Summit Village

Summit Village is a site development concept for a maker, railroad, and alternative housing village, evolving existing uses on a 180-acre (73ha / 0.3mi²) property in Mendocino County, 2.5 hours N. of San Francisco. The property is co-owned by friends Phil and Richard Jergenson (along with their brother Kent), whom I got to know because they are stewards of the Gridbeam modular construction system, and I have visited and stayed there many times since 2014.  

This extraordinary scenic and historic property is sometimes referred to Summit Station, after an inactive railroad stop of that name within the property area, which is the highest point on the California Western Railroad (CWR). CWR is a former logging railroad that connects the town of Willits on Hwy 101 to Fort Bragg on the coast, and now operates mainly as a heritage/tourist railroad, running vintage steam and diesel trains — a leading local visitor attraction, known as the Skunk Train.

Video and drone aerial view of the site can be seen in this excellent 2017 mini-documentary by Kirsten Dirkson, Faircompanies.com, about the Grid Beam building system stewarded and used by the Jergensons:  "Grid Beam modular system builds anything, furniture to bikes" (on YouTube). 

The whole property, including the Gridbeam production shop, and Phil and Kent's homes -- operates on spring water (with a lake, and tank storage / pumping system), off-grid solar power, and composting waste systems. 

See below my ongoing project document that includes an introduction, visitor guide to site and area, and site development concepts.