I saw my land. This is the story, as I remember it being told by my mother. I'm not sure
how much of it is correct. In September 1965, my Grandfather, Ted Hostler, and his many siblings
considered purchasing a tract of land to build a hunting cabin. They found 13
acres of land in Bellwood Pennsylvania that seemed suited for their purposes
and set about to buy the land. My Grandfather made the down-payment on the
land. Then, he and his siblings went home to their respective spouses. By
morning, the wives had been made aware of what was going on and the partnership
had dissolved. Not wanting to loose his down-payment, my Grandfather purchased
the property on his own, but never did build his hunting cabin. Later, he was killed in a motorcycle accident, and the land was handed down
to my Mother. She owned that property a long time, but died without ever
having actually visited it. When we found out that my mother had cancer back in 2002, she made
arrangements that the property would be put in my Sister's and my names, but
still we never visited it. This weekend, that changed. While driving some scouts to an Order of the
Arrow event happening in New Jersey, we happened to be passing Bellwood.
Armed with my GPS coordinates and the rough sketch that was prepared for my
Grandfather over 42 years ago, I found the land and took a little walk. For
the first time in nearly half a century, the owner of those 13 acres of land
actually stepped foot on it. I was reminded of my mother. Several times, we had made plans to drive out
and visit that land together, but something always seemed to get in the way. I
felt sorry that I hadn't tried harder to make that happen for her. The land is beautiful. There are logging trails along it from when my
mother had it timbered about 20 years ago, but other than that, it seems
un-touched. It's pure and beautiful. It made me want to go back there again
and explore every inch of it. I do have a few photos
from my trek. I think they are the first of many.
posted at: 20:42 | permanent link to this entry | Comments: