Sharon, the State of Georgia
The most important rule at this remote vacation spot is simple: no white light. Even a sliver of the pupil-contracting rays coming from the window of a cabin at Deerlick Astronomy Village could ruin a neighbor's view of the Milky Way. The 39 hectares village situated in the outskirts of Taliaferro County in Georgia s designed for amateur stargazers looking for total darkness and wide-open spaces to build weekend homes.
"It's like a lake house for geeks," said Chris Hetlage, co-founder of the village, as he tromped through the darkness toward his observatory. He believes that such type of rest has a bright future. There are only two other similar communities nationwide - one in Florida and one in Arizona - and he said the demand for dark skies is soaring as suburban sprawl produces more light pollution.
Star lovers have snatched up all of the 17 plots less than two years ago. The business plan aimed for those plots to sell in seven years.
The grassy field lined with trees holds six homes and nine observatories, which look like tiny cabins with retractable roofs.
Next to the houses is a 4-hectare hilltop observation field where stargazers who don't want to buy property can pitch a tent and scan the sky for free. The field is the new home of the Atlanta Astronomy Club's telescope and the 300-member group's annual stargazing festival.
All those who live here are very careful with the white light; houses emit only soft red light. Windows must be lined with light-blocking materials to prevent rays from escaping.
Drivers can only use their parking lights at night. Star gazers who wander about the property after dark use flashlights with red bulbs.
Five years ago, Hetlage and friend Donovan Conrad began hunting for small plots of land where they could build their personal observatories. The two are amateur astrophotographers who take hundreds of frames with high-powered cameras attached to telescopes and layer them on a computer to create images of galaxies 10,000 light years away.
On finding an appropriate place, they bought the surrounding lands and decided to build an astronomy village here. They named the village Deerlick after a cluster of galaxies called the Deer Lick Group.
The first few years these two men accompanied by a small group of initiators spend all their spare time here, clearing the land for the development, installing electrical equipment and water-supply. Conrad resorted to the help of three his sons whom he also moved here.
"The place is visited by remarkable people, the sky is wonderful here", says Dave Lasco who visits his observatory three to four times a year. "It's just a unique community".
Iuri Tarabanov writes about interesting travel experiences. His Travel Services site is http://www.travelime.com
