George Coggins named his baby daughter Craig after Craigfields, the estate he had just inherited after his father passed away.

The more than 160 acres are untainted, wooded and just bordering Warren Wilson College. It has been in the family for more than 200 years. Now, Craig Coggins, more commonly called “Copper” for rust-colored hair, is selling it for $4.8 million.

Coggins, who is the director of Organizational and Professional Development at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, said her life isn't conducive to caring for the property. She said selling it in the most practical thing for her to do right now.

“I have more property than I can take care of,” said Coggins, after halting a car tour in front of a long, fallen branch blocking the road in the property's deep forest near Bull Creek.

“I'm letting go the best way I know how,” she said, thoughtful of her memories, her parents and the future of the land.

Coggins said her parents lived in town when she was growing up, but they'd come out and walk the loop on the property. Her knowledge of the area's botany is a “hand-me-down” from her dad. “He'd point out every leaf and grass and tree — and how to smell the leaves,” she said.

Coggins has owned the land since the late 1970s. In 1987, she built a house deep in the back of the property and has added two antique cabins, as well as a few other small buildings.

Over the years, Coggins also allowed different artists to live on the property. “This is a heart-breakingly beautiful place. It's got good karma,” she said. She'd love the land to become a haven for artists with families, a bed-and-breakfast, a conference center or even a cluster of 16-acre farms. “They'd go like hotcakes,” Coggins said.

Her daughter, Nesta Kennedy, said one of her fondest memories is gardening with her family on the land. But regarding the sale of the land, she said, “where we are now is where we need to be.”

Graphic artist Susan Rhew lived on and took care of the property for a time in the late 1980s. “It's sort of sad,” she said. “I'm not pro-development — it's a gorgeous piece of property.”
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