A Band of Whiskey Lovers Finds Refuge in Rural Virginia

Mark Turner considers driving his 1953 Farmall tractor along the rolling hills of the Virginia countryside a type of therapy. And, with family dog Macy bounding—tongue-out—by his side, it’s easy to understand why.

The fact of the matter is there’s not much else to do in Delaplane, Virginia—and that’s part of the location’s charm.

Turner, who grew up in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, says the outdoors (and sharing them with others) is part of his DNA. That upbringing ultimately led him—and the rest of the four-man design/build team at GreenSpur Inc.—to establish the Lost Whiskey Club in 2016.

The Lost Whiskey Club lives up to its name twofold: The compound is nestled about an hour outside Washington, D.C., between Lost Mountain and Whiskey Hollow and, perhaps more importantly, is an ode to the "lost art of conversation," according to Nick Cioffi, one of its other founders.

What started as a passion project for whiskey soon transformed into a larger architectural series of compact, off-the-grid structures to truly unplug at. Turner, Cioffi, and the two other founders—Zach Gasper and Jimmy Matthews—describe the 50-acre compound as "a little 1920 speakeasy mixed with a smidge of Teddy Roosevelt and a full dose of Virginia hunt horse country." 

"It’s a very unique place in Virginia, because it’s surrounded by conservation easement farmland," says Turner. "This is the Hamptons of Virginia."

At the start of the pandemic, the GreenSpur design/build team expanded their vision with the addition of a 3,000-square-foot communal lodge where their friends and family could gather. 

"We are truly in love with architecture and space, and with architecture and space comes memories and gathering," adds Turner. "We love crazy people, crazy stories, and crazy architecture. It’s a way to galvanize all of those things through one product—and that’s whiskey."

In addition to the newly built six-bedroom lodge, the compound features a whiskey bar (naturally), a concrete cabin, a glass cabin, and a refurbished Airstream. 

The Lost Whiskey Lodge itself takes on the form of a traditional tobacco barn, according to Gasper, the firm’s design lead.

"Traditionally, tobacco barns would have black creosote siding, which would help heat up the barn and dry out the tobacco," Gasper says. "So, we were really playing off that traditional barn aesthetic—and as we moved to the interiors, we really wanted to feature raw, natural materials." 

They reused a lot of the wood that they took from the site as interior finishes, alongside exposed concrete flooring, steel, and brass. "That’s just sort of our design aesthetic—we really enjoy working with raw, cool materials," Gasper adds.

Embracing the rustic life both in aesthetic and location requires some maneuvering, especially when it comes to modern amenities. Because of the remote location, the lodge utilizes propane for heating, cooking, and for its tankless water heater (including for the scenic modular pool), while the 160-square-foot concrete cabin uses propane for cooking as well.

"We used propane on this project as a calculation that it’s a very efficient way to produce hot water and hot air. Certainly if you’re from a cook’s perspective, propane’s a very nice thing to cook from," says Turner. "We use it for the pool heat, so it’s the workhorse behind the off-grid component of this project."

After all, the Lost Whiskey Project is about going back to basics. 

"It’s about long conversations. It’s about simplicity. It’s about all the things in life that give it truly meaning," Turner adds.

Learn more at propane.com. 

Project credits: 

Architect of Record and Builder: GreenSpur Inc. 

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