GRANITE RIDGE ADDITION

Classic and Timeless in Design

Medicine Park, Oklahoma

Picture a beautiful hillside neighborhood of charming cobblestone homes and cottages with classic, timeless designs nestled among mature black jack oak trees and panoramic views of the Wichita Mountains. Bordered on the west by the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, on the north by Lake Lawtonka and overlooking the quaint town of Medicine Park is just such a vision, and it is called Granite Ridge.

Five minutes from the north entrance of Fort Sill's Apache Gate and fifteen minutes from downtown Lawton, this picturesque setting provides easy access to all the amenities of the city, while it is surrounded by nature's best. Never-to-be-developed neighboring land offers a true stress-free haven. Scenic, groomed walking trails will connect Granite Ridge to the towncenter of Medicine Park, the Wildlife Refuge and Lake Lawtonka.  You can live where most people dream of vacationing with hiking, fishing, swimming, boating, bird and wildlife watching and gazing at the stars in your own backyard.

Granite Ridge, approximately 60 acres within the town limits of Medicine Park, is a rural planned neighborhood like none other in southwest Oklahoma.  The homes and cottages are moderately priced, and yet they have the all the amenities and fine details of “high end” homes. 

For developers David and Candace McCoy of McCoy Development Company, detail in the neighborhood's planning is the name of the game. Each home is of a timeless individual design with desirable views and high quality construction. Absolutely no detail is spared, from underground utilities to cobblestone retaining walls, to native and developed walking trails, to the finest detailing incorporated in the building of each home. It immediately becomes evident that this is truly someplace special.

Granite Ridge is a place you will want to spend a lifetime.

Medicine Park, Oklahoma's historic first planned resort, recently celebrated its founding centennial. The Park has always been a unique market.  Although the past trends of the 1930s to the late 1990s were typically toward “weekend getaway cabins”, the recent shift has been to permanent single family homes.

Phase I of Granite Ridge includes 31 affordably priced lots with homes of approximately 1,100 to 3,400 sq. ft. This restricted neighborhood is ideal for people working in, or needing access to, Lawton, Fort Sill or Elgin.

The homes, which Candace calls "arts and crafts design" are intended to appeal to those looking for a nostalgic simpler time with a better quality of life. The arts and crafts design style began in Britain in the late 1800s. The concept spurned mass-produced reproductions and had as its focus homes built with handcrafted styling, hoping to elevate the builder's craftsmanship to the level of artisans. The art of home building and the craftsman ideals promote beauty, creativity and simplicity in life. These ideals inspired a young Frank Lloyd Wright, who used these principles to found his famous Prairie Style.

Planning for the project has been underway for a number of years. Many challenges have been faced in creating these lovely homesites.

The area in and around the Wichita Mountains and Medicine Park is well known for its hard compacted soils and granite rock sub-surfaces. Literally "cutting" a housing development and constructing infrastructure for roads and utilities out of the hillsides seemed an almost impossible task. Through costly engineering, meticulous planning, a lot of heavy equipment, and lots of man hours, the effort and expense have proved worthwhile.

Another worthy challenge was that the David and Candace wanted to use native granite cobblestones in the design of the homes. These stones are a historically, predominant architectural feature of the structures and homes in Medicine Park. The reddish, grapefruit to basketball-size, and near perfectly rounded, stones are found only in select areas of the Wichitas and most notably in Medicine Park. They were formed over a period of nearly 500 million years through what geologists call "freeze, thaw, tumble."  Because so many of these unusual stones have been used in past 100 years for the development of the town, they were becoming scarce. Yet the McCoys needed literally hundreds and hundreds of them, and these days one just doesn't find that many "lying around." 

Heavy equipment on the site was being used to build small ponds as part of the landscaping process. As the equipment began digging into the hard ground, literally thousands of cobblestones began to be uncovered. David McCoy built a huge sieve screen from heavy steel rods and metal framing. As the soils were dug up to construct the ponds, backhoes would dump the overburden atop the sieve. The soils and particulate matter would fall through the "screen" leaving only the cobblestones. The soils were then used for fill dirt and terracing in the development and the thousands of cobblestones stock-piled for later use. McCoy's innovation now placed him in the "cobblestone mining" business. (Plus, he's the Fire Chief of Medicine Park’s Volunteer Fire Department!)

Candace serves as the designer for each home and has assembled an array of outstanding elements to be incorporated into each design. Each floor plan is well thought out with a great amount of attention placed into detail. Using energy efficient designs, durable materials and solid construction means you can trust the quality of each home for life.

David is a certified custom home builder and has been creating distinctive homes for more than 20 years. The team of David and Candace McCoy has earned a reputation for translating classic design into one-of-a-kind show places. 

In keeping with a unique theme for the development, like many of the historic homes in Medicine Park, each new home is given a particular name. There's The Elmer Thomas (named after the town's founder), The Rockhurst, The Woodridge, The Oakdale Bungalow, The Park Hill, The Fisher Place and more.

The McCoys also wanted an environmentally friendly development approach.  So, Candace has incorporated "xeriscaping" (pronounced “zer-i-skaping”) into the outdoor elements of each home design. Xeriscaping is a word used to describe landscaping with water conservation as a major objective. The derivation of the word is from the Greek "xeros," meaning dry, and landscaping -- thus, xeriscaping.  All of the homes are landscaped using Zoysia grasses which are noted for the needing for far less water than other grasses and that thrive in blistering heat, survives the coldest winters, is excellent for slopes and tough conditions, reduces mowing, chokes out weeds, cuts costs and chemicals as it naturally resists insects. It grows incredibly thick and green, like a soft carpet. Other such elements used in landscaping are the xeriscape gardens utilizing wildflowers native to the area which are perfectly suited to the area's climate and conditions. Overall, it means more beauty and less work for the homeowner.

Granite Ridge Homes are unique and designed for life -- your life. 

To learn more log onto the website at www.graniteridgehouses.com or call Candace at (580) 574-8818.

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