Lake People/David Weatherly
For thirty-four years I’ve made my living telling stories with words and video. I shot and produced the popular “Roy’s Folks” series on Fox8 WGHP. Roy Ackland and I started doing the series in 1988 and traveled the region and sometimes well beyond looking for the interesting and talented people we called “Roy’s Folks.” In 2017 Roy retired but the series had become such a well-known brand that the decision was made to continue it with a new host, Chad Tucker. Chad was the perfect fit. He was a local boy, growing up in Stokes County. He had a love for history and had always been a huge fan of our segments. Chad and I would go on to give the viewers the same down home stories that everyone had come to expect. Now just as Roy Ackland before him, Chad is the name and face associated with the popular series and ends each segment with the tag line, “Looking for Roy’s Folks, I’m Chad Tucker. I have continued (as I preferred) to be the man behind the scenes, loving my semi-anonymity. There are so many unique characters in our area I doubt the series will ever run out of subjects. Despite all that, in 2021 I had the itch to try something new. I made the extremely difficult decision to leave “Roy’s Folks” in Chad’s capable hands and start a new venture… High Rock Lake Life.com.
Not too many years after we were married, my wife Christie and I bought a boat and fell in love with High Rock Lake. During the warmer months, on weekends and sometimes in the evening after as the days grew longer, we would haul it from our home in the northern part of Davidson County. We had good friends who also loved the water and it was great fun to spend time with them on water skis, kneeboards and tubing. Over the years we marveled at the wonderful resource we had at our disposal. But visiting the lake just wasn’t enough. We longed for a place we could stay and call our own.
A few years ago we finally took the plunge, so to speak, and bought a place on Abbott’s Creek. It was a condo that Christie had been eyeing for years. We were sold the minute we walked through the door and saw the view.
Being able to spend extended time on High Rock Lake allowed us to experience and enjoy it in a way well beyond what we had expected. Waking up to amazing sunrises over the water and cruising in our boat to watch the sun set are just a few of the rewards provided by lake living. Throw in fishing, kayaking or just relaxing on the porch, it’s easy to see how we discovered that it is not just a lake but a lifestyle. And that’s what got me thinking about starting this website. It’s such a wonderful place that part of me wanted to keep it all to myself but every time a “Non-lake” person asked me about it, I realized how little people knew about High Rock and everything it had to offer. Thus began this journey.
The vision is to have a place for lake residents and visitors to keep up with the latest happenings and find new things to see and do. I want it to encompass everything that defines the lake lifestyle. I mean everything, from fishing, boating to the latest in home décor and design. There will also be regular features about the interesting people who live in and around the lake.
I hope visitors to this site will find helpful information and learn to love it as much as we do. Please check back often for updates and more stories on other lake people who are way more interesting than I am.
Thanks for visiting…