Daughter keeps property in family by making it available to renters
How to keep a home place in the family after parents are gone and children have moved away can be a struggle, but the answer for one former Jones Countian may be getting into the short-term rental business.
The House on the Hill is now available through Airbnb, surprisingly joining two other properties in Gray. The home is a unique property with a design that appears modern today, even though it was built in 1964.
A May 28 ribbon cutting, sponsored by the Jones County/ Gray Chamber of Commerce, celebrated the new business.
The 3,000-square-foot house on North Cross Road was the former home of Drs. Berry and Sara Jane Moore and where
DEBBIE LURIE-SMITH/Staff their two daughters, Clair and Kristi, grew up. The house is stucco inside and out. It was the vision of Sara Jane and designed after a Spanish fort with a center ceiling height of 12 feet.
The house was designed by local architect Bernard Webb and built by Ethridge Brothers Construction.
The property includes three bedrooms and two and a half baths. The center beams of the living room are actually handhoned beams created from trees that were located on the property.
The rental property features a large patio, courtyard, two living spaces, dining room, fireplace and laundry area. The view of the countryside from the property should also be listed as a notable feature.
The home place set on 88 acres and was divided between the daughters in 2020. The eldest, Clair, chose the home and surrounding property and Kristi the remaining the property.
Clair talked about her decision to put the property on Airbnb during a May 31 interview. She said after the death of her father in 2022, the home suffered severe water damage following a hard freeze that required a complete renovation of the kitchen.
The owner said it took an entire year for what amounted to the demolition of the complete kitchen area and resulted in a new state-of-the-art kitchen. She said that beautiful white kitchen was the trigger for the idea of entering the short-term rental business.
Clair said the home was always a gathering place for extended family, and it is important to her to keep that tradition going. She said after her father died, she did not want to sell the home.
The owner said she did not have to do a lot to get the home ready for rental. She said it needed to be painted, but the biggest job was decluttering. Most of the furniture is original to the home.
Clair currently lives in Virginia and Kristy in Kansas.
Her parents were both icons in Jones County in their own way. Dr. Sara Jane Uhrich Moore was originally from Maryland and was one of the first women to graduate from the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia. She was the first woman veterinarian commissioned in the public health service in 1958 and the first woman veterinarian in any of the Uniformed Services in the United States.
Moore retired as a Veterinary Medical Officer from the United States Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection in 1997.
Dr. Berry Whitworth Moore was born and raised in Jones County, graduating from Jones County High School, where he played football, basketball, baseball and ran track. He attended Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and the University of Georgia, where he earned his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and met Sara Jane.
Moore served in the Army as the Station Veterinarian for the Pentagon stationed at Arlington, Virginia, taking care of the Casson horses used at the Arlington National Cemetery and guard dogs assigned to missile sites around Washington D.C.
The doctors Moore were married in Bethesda, Maryland, in 1961 and returned to Jones County, where they opened a veterinary practice.
Dr. Berry Moore served Jones County Animal Services for more than 20 years. It would be difficult to talk about the veterinarian without mentioning the Georgia Bulldogs. He held season football tickets from 1966 until 2020. In addition to attending the home games, Moore saw games in every SEC stadium.
The couple was married for 54 years. Dr. Sara Jane Moore died in 2015 and Dr. Berry Moore in 2022.
