Developer Shawn Cummings is planning to develop an upscale tiny home community with hundreds of lots at Hidden Lake Campgrounds south of Graham along N.C. Highway 54.
While Cummings has largely focused on developing subdivisions with traditional single-family homes in and around Alamance County over the past 10 years, he’s embracing the tiny home trend as part of a broader goal of increasing the housing supply, and “attainable housing” in particular, in Alamance County.
“We’re going to make it beautiful – lots of amenities,” Cummings said in a recent interview with The Alamance News.
The tiny home trend is “a big market, especially with [the lack of] affordability” in the traditional, single-family housing market, Cummings told the newspaper last week. “It could be a small solution to a problem,” he said.
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The tiny home community at Hidden Lake will be developed in partnership with J.M. Holt & Associates of Graham.
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The development partners purchased the 147-acre Hidden Lake Campgrounds property this spring from Jean C. (“Priscilla”) Majors and Richard Kelley through two separate transactions.
For his part, Cummings purchased a 77-acre portion of the campground property off N.C. Highway 54 for $300,000 this spring.
His partner on the project, J.M. Holt & Associates, purchased two other parcels that are contiguous to the 77-acre tract and span just under 70 acres for $2.45 million in late March of this year, based on documents that have been filed with Alamance County’s Register of Deeds to consummate the purchase.
Alamance County tax records list the latest, total assessed value for the three parcels purchased by Cummings and J.M. Holt & Associates at $1.2 million.
In the interview, Cummings laid out his vision for a “tiny home on wheels” community that initially would have between 200 and 300 units. “Technically, it’s going to be an RV park,” he said, meaning that the tiny home community would be subject to Alamance County’s regulations for developments with recreational vehicles, campers, and other motorized dwellings.
The Hidden Lake property currently includes a covered canopy at the end of a half-mile drive that leads to the lake and campground, as well as a warehouse, garage, and several other structures, according to county tax records.
Elevated amenities
The tiny home community at Hidden Lake could eventually have upwards of 500 lots with amenities such as: pickleball courts and other athletic courts; a pool; a community garden and a lighted garden; an outdoor recreation area; a gym with a climbing wall; dog parks; and fire pits, based on materials that an Alamance News reporter was allowed to review while sitting in on a weekly projects meeting with Cummings and his development team on Monday morning.
Meanwhile, Cummings and other members of the development team at VennTerra have visited a number of similar communities in North Carolina to get an idea of some of the elements that they might want to incorporate into the tiny home community planned off N.C. Highway 54.
Early last month, the group toured a houseboat site and Eden Village in Wilmington, a tiny home community about five minutes from the Riverwalk in downtown Wilmington. They also toured another tiny home development, named In the Pines RV & Cabin Village, in Brunswick County, and the Oceans RV Resort in Holly Ridge (near Surf City in Onslow County), based on the materials that the newspaper reviewed at Cummings’ company headquarters in Graham.
The tiny home community at Hidden Lake could be modeled on Cranmore Meadows, a tiny home development also off N.C. Highway 54 at 3010 Milky Way, which is about three miles from Hidden Lake Campgrounds but has a Haw River address.
[Story continues below photos of various tiny home communities (mentioned above).]
Eden Village in Wilmington 
In the Pines RV & Cabin Village in Brunswick County 
Oceans RV Resort in Holly Ridge 
A cabin in Cranmore Meadows, off N.C. 54 south of Graham, a few miles from future tiny homes subdivision being planned by Graham developer Shawn Cummings.
The preliminary plans for the tiny home community at Hidden Lake include “sub-community sections” that would provide opportunities to engage with others and “aesthetic amenities” to create a relaxing yet active community, based on the project materials that the newspaper reviewed at VennTerra’s headquarters.
For example, the tiny home community at Hidden Lake could feature a dedicated area for “glamping” to capitalize on the “luxury” camping trend that blends the amenities of hotel accommodations with the natural environment.
The site would need extensive cleanup, to include “stripping” an existing warehouse and repainting its roof; removal of debris and abandoned campers; and repairs to holes that pockmark the gravel drive that leads from N.C. 54 into the current campground area, based on the project materials the newspaper reviewed.
One member of Cummings’ development team pointed out during their discussion Monday morning that flooding from remnants of Tropical Storm Chantal earlier this month had “scoured” some of the asphalt surfaces on the property.
The developers have hired Delta Contracting in Haw River to do the milling to prepare the half-mile gravel driveway to be paved and have requested bids from three area firms for the paving work.
Completion of preliminary design targeted for the end of 2025
The next phase of the project calls for hiring a firm to develop a schematic design and concept plan for the tiny home community by the end of this year.
Some of the architectural firms that Cummings and his partner, J.M. Holt & Associates, are considering for the master planning phase include: Clark Nexsen of Raleigh and Charlotte; Perkins and Will of Charlotte; and Little Diversified Architectural Consulting (“Little”) in Charlotte, based on the materials that the newspaper’s reporter reviewed Monday morning. (Clark Nexsen designed the Biotechnology Center of Excellence at Alamance Community College; and Little designed the Advanced Applied Technology at ACC.)
Among the tiny home manufacturers that the developers are considering include Incredible Tiny Homes of Newport, Tennessee and Perch & Nest of Winston-Salem.
The development at Hidden Lake would be marketed as “a premier tiny home community centered around a secluded lake” and targeted to professionals who’d be commuting to jobs in Chapel Hill – UNC Hospital, for example, is an 18-mile drive down N.C. Highway 54 – and other nearby cities, based on the project materials that the newspaper reviewed.
The overall footprint for the tiny home community off N.C. Highway 54 could also be enlarged by approximately 40 acres, depending upon the outcome of ongoing conversations about a possible land swap with an adjoining property owner, Cummings told the newspaper Monday.
At the same time, the developer stressed that the adjoining property owner is “willing to continue the conversations” but hasn’t yet committed to an exchange.
Other details, such as whether the tiny homes would be for sale or rent, and possible price points, are still being determined, based on the materials that the newspaper reviewed at VennTerra’s headquarters in Graham.
On average, most tiny homes are 400 square feet or less, according to a recent analysis by the National Association of Home Builders, which showed that 26 percent of homebuilders began shrinking their floor plans in 2024 in an effort to appeal to consumers seeking smaller homes, lower prices, and little to no yard work.
