The Amazing Story of The Cliffs at Hocking Hills
For years now, I’ve followed Kimball and Christine, and their amazing property—The Cliffs at Hocking Hills in Ohio.
For anyone not familiar, the property features a stunning waterfall and natural swimming hole! Crazy, right?
An iconic amenity…
In 4 years since opening, they’ve built over 600k followers on Instagram, 100% direct bookings, and 90% occupancy. A slam dunk of slam dunks.
And 5 years ago, when they started, they had almost no money.
Kimball pastored (he still does) a small local church, with an income of around $45,000.
Christine was diagnosed with a rare form of foot cancer. After a year of surgeries and treatments, they finally won the battle! To celebrate, the family took a 2-month sabbatical to Bali, and that’s where they fell in love with true hospitality and inspiring stays.
They returned home to Ohio rested, recharged, and deeply inspired.
And just weeks later while scrolling through Craigslist, Kimball stumbled upon a 2-acre listing. He was looking for a place he could renovate on a credit card. He met the owner, looked at the spot, and then asked if he had any other properties for sale.
He did, and they looked at those—none of which seemed like a fit. Finally, the guy said he had one more, but it wasn’t something Kimball would probably want. They drove over.
Deep within 10 acres of soaring trees sat an old, slightly-decrepit 4,000 sq-ft Boys Scouts lodge: far more than they had in mind (or could afford). Yet for some reason, Kimball said it felt right. And the price was a bargain.
The lodge when they found it…
A friend agreed to loan them $1M to buy the place and renovate it (cool friend, right?), but then days before they were set to close the guy backed out…
But Kimball was absolutely determined, and things started to come together.
A local bank agreed to loan some money, a different friend agreed to co-guarantee it, and the owner agreed to carry a large seller note on the backend.
As I mentioned a couple weeks ago in the story about Tanner and Melissa crowdfunding their Georgia micro-resort, I believe the universe conspires to help those who have a mission, and are immovable from it.
They closed on the purchase, maxed out every credit card, got a small personal loan from relatives, and set to work on the renovation.
And then, they struck gold (or at least a golden idea)…
One afternoon a few weeks in, while building a staircase down the steep slope behind the lodge, Kimball and one of his workers spotted something—a small sandstone cliff below.
What they say that first time…
The lightbulb flashed in his mind: this was the missing piece!
For two months they climbed up and down that steep hill, carefully hand-excavating the dirt below the cliff to reveal the stone basin. They worked a little magic in the form of a recirculating pump, pond liner, some clever design, and voilà—a one-of-a-kind waterfall and natural, heated swimming hole was born!
Of course, they also did a fantastic job transforming the lodge itself. Christine convinced Kimball to launch the property on Instagram exclusively, and so they did (incredible foresight and conviction).
When they opened…
Within months, they’d gone viral multiple times and bookings began pouring in. Today, The Lodge rents for $2,100/night, and is occupied 90% of the year, even though it is in a generally seasonal market.
But the story gets even better…
After generating a pretty penny of profits that first year, they bought 80 acres of pristine forest next door and started building 3 luxury bungalows to try to meet the demand of their new audience.
That’s when they discovered another sandstone formation, hidden under the soil. They weren’t even looking for it—they just had an open mind and felt like the bungalows needed their own private attraction.
For a month, they carefully hand-dug, powerwashed the stone, and shaped curving walls with local sand mixed into the concrete.
The result?
A breathtaking natural sandstone water feature with cascading waterfalls.
Their second creation…
Of course, these bungalows went wild when they opened the calendars.
Incredible profitability largely because of this incredible water feature.
In both cases—whether with the waterfall below the lodge or the sandstone falls near the three bungalows—an immensely valuable natural asset was patiently waiting for the right person, with the right vision, to come along and paint the perfect picture onto the natural canvas.
They spent a few tens of thousands (not hundreds, or even millions) developing these features, which are arguably now worth many millions of dollars.
Does this not inspire you? It deeply inspires me!
Now back to the beginning…
I’ve followed this property for years, and yet just a couple weeks ago, I got to meet Kimball and Christine in person at the Unique Stays Summit hosted by my friends Ben and Zach (it was awesome, by the way).
They are wonderful folks with such a strong desire to serve others and glorify God with their work, their time, and their talents. And their dream and desire to serve has been both immensely rewarding and rewarded.
My takeaways:
Take that vacation—you never know when or how inspiration might hit (and sometimes even terrible things like cancer have silver linings!)
Tune into your feelings and intuition. I did with the parcel for Live Oak Lake (I’ve described how it “spoke” to me), and Kimball and Christine described the same about the property that became The Cliffs
Get a conviction, a mission, and you become unstoppable
Some of the most valuable amenities in the world might be buried in your backyards—or hidden in plain sight…
Having a servant’s heart is both rewarding and rewarded!
This story is such a powerful example of what the right attitude, creativity, and hard work can accomplish! I’m privileged to call Kimball and Christine friends, and if you get the chance to go visit, you’ll see what I mean;)