Why we made Carlton Landing home
I’m Katie, and Carlton Landing isn’t somewhere I visit. It’s home.
We came from Atlanta. We knew we wanted to be on the lake, and we’d always loved new urbanism, the architecture, and the kind of walkable streets you just don’t find in an ordinary neighborhood. The promise of free-range kids and farm-to-table dinners didn’t hurt either.
“We figured we’d give it two years. We never left.”
Somewhere in those first couple of years, the lake place quietly became home for good. My favorite mornings still start the same way: a quiet walk down to the courtesy dock or the marina before the town wakes up, when you pretty much have the water to yourself. And the prettiest stretch around here might be the pedestrian walkways from the Meeting House through the Crossings and along the boardwalk.
The scenery isn’t really why we stayed, though. We always say the opportunity brought us here, but the people made us stay. The friendships we’ve built feel more like family. If there’s one thing I’d tell anyone wondering about this kind of life, it’s simple: if you want community, cultivate it.
Our three kids have grown up in a small town where they had to wear a lot of hats. They were some of the first kids at the school, and they understand the value of hard work and of investing in people. I think that will serve them their whole lives, and wherever they go, they’ll always have a community that welcomes them home.
This is just a window into real life in our town on the lake. If that pulls at you, follow along below.
