Totally Awesome 

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They also came up with a name for their burgeoning creation. Given that the outside of the main school building was made of stone and granite, they deemed it, appropriately enough, the School of Rock. The second, smaller building was named Fort Awesome (inspired by the local band Alternative Champs' new release, "Welcome To Fort Awesome"). They put the two names together and hence, the Fort Awesome School of Rock was born.

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• Dorne Pentes / WonderWorld Film
• Hot times at the compound's Summer Solstice Party in June

As they continued to fix things up, the group hosted a few informal parties over the summer with live music and fire performers. These were dress rehearsals for their first big official public event, the Ola Belle Reed Homecoming Festival, which took place in Lansing Aug. 18--20. The festival featured dozens of country and bluegrass bands and helped celebrate the life and music of Ola Belle Reed, who was born in Lansing in 1916. Reed, who passed away in 2002, formed a band called the New River Boys with her brother, Alex, and a few others, and they performed around the country. Reed wrote hundreds of songs about her Appalachian roots and her commitment to traditional values and social justice. She is the recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Award, and was recently inducted into the Washington Area Music Awards Hall of Fame.

The Fort Awesome School of Rock helped co-host the festival, setting up a side stage on the property and holding banjo contests and music workshops inside the School of Rock. They also housed several of the musicians who played during the festival and set up a little snack bar and place to get your face painted.

Loafing in Lansing

We arrived at the festival Saturday afternoon. Driving through Lansing is a bit like going into a time warp. There's a single traffic light and the downtown consists of one square block of storefronts, many of them shut down. Progress has bypassed this once thriving mill town. According to the US Census Bureau, Lansing's population in 2000 was 151, and both the median household income and median house value were well below the state average. Yet as Pentes mentioned earlier, the area is rich and vast in its beauty, marked by pastoral landscapes, lush forest and unspoiled mountainsides. Moreover, the little town, which is located in Ashe County about 30 miles from Boone, is near all kinds of outdoor recreation, including the New River (ideal for paddling or tubing) and the Virginia Creeper Trail (a favorite among mountain bikers). The Appalachian Trail is also close by.

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• Dorne Pentes / WonderWorld Film
• A former classroom in the process of being converted into an apartment

Once you're in Lansing, there's no missing the Fort Awesome School of Rock. As we passed through the little downtown area and then around a bend in the road, its massive stone façade came into view. And just so there was no mistaking it, a big hand-painted sign had been posted out front, emblazoned with "Fort Awesome" in giant green letters. There were dozens of people stretched out in lawn chairs in front of the School of Rock watching the bands perform. Across the street is an athletic field where the main stage was situated, along with booths where local vendors sold crafts, snacks and T-shirts. A cool little underground tunnel runs beneath the road connecting the athletic field to Fort Awesome.

Somehow, the inside of the School of Rock building feels even bigger than its castle-like exterior. It's huge and cavernous, with oak wood floors and two-foot thick walls. The interior has been gutted, and all the studs and framework are visible, making it feel even more open and spacey. As we wandered around inside, a banjo workshop was taking place in one of the building's enormous rooms, and the sounds were swallowed up inside the vast building.

Next door, inside Fort Awesome, musicians and guests milled about inside the downstairs "hospitality room," which the group outfitted with a bar and big dining room table, along with a few pieces of mismatched furniture. They also took advantage of all the old school desks and bookshelves that were left behind, slapping on fresh coats of paint and turning them into tables or little cabinets. They painted the walls blue and orange, depicting both a seascape and a mountainside, and hung Christmas lights and elk horns from the walls and the bar. It all has a very eclectic, artsy and bohemian vibe to it.

Upstairs, they converted several classrooms into communal bedrooms, each with its own theme and look. Although the building is typical of a '70s-era school building -- concrete block walls, cement floors, drop ceilings -- they managed to make each room look cozy and unique. In the kids' room, the white walls have been painted with vibrant splashes of red, orange and black and adorned with homemade pictures. Yellow draperies, fabric and Christmas lights hang from the ceiling, and the odd chair and ratty couch serve as furniture. In a second guest room, oriental rugs cover the floor. One wall has been painted green, and the others are covered with bright tapestries. A giant, billowing sheet of white fabric covers the ceiling. The main adult guest room, which they deemed "Heaven," has eight single beds grouped together in pairs and cordoned off with white bed sheets held in place with paper binders. Small, old-fashioned school desks serve as nightstand tables.

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• Dorne Pentes / WonderWorld Film
• Another room receives some finishing touches