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Johnson Homeplace.
We invite you to tour the Chatt Hills Barn Quilt Trail and learn more about the rich rural heritage of beautiful Chattahoochee Hills. Visitors are welcome to take photos from the public road, and are invited to shop in the local businesses.
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Johnson Homeplace (#54)
12445 Whiteside Rd 
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A log cabin . . . at home in the woods
Lee and Rhonda Johnson are the kind of couple who’d rather fall asleep to a whip-poor-will’s song than the hum of city traffic.
Back in 1998, their search for a quiet place to call home led them to Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia, where they settled deep in the countryside and built a log cabin that feels like it grew straight from the woods around it—warm, sturdy, and perfectly at peace with nature. When it came time to choose a pattern for their barn quilt, Rhonda picked “Deer in the Woods” by MontgomeryGraphix, a fitting tribute to the gentle wildlife that wanders through their property each day. |
Lee & Rhonda Johnson. . .rooted in nature
Lee Johnson, Master taxidermist
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Lasorda & Johnsons celebrate Summer's recovery
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Rhonda Johnson, Cytologist
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Lee and Rhonda Johnson both grew up on farms not far from Chattahoochee Hills, where the fields and forests became their first classrooms. Lee was an avid bowhunter who could read the woods like a good book, each track and rustle telling a story. His fascination with wildlife led him to study taxidermy while still in high school. Rhonda was just as at home outdoors, often spending her afternoons sending arrow after arrow toward a target until her arms ached and her aim was true. Fate stepped in one day when Rhonda brought her dog to the local veterinarian—Lee’s father, who was as much a matchmaker as a healer. When Lee and Rhonda finally met, it was like two rivers joining; their shared love of nature flowed easily into something deeper.
As the years rolled on, Rhonda pursued college in South Carolina, where her curiosity about life’s building blocks led her into cytology—the microscopic world of human cells. Lee apprenticed under a master taxidermist, honing his craft until he opened his own shop, Uniques Taxidermy, in Fairburn, Georgia. Before long, the couple married, started a family, and began dreaming of a place where their roots could run deep.
They found it in Chattahoochee Hills—a stretch of land wrapped in trees and quiet, just a few miles from where they’d grown up. There they built a log cabin that feels more like it grew from the earth than was built upon it, a place where wind in the pines hums along with their laughter. Rhonda homeschooled their three children—Jason, Kel, and Summer—turning their backyard into both classroom and playground. Science lessons took place under the open sky, where the kids studied nature by living it. They grew vegetables, raised animals, and learned that hard work and wonder often walk hand in hand. For “PE,” they swapped gym shoes for fishing poles and archery bows, learning skills that stitched them even closer to the land and to each other.
Those lessons clearly took root. Jason carried his steady hands and big heart into dentistry, running his own practice and using his gifts to help others—both at home and on mission trips abroad. Kel followed his love of adventure from the ball field to the clouds, earning his wings as a pilot and teaching others to fly with the same calm confidence he learned growing up in the woods. And Summer, always full of cheerful determination, found her calling in caring for others—first as a volleyball captain during college, and now as a critical-care unit nurse, where her compassion runs as deep as her courage. That courage showed itself early. When Summer was twelve, she was at a baseball game cheering on her brother Kel during a Team USA tryout when a foul ball struck her in the eye—a tragedy that would test the family’s strength. During that frightening moment, Hall of Fame Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, seated just behind her, rushed to help. Weeks later, he made a surprise trip all the way to their cabin in Chatt Hills for his 86th birthday, to visit the young girl whose spirit had inspired him.
Today, the Johnsons’ log cabin still stands among the whispering woods—a living scrapbook filled with memories, laughter, and love. Their six grandchildren now roam the same paths their parents once did, chasing butterflies and stories. For Lee and Rhonda, home isn’t just where they live—it’s part of who they are. In Chatt Hills, their hearts beat in rhythm with the land they love.
As the years rolled on, Rhonda pursued college in South Carolina, where her curiosity about life’s building blocks led her into cytology—the microscopic world of human cells. Lee apprenticed under a master taxidermist, honing his craft until he opened his own shop, Uniques Taxidermy, in Fairburn, Georgia. Before long, the couple married, started a family, and began dreaming of a place where their roots could run deep.
They found it in Chattahoochee Hills—a stretch of land wrapped in trees and quiet, just a few miles from where they’d grown up. There they built a log cabin that feels more like it grew from the earth than was built upon it, a place where wind in the pines hums along with their laughter. Rhonda homeschooled their three children—Jason, Kel, and Summer—turning their backyard into both classroom and playground. Science lessons took place under the open sky, where the kids studied nature by living it. They grew vegetables, raised animals, and learned that hard work and wonder often walk hand in hand. For “PE,” they swapped gym shoes for fishing poles and archery bows, learning skills that stitched them even closer to the land and to each other.
Those lessons clearly took root. Jason carried his steady hands and big heart into dentistry, running his own practice and using his gifts to help others—both at home and on mission trips abroad. Kel followed his love of adventure from the ball field to the clouds, earning his wings as a pilot and teaching others to fly with the same calm confidence he learned growing up in the woods. And Summer, always full of cheerful determination, found her calling in caring for others—first as a volleyball captain during college, and now as a critical-care unit nurse, where her compassion runs as deep as her courage. That courage showed itself early. When Summer was twelve, she was at a baseball game cheering on her brother Kel during a Team USA tryout when a foul ball struck her in the eye—a tragedy that would test the family’s strength. During that frightening moment, Hall of Fame Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, seated just behind her, rushed to help. Weeks later, he made a surprise trip all the way to their cabin in Chatt Hills for his 86th birthday, to visit the young girl whose spirit had inspired him.
Today, the Johnsons’ log cabin still stands among the whispering woods—a living scrapbook filled with memories, laughter, and love. Their six grandchildren now roam the same paths their parents once did, chasing butterflies and stories. For Lee and Rhonda, home isn’t just where they live—it’s part of who they are. In Chatt Hills, their hearts beat in rhythm with the land they love.
