norwegian
maple to turn – it’s always the
last of the fireworks here on
Manns Chapel, the spent breath
of our Indian summers, an
exhale, the last exquisite sigh,
it’ll make you look up watercolor
classes. You will try to catch the
uncatchable.In October, you’ll see the maple
leaves expertly tinted in front
of a sky so sheer, a ripcord of
blue, a silken spinnaker that
my friend drew out of the
bag like a handkerchief, a sky
astonishing as a magic trick, a
real showstopper.You must love the trees and
leaves on the pond and the
Camellia japonica and the
loblollies, there’s a lot to know
and many more to meet.You will need to know in the
spring Andrew Marvell’s line
about a green thought in a green
shade, as mossy dappled as it
gets here,I must tell you about the showy
azaleas, such drama!I am looking for someone to
take care of the trees from
here on out.
