. Prof. of Art Professors Paul and Sharon Pitt had a very different living arrangement than most Harding faculty-they lived under – ground. It took eight years to convince his wife, but finally Paul, an art professor, was able to fulfill his dream of build– ing an underground house. "J was thinking, 'Ok, I'm married to this man for life and this is a dream of his, '" Sharon Pitt said. "So I nnally decided I needed to go along with it. And it's been good." The Pitts carved their two - story house out of a hill, with the south side opening up into a wall ofwindows, completing the face of the mount they lived under. The arch of windows were framed with rockwork, fOfllling an overhang to protect the house from direct sunlight in the summer . Grass grew on their roof, right up to the rockwork. "It' s a very easy house to heat and cool," Sharon said. Paul had been looking at underground houses since he was in – volved in the spelunking club at Harding in 1961 and with his fa – miliarity with caves he knew some of the bene£lts of having a house underground. "The temperature in caves is always regulated," Paul said . "I was way ahead of my time on being green and this is a green house." While living in the house has been a great experience, the process of getting it build proved to be a little more difficult. The biggest problem was getting a bank loan for the unusual building project. The Pitts went ahead and began with their own money, however, and acquired a loan a little further down the road. Cheri Smith, EdD., Asst. Prof. Edu/Dir. Prof. Field Exp. Jeanie Smith, PharmD., Asst. Prof. Pharm. Patty Smith, B.S.N., Instr. Nursing Ron Smith, M.Ed., Asst. Prof. Math Steve Smitp, Ph.D., Prof. Math/Dept. Chair Terry Smilh, EdD., Prof. Behav. Sci./Chair Keith Stanglin, Ph.D., A§6t. Prof. Historical Theology Jake Stewart, iIv.\ .BA, Asst. Prof. Business Kevin Stewart, Ph.D., Asst. Prof. Chemistry Daniel Stockstill, Ph.D., Assoc. Prof.!Assoc. Dean Bible Rayanne Story, Pharm. D., Asst. Prof Pharm. Practice Gordon Sutherlin, Ed.D., Prof. Edu. Devin Swindle, M.Div., Asst. Prof. Bible Oneal Tankersley, B.A., Missionary-in-Residence Rebecca Teague, M.S.E., Instr. FCS Linda Thompson, Ed."D., Dir. McNair Project Phil Thompson, D.Min .. Assoc. Prof. Bible Phil Tobin, M.P.A.S.. Asst. Prof.!Asst. Clinic Dir. PA Ken Turley, Ph.D., Assoc. Prof. Kines/Dir. Well ness Laurie Walker, M.S., Instr. Math Mark Wang, M.B.A., Instr./Asst. Dir. Chinese Stu. Life Richard Ward, Pharm. D., Asst. Prof. Pharm. Betty Watson, Ed.D, Dist. Prof. Edu./Dir. Early Child. Beckie Weaver, PhD, Prof.!Chair Comm. Sci. & Dis. 154 leadership Asst. Prof. Comm. "The banks were afraid because it was different," Paul said. "We had to get it started on a shoe string budget. . . Once they saw what we had , they gave us a home improvement loan to h e lp us finish it , but they had to see it first." To get the project started, without a home loan, they enlisted the help of their children and used their own talents as much as possible. "It's built like a swimming pool upside-down," Paul said. "My dad was a welder so that experience helped me." Because they were on a tight budget when they first started build– ing the house , the Pi tts had to replace the sad on their roof this past year because tree roots had begun to poke through. "We didn't have the money to buy sad so we just went out [on our property] and dug grass and took it up there. That grass could have honeysuckle or little trees and so over the years those roots have penetrated," Sharon said. "So we cut all that and put new vinyl in and we're putting new sad and dirt up there . " The Pitt 's house was featured in a number of articles over the years and at one point had HGTV come and £lIm the house for one of their show segments; however, that was never aired. Since moving into the house in December of 1987, Sharon en– joyed hosting and cooking for some of her students each semester. Students enjoyed getting to see this different style of house . "Most of my students really enjoy it because it's differe nt; it's not like a normal house," Sharon said. "They call it the 'Hobbit House.'" Penelope Cronk and Emily Hauptfi
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