A North Carolina housing development is building a patriotic community that will ask homeowners to agree to forever fly the American flag and support the U.S. Constitution.
Brock Fankhauser, founder of 1776 Gastonia, which will serve as a housing development for those 55 and older in Gastonia, North Carolina, told Fox News his goal is to incorporate American patriotism with homeownership.
“I think it’s safe to say right now our nation is a little bit sick,” he said. “As I look across the landscape of America right now, I see a country that’s suffering. I think there’s some pain and hurt going on. I think the medicine that America needs right now in some form is patriotism.”
According to Fankhauser’s company website, Great American Homes, the development of a patriotic community will be based on “the founding ideals of our nation: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” The website claims that 1776 Gastonia will be a “community Where Patriotism Lives.”
As part of the purchasing process of new homes, Great American Homes is requiring residents to “pledge” their support to the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. The company also requires residents of the housing development to promise loyalty to one another and continuously fly the American flag. An American flag is provided with the purchase of each Great American Home.
“We’re going to install the flag as part of the design of the home,” Fankhauser noted. “It’s an architectural element. It’s there the day you take possession of the home and close on it. From that point on, it’s each homeowner pledging to one another. It’s a promise, it’s a covenant. And so as long as the people who live in those homes continue with their covenants and their pledges to one another, the flags will fly.”
While Great American Homes will require homeowners to agree to the terms, Fankauser told Fox News that the company will not impose penalties on anyone who does not conform to the community’s rules.
“We embrace freedom. That’s obviously foundational to the American story,” he said. “To come after people with the heavy hand and penalties doesn’t strike me as consistent with founding ideals,” he continued. “So we are heavily reliant on the mutual pledges that people make to each other.”
Fankauser explained that the “ultimate goal” of the 1776 Gastonia community development is to increase patriotism. His company is also partnering with Building Homes for Heroes to provide one of the Great American Homes “mortgage-free” to an injured veteran and their family.
