Last September, Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida, becoming the deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland U.S. since Katrina in 2005. As heavy rains swept through the Appalachian Mountains, homes near Asheville, North Carolina, and beyond were demolished. 

“Seeing it on the news is one thing, but standing there amongst it is hard to get your head around,” Leicester resident John Saunby said about the debris from Helene.

Despite the damage, Saunby realized some parts might be worth salvaging.

He pulled his porch posts out of the wilderness, and found his kitchen floorboards inside an old cotton mill. 

“The woods are full of treasure,” Saunby said. 

The items he retrieved from the woods were “headed to the landfill,” but they have helped him build his dream house. Despite a history of home construction, he’s never had the resources to fulfill his own creative vision — including Black Locust bark siding and portions of tree trunks that support his roof.

With next week marking one year since Helene hit, Saunby is on the search for Wormy Chesnut lumber, a rare wood usually salvaged from old barns that comes from the American chestnut, a tree once plentiful in North Carolina.

He has some help on what he calls his “last hurrah” of home-building.

Jenny Kimmel, an Appalachian recording artist, is his partner and muse for the project. Kimmel strums her guitar and serenades while Saunby builds.

“This house has, like, the soul of the world in it, you know, it’s nice to be with somebody who sees that,” she says, tearing up.