Luxury Tiny-Home Resort in Whiskey Creek to Bring 79 Sites to Lynchburg

On the far side of the covered bridge spanning Mulberry Creek at 975 Main St., work is stirring again at The Retreat at Whiskey Creek. The 79-site development, approved in 2021 and described by Moore County Observer publisher Duane Cross as "more than five years in the making," had moved forward in fits and starts before construction resumed this month.

Developers are marketing the project as a "luxury" tiny-home community, with promotional materials describing a "rustic, resort-inspired community" that "pays homage to Lynchburg's history and distilling heritage." The site sits about a mile from the historic Square, close enough, backers say, to appeal to both overnight visitors and locals.

The fiscal argument for the project may be just as compelling as the aesthetic one. Moore County's total sales tax rate currently sits at 9.5%, composed of a 7% state tax and a 2.5% local option tax. Voters have twice recently rejected proposals to raise that rate to 9.75%, leaving county officials with limited leverage to grow revenue through rate increases. A development that generates more taxable transactions without touching that rate has real appeal in that context.

The tourism angle reinforces the case. Jack Daniel's reports roughly 300,000 visitors to its Lynchburg distillery each year. Moore County, as Cross noted in his reporting, does not need to manufacture tourism demand; the visitors are already arriving. The opportunity The Retreat at Whiskey Creek represents is capturing a larger share of what those 300,000 people spend while they are here rather than watching those dollars leave town when they do.

A recorded plat for the development has been referenced in local coverage, though specific permitting details, developer identities, unit pricing, and a projected completion date have not yet been made public. With construction now visibly underway again near the Mulberry Creek bridge, the project that has tested Lynchburg's patience since 2021 is at least showing signs of becoming real.