Peninsula In Passage

Ronnie Rountree Ronnie Rountree was still a child, peddling homemade pies and soft drinks to the construction workers, when the original Obici Hospital was being built next door to his home in downtown Suffolk. It was the beginning of a challenging career that remains tied to the Obici legacy.

Sixty years later Rountree completed the revival of the deteriorating Obici mansion and manages the scenic Sleepy Hole Golf Course on the former Obici property, Bay Point Farm. Rountree graduated from Chuckatuck High School in 1961 and spent a few semesters at Randolph Macon College until the money ran out. He worked with the highway department until 1972 when, with longtime friend, Jimmy Smith, he started Rountree Construction. I married Diane in 1964 and the children were born in ‘66, ‘68 and ‘70. By 1972 I knew I needed to do something different. I saw others doing concrete work and it seemed to have a good margin of profit. I wanted to have a small company, nothing big with lots of employees. Smith knew heavy equipment and was able to borrow backhoes from other contractors until he and Rountree could afford their own equipment. Together they mastered the art of drop inlets and grew from there –until the recession of the early 1980s. We were about out of work when Bob Williams walked in the door of our small office on Bennett’s Pasture Road. I didn’t know him from anyone. He said he wanted to talk about work at Harbour View and wanted a mid-size company to work with him in sort of a consulting capacity. I said I’d give Bob an answer the next day but I had a hard time holding back a “Yes” and hugging him. Bob needed help with the construction end of it all. A borrow pit had to be dug and wooded property had to be cleared. The dirt was needed for the 664 construction. We got all the permitting and then landed the contract to clear the land and dig the pit. Bob made enough from the dirt to

start plans and engineering for Harbour View. We put in the waterlines, sewers, storm drains, and did the clearing work. Harbour View started with Burbage Grant and with 119 lots sold, a few at a time, to Centex. The first house was done the day before Thanksgiving, 1992. It happened so fast I didn’t know what was happening and I was just thinking this might be the beginning of something big. Then I wondered where all the people were coming from to buy all those homes in Harbour View. After Hurricane Isabel in September 2003, Rountree Construction earned enough contracts to repair bridges and roads across the area to stay in business and survive another rough patch. But the economy turned again and in October 2010 Rountree and Smith knew there was no more light at the end of their tunnel. Smith retired and Rountree focused on the golf course and bringing the Obici House back to its former status as a community landmark and reception venue.

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