The "As Long As You Don't Mind Hitting Your Knees On The Ceiling" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Thinking back to a few years ago when I wrote a story titled "Tiny Home Mania" and how a few places in Lancaster County had began making small, or tiny, homes.  I thought it just had to be a fad, but I guess I was wrong.  Tiny Estates was established in 2018 in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania on what at one time was a campground known as Ridge Run.  Seems that what started as a dozen or so acres of land devoted to small or tiny homes has blossomed into the largest tiny home community in the country.  Yep, you read that right...COUNTRY!  

The size of a tiny home can be seen here.
Click on image to enlarge.  This will enlarge
the image, but the tiny home will still be tiny.

As of now there are three dozen tiny homes on Ridge Run with close to another dozen projected to occupy a place by the end of the year.  All of the homes are anywhere from less than 200 square feet to close to 400 square feet in size.  By the time the property is at full residency, there will be about 100 homes.  Recently Tiny Estates partnered with Booking.com and comedian Kevin Hart to create a Hart-sized home in conjunction with his tour.  That home is now back in Elizabethtown and available to rent.  If you check out Tiny Estates on the Internet you will find they have both a web site as well as a Facebook page.  A few of the homes are featured with "Low Country" being one of them.  This home is 39 feet long and can sleep six people.  

The kitchen, bathroom and shower area.

Wow!  Then they have a tiny home that is known as "The Alfa."  It's name comes from the first letter of the Greek alphabet and was built for an HGTV charity auction.  The home was won by a man who never used it and it eventually found its way to Elizabethtown where it now resides.  It is 140 square feet in size and is 12 feet long and for a 6-foot-tall man who might weigh 185 pounds, The Alfa is shockingly small and making a 360-degree turn may be tough to do.  Inside the home is a couch, TV, sink, mini-fridge, toilet, shower, queen-sized bed (yep, you read that right), and a ladder to climb into the bed.  That 6-foot-tall man who weighs 185 pounds thought he could stay there and came with his tablet, book and guitar.  Wasn't long before he knew he shouldn't have brought the guitar.  

The bedroom area.

A tour of The Alfa was accomp- lished in one 360-degree turn.  Later in the evening that night his girlfriend came to visit and was able to sit on a folding chair that had been hung on the wall.  Being that The Alfa was too small for the guy and his girlfriend, she left and he decided it was time for bed.  The bed was comfortable and the rain hitting the ceiling a few inches above his head made for a relaxing atmosphere.  Tiny Estates has a lake stocked with fish and plenty of space for children to run around outside the tiny homes.  Check out the web site and Facebook page and see for yourself what is offered.  Maybe you might want to give it a try, but then again, maybe hitting your knees on the ceiling all night long may not be for you!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

One of the tiny homes.

The lake area showing a few of the tiny homes in the background.