heartland retreat

     i had the opportunity  to spend time with one of the care takers of heartland retreat. this was the village of heritage built by don sterling, who has now passed and was transferred to a church. the church now runs the property as a bed and breakfast inn type.  like a lot of people who live in this area and grew up watched in fascination as this area was transformed from strip mine land , barren and fruitless to the small village of log cabin structures we see today. and i have always wanted to see what was beyond the gates and today i was gave the opportunity.

     i have always wanted to walk through the area and view the work don had done. don sterling was my dads boss for 28 years at beaver excavating. i remember meeting don one time while pushing broom in his Quonset building for my uncle bill who was also a mechanic there. he mentioned something about me doing a good job and only hoped he wouldn't have to pay me . at that time i was glad to do something for the older folks and i was a hard worker even though i was only 10 years old. 

    we  as a family were always interested in seeing beaver s trucks going here and there shaping camton and reshaping areas they had worked before. occasionally they would work at the city farm beside us putting out crap fires in brush or building ponds to store crap in. as it seemed as if that was all the city of canton had to offer pike township. beaver started to grow and eventually don turned over control of the business to family and he purchased this land along side st. rt . 183 and began to reshape it and build these cabins. these cabins were obtained from properties beaver was doing work on and required demolishing. instead of ending up in a landfill don had them trucked to his place outside magnolia and restored quite a few of them. 

    in fact i only thought that it was limited to what was along side the road but i would estimate maybe 30 -40 cabins exist in a variety of locations there. also i was amazed at the depth some of the strip pits go to in that area. couldn't imagine equipment at the time the land was stripped , to be able to achieve the depths they went to extract coal. 

     before don had done anything to the place and i was in high school biology, i can remember mr pickard wanting to take on the reclamation of that property as part of our earth day celebration. well it can still use some rehab work as there are some definite high walls behind the log cabins. 

 
   the picture below is one the barns and is a nice structure, that has great lines and is a remarkable piece of carpentry.

       this is the church that backs up to st. rt. 183 and had some beautiful stain glass windows that are now vandalized , and the glass to make them irreplaceable.

     there is a store, a bank,  a bath house , barns and carriage house , the main house and a hard rock cafe. this is an amazing piece of work and i am so thankful to have the opportunity to be able to view the menagerie of  rustic buildings. also want to remind everyone that tomorrow is the first day of algonquin mill festival. i will be carving part time with another carver , kevin thompson and we will be offering a variety of styles of chainsaw carving products. this festival runs from 9-5 daily and costs 8/ person i believe. Algonquin Mill Fall Festival- this is a link to their website with more information. i will talk more on this subject of heartland retreat when i get a chance.