If you can dream it, you can do
it.
–Walt Disney
–Walt Disney
Copyright 2008 The Red
Spirit
History
No one knows exactly when native people first made their home on this land. Perhaps they chose it because the high ground and woods gave them protection. Most likely, the abundance of wildlife sustained them and the low wetlands nearby provided water, food and materials for their weaving. The neighboring wetland was called "muck" and only hemlock trees grew in it. At that time, the muckland was impassable and full of rattlesnakes which the native people trapped. In the 1860s, the hemlocks were cut down for home-building and the bark was hauled to Plummerville to be used in the process of tanning.
In the late 1800s, A.M.Todd purchased the land and brought people over from Denmark to teach him about this "muck" and how to drain it. Special shoes were made for the horses to walk through muck and during this time, 2 mastodon skeletons were found. Todd tried various crops and by 1927, he grew 98% of the world's peppermint. In the late 1930s, wilt destroyed the peppermint but to this day, it is still known as the Todd farm.
The earliest recorded history for this 20 acres of high ground began in 1862. It passed through numerous investors over time until the 1940s when it became a wooded pasture for cows.
In the 1980s, the heart of the woods acquired its first structures, a barn and a cabin with a mobile home attached. We learned that arrow heads and pottery shards had been found over the years, some of the trees had been badly lumbered and grapevine still draped and strangled others. Briar branches were a good fifteen feet long, making it nearly impossible to walk in some places.
Our work, to care for the trees and land and encourage wildlife, began immediately on purchasing this land 1994. My husband and I first saw the Red Spirit in the early spring during one rainy night when we were sleeping in a teepee. I awoke to the sound of rain and saw a red glow through the canvas. It disappeared when we went out to investigate but reappeared the following night. This time it was inside the teepee going up the poles and out the smoke hole. Only a few people we know have seen this Red Spirit energy but all have wondered what it might be. Perhaps it's connected to the indigenous people who once lived here and knew how the land spoke to them.
Now this Red Spirit speaks: This is the place where deep connections are still made. Discover what it means to feel quietly present and at one with this earth. Listen to the peepers singing under a magnificent star-filled sky. Enjoy the sight of wild turkeys and deer grazing. Feel the serenity of the pond at sunset. Be filled with awe and become keenly aware that this place is where you come to be renewed, enriched and once again connected.
Today, the bog is becoming in part, a large pond. And, every spring, hundreds of trillium bloom on the banks of the stream, once a branch of the Black River. Many beautiful beech trees and hemlocks along with a variety of other tree species grace this rolling landscape. Turkey, deer, fox, coyote forage here and turkey feathers are often found. A mile away the wildlife preserve attracts geese, eagles and great blue heron. Our hedgerow of white pines and seed-bearing trees feed and shelter wildlife as does the nearby Allegan State Forest.
I thank John Pahl of Allegan, Michigan for providing me much of the history. He is author of Ghost Towns & Ghosts and co-author of River & Lake, a Sesquicentennial history of Allegan County.
Personal History
My name is Karen Duffin-Shanks. I live in Evanston, Illinois with my husband. We own the Red Spirit Retreat and I direct the activities. One of my greatest joys is having women experience this space, feel its energy and get in touch with the wonders of nature, with peaceful silence and with self. Yet, there is an even larger goal for The Red Spirit Retreat. The desire is to help not only women who attend the retreats, but to help women and children throughout the world. This concept is in the formative stages.
I am sincerely grateful to all who are supporting me in this effort.
No one knows exactly when native people first made their home on this land. Perhaps they chose it because the high ground and woods gave them protection. Most likely, the abundance of wildlife sustained them and the low wetlands nearby provided water, food and materials for their weaving. The neighboring wetland was called "muck" and only hemlock trees grew in it. At that time, the muckland was impassable and full of rattlesnakes which the native people trapped. In the 1860s, the hemlocks were cut down for home-building and the bark was hauled to Plummerville to be used in the process of tanning.
In the late 1800s, A.M.Todd purchased the land and brought people over from Denmark to teach him about this "muck" and how to drain it. Special shoes were made for the horses to walk through muck and during this time, 2 mastodon skeletons were found. Todd tried various crops and by 1927, he grew 98% of the world's peppermint. In the late 1930s, wilt destroyed the peppermint but to this day, it is still known as the Todd farm.
The earliest recorded history for this 20 acres of high ground began in 1862. It passed through numerous investors over time until the 1940s when it became a wooded pasture for cows.
In the 1980s, the heart of the woods acquired its first structures, a barn and a cabin with a mobile home attached. We learned that arrow heads and pottery shards had been found over the years, some of the trees had been badly lumbered and grapevine still draped and strangled others. Briar branches were a good fifteen feet long, making it nearly impossible to walk in some places.
Our work, to care for the trees and land and encourage wildlife, began immediately on purchasing this land 1994. My husband and I first saw the Red Spirit in the early spring during one rainy night when we were sleeping in a teepee. I awoke to the sound of rain and saw a red glow through the canvas. It disappeared when we went out to investigate but reappeared the following night. This time it was inside the teepee going up the poles and out the smoke hole. Only a few people we know have seen this Red Spirit energy but all have wondered what it might be. Perhaps it's connected to the indigenous people who once lived here and knew how the land spoke to them.
Now this Red Spirit speaks: This is the place where deep connections are still made. Discover what it means to feel quietly present and at one with this earth. Listen to the peepers singing under a magnificent star-filled sky. Enjoy the sight of wild turkeys and deer grazing. Feel the serenity of the pond at sunset. Be filled with awe and become keenly aware that this place is where you come to be renewed, enriched and once again connected.
Today, the bog is becoming in part, a large pond. And, every spring, hundreds of trillium bloom on the banks of the stream, once a branch of the Black River. Many beautiful beech trees and hemlocks along with a variety of other tree species grace this rolling landscape. Turkey, deer, fox, coyote forage here and turkey feathers are often found. A mile away the wildlife preserve attracts geese, eagles and great blue heron. Our hedgerow of white pines and seed-bearing trees feed and shelter wildlife as does the nearby Allegan State Forest.
I thank John Pahl of Allegan, Michigan for providing me much of the history. He is author of Ghost Towns & Ghosts and co-author of River & Lake, a Sesquicentennial history of Allegan County.
Personal History
My name is Karen Duffin-Shanks. I live in Evanston, Illinois with my husband. We own the Red Spirit Retreat and I direct the activities. One of my greatest joys is having women experience this space, feel its energy and get in touch with the wonders of nature, with peaceful silence and with self. Yet, there is an even larger goal for The Red Spirit Retreat. The desire is to help not only women who attend the retreats, but to help women and children throughout the world. This concept is in the formative stages.
I am sincerely grateful to all who are supporting me in this effort.
