Its time for a road trip...
- Robert Hopkins
- 7 days ago
- 2 min read
Googling around yesterday morning in my pajamas, I somehow fell down a rabbit hole on a new topic: airpark home subdivisions next to airports.
Discovering Maple, NC
With a little help from AI, I located one of the closest airparks to where I live now. I found a few others in Virginia, but I have no interest in being in the central or northern parts of the state; as beautiful as they are, they would not give me anything I do not already have here—mainly trees. Maple, North Carolina, on the other hand, offers the same kind of natural beauty plus beaches and waterways that are much closer than what I have today.
Visiting the airpark home
Yesterday I reached out to a real estate agent, and today I drove down to Maple to tour a home that would allow me to build a hangar in the backyard, with taxi access straight from my property onto a 5,500-foot runway. How cool is that? The house itself is just about perfect for my needs—large enough for me and one other person to live there full-time if we choose.
Two homes, two lifestyles
My current thinking is to keep my place in Williamsburg and add this Maple home so I can enjoy the best of both worlds. That would mean life in the Historic Triangle in Virginia and, at the same time, a place very close to the Outer Banks with its bays, beaches, and oceanfront. If the area was good enough for the Wright Brothers, it is good enough for me.
How it feels
The whole idea of walking out my back door, rolling my own airplane into a hangar, and taxiing directly to the runway has me absolutely thrilled. I am genuinely excited about where this could lead next.
