John Pickens has developed many neighborhoods over his 43-year career in real estate — including Lincolnwood Drive in Evansville, and Willow Brook off Pollack Avenue and the homes along Blackberry Lane, both in Newburgh — but Sutherland on the East Side is where he found home.
“The design of this neighborhood encourages community, and it’s worked out that way,” says the longtime real estate agent and developer.
Trips to Southern communities encouraged him and his late wife, interior designer Susan, to bring coastal architecture to Evansville in the early 2000s. Pickens took inspiration from the South Carolina neighborhoods of I’On in Mount Pleasant and Habersham in Beaufort County near Hilton Head Island, plus the Sugartree gated community in southwestern Nashville, Tennessee. He also enjoyed the side courtyards he saw in Charleston, South Carolina, and the New Urbanism of houses in pedestrian-friendly Seaside, Florida. While several local neighborhoods are defined by their residential architecture — the National Register of Historic Places notes Tudor residences throughout Lincolnshire and the mid-century modern, ranch-style homes in Hebron-Meadows — the plantation-style designs Pickens dreamed up stood in contrast to anything else available locally.
“We thought we’d give Evansville a little something different,” Pickens says. “This neighborhood is the only one like it here.”
He bought the land for Sutherland, a development off Covert Avenue east of Green River Road, in 1999 and started building in the early 2000s. Southern-style living was something Pickens knew would sell in Evansville; the Pickenses insisted each home have its own design so no two residences are alike. Hints of Southern charm are found in the Colonial-tinged columns, tall windows that flood open spaces with light, space-enhancing tray ceilings, and inviting courtyards. Privacy is afforded to the entire neighborhood via a brick wall around it, but inside, Pickens prioritized connection with front-facing porches.
Strolling Sutherland’s streets could fool some into smelling sea salt in the air and feeling an ocean breeze. “I think people like that everything is different,” says Pickens, who has lived in 10 of the development’s 58 houses. “They like a walking neighborhood, a sense of community where people know each other, and we do things together. They want to be part of a group.”
Pickens’ own Sutherland residences have included Evansville Living’s inaugural Idea Home, now owned by Dora and Brian Feagley, who are seven-year Sutherland residents. The Feagleys have not changed much aside from some paint colors and the addition of a pool, while Brian did his own landscaping with plants frequent in Southern gardens, including hydrangeas, crape myrtles, and boxwood. The couple liked Sutherland so much, they encouraged Brian’s parents to relocate there.
“We love the uniqueness of it. It’s its own little community, and we all kind of look out for each other,” Dora says. “(It’s) a little slice of heaven in Evansville.”
