Man caves: They used to be a guy's secret getaway, but now they are also being used for family and friends
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on March 12, 2017 1:45 AM
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Chris Sasser tunes an old radio that is housed in a vintage telephone in his man cave. Most of the stick built building houses racing memorabilia from his days as a race car driver, builder and mechanic.
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Vintage photos and signs line of the walls of Chris Sasser's NASCAR-themed man cave.
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Every man cave needs a pool table, and Chris Sasser's has one, along with a vintage Budweiser light. He enjoys a good game of pool with friends.
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A Civil War enthusiast, K.C. Gurley keeps many books on the subject and books on the Sons of Confederate Veterans in his man cave.
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Civil War memorabilia and old metal signs line the walls of K.C. Gurley's Honky Tonk.
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K.C. Gurley stands on the porch of the man cave that he converted from an old tobacco barn. He uses the space for entertaining friends and for cooking -- and sometimes to get away from the stresses of life.
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Brent Hood plays a tune he wrote on an old piano he keeps in his man cave. Sometimes he plugs in his electric guitar and has his own jam session.
Man caves.
No, they're not home to prehistoric men. They're a place where modern men go to escape the stresses of life, usually a special spot in the home or a structure beside the home.
But today's men are sharing their man caves with others in their family and also with friends.
Three local men who have their own man caves are K.C. Gurley, Brent Hood and Chris Sasser.
Gurley's man cave in Fremont used to an old tobacco barn. It was given to him by a friend when it was going to be torn down to make way for a new road.
"This barn was probably built right after Hurricane Hazel, about 1954 or 1955," the 74-year-old said. "It's a good solid barn."
Gurley said a big part of the fun of his man cave was building an addition to it, adding a second story and insulating it with poplar.
"We sawed the trees down and a portable saw mill came and sawed the boards," he said. "Tom Cuddington helped with the wood. Every piece of wood in here, Tom has had his hands on."
Also helping out a lot in the beginning of the project was Camille Boutot, who has since passed away.
"My favorite memory is of me and Boutot starting this barn," Gurley said. "He was a Yankee, but retired and moved down here just down the road from me. We started spending time together. We just needed somewhere that we could sit out on the porch and maybe cook something."
Gurley started working on his man cave about six months before the Twin Towers were attacked. He said all these years later, he's still not done with it. He named it Honky Tonk.
He wants to add a second porch and some more decorations to the building.
On the second floor are chairs, couches, a desk and a small bed. Gurley goes up there for a little privacy and sometimes to do a little reading.
Lots of old bottles and jugs fill up spaces in Honky Tonk.
"Most of them I dug up myself," he said. "Some date back to the 1800s. I also have lots of other old items that I've picked up through the years, including a lot of old signs."
Inside, Gurley and his visitors stay comfortable with heat and air conditioning.
Outside the man cave are huge trees and a large pond with ducks on it.
Gurley said he never dreamed he would get so much enjoyment out of his man cave.
"It's a good place to get together," he said. "If anybody calls, I'll tell them to come on by the barn for a visit. It's perfect."
Not only do friends frequent Honky Tonk, but so does Gurley's family. And the Sons of Confederate Veterans, of which he's a member, meets there.
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Hood's man cave is located in part of what used to be his private photography studio. He found a man near Spivey's Corner who was tearing down some chicken houses and was selling the wood after he pressure washed it. That's what Hood used to build the exterior wall of his man cave when he created it about 2 1/2 years ago.
"I just got a wild hair and decided I wanted one," the 53-year-old said. "I had collectible things, not much value, but all sentimental type things that my wife was not going to let me put in the house.
"I decided I wanted it to look kind of like an eclectic living room from the 1960s or somewhere along in there. So I decorated it with a variety of things that nobody else was ever going to hang up."
Probably his most favorite item is an old riding toy firetruck, which and his son, Parker, acquired from a landfill.
"I thought it would look really cool in my man cave," Hood said. "It reminds me of somebody special to me. My late brother, Kent, was a fireman. He passed away in 2012 from colon cancer. That's about the coolest thing I have in here."
Some of the more unusual items you'll find in the man cave are three art pieces with dogs, quails and horses on them.
"There was a fad maybe in the late 1960s or early 1970s where people doing craft-type work would make those things," Hood said. "It's a fabric print that they stitched around some of the objects in it and then added stuffing to give it a 3D effect. They were in the attic of our home, which belonged to my wife's grandparents on her mom's side. It fit the era of time I was going for. When I found them in the attic, I immediately thought, 'man cave.'"
Another unusual item is an old painting of an outdoor camping scene with a mountain in it, the moon and a fire pit. Hood said there used to be a person who would paint this scene on cardboard on the side of the street. He found this treasure in his attic.
On one wall of the man cave sits a glass case that came out of the store that Hood's wife's grandfather used to have just up the road. In it are two old typewriters and some sentimental items. Like Hood's first ever driver's license. And some Boy Scout patches he earned when he hiked 100 miles from Fremont to Halifax with Troop 59 when he was 12.
There's also a train set that belonged to his father-in-law, Vaden Brock and fishing lures that belonged to his late uncle Terry Williams.
"I mostly use my man cave for getting away from the house," Hood said. "The cell phone doesn't work all that great in this metal building so it's almost like an unplugged get away. I don't have Internet over here and there's not phone."
Something that brings back a lot of memories for Hood is a big assortment of old LP records that he plays on an old stereo player from the 1960s.
"One of the songs reminds me of a great childhood memory when Kent and I were growing up on the farm in Grantham," he said.
Hood said he and his brother would ride around the 80-acre farm with their grandfather. And their grandfather would always sing a couple of tunes, with no radio on, while he was driving his old truck.
"One was 'Have I Told You Lately That I Love You,'" Hood said. "My grandfather would put his hands up on the steering wheel with his fingers locked and sing that song. When I hear it, I flash back to riding in the front seat of his truck on his farm with no shoes on."
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Sasser is on his second man cave. But his second one is a lot fancier than his first one. He and his sons built it in 2002, with a little help from his father-in-law.
"One of the biggest things I did was put it together for my kids who were in high school as a place they could come and bring their friends," the 55-year-old said. "It is my man cave, but it's my kids' place as well."
Sasser's man cave has a racing theme to it. On the walls are all kinds of racing photos and other racing memorabilia, including pictures of Dale Earnhart and Dale Earnhart Jr. There are also signs and cards on the walls.
"Over the years, I've collected this stuff," Sasser said. "Years ago, I raced a car myself. And I built race cars and work on them for years."
You'll also find a full size cutout of John Wayne and an old black and white photo of Barney Fife from "The Andy Griffith Show."
On one end of the man cave is a pool table. There's also a refrigerator and even a bathroom with a shower in it. If you get tired, you can sit a spell in one of the two rocking recliners or on the couch that reclines on both ends.
Every Wednesday, friends drop by Sasser's man cave for a cookout.
"When I don't have people over, this is my place," he said. "I am out here about every night. I look at TV. It actually gets my mind off things. I don't worry about work and I don't worry about other stuff."