In 1967, after graduating from Columbus College (now Columbus State University), John “Donnie” Peek bought 150 acres in northwest Muscogee County. He and his wife, Judy, decided it was worth buying the land despite a propane pipeline running through the property.
A decade later, they completed building their house on the highest point in Muscogee County at 648 feet. Their porch offers a view of hills as far as Opelika, Alabama, about 30 miles away. At night, they can use binoculars to see cars crossing the Chattahoochee River on the 13th Street bridge between Columbus and Phenix City. Below his porch and down a hill, they have a muscadine orchard and fruit trees growing pears, plums and apples.
Peek founded and operated Peek Pavement Marking Company in the 1970s, which paints line strips on highways…