Really, this was, by far, the coolest adventure Friday discovery, to date. I read about this project/installation/mini town called Red Oak II. It's just outside of Carthage, Mo, and since that's only an hour from here, well...we had to go! This day spoke all of my love languages. All of 'em. With a big sky of puffy white clouds, all of the the late 1800's-early 1900's buildings with big porches, chickens running around, and lovely landscaping, I felt like we were on a movie set for When Calls the Heart, or some other frontier show. Except the dusty old west feel was replaced by swampy cat tails, giant, drippy willow trees, and sticky humid air. It was all really wonderful to take in. I think I exclaimed, "hey, look at this!" about 100 times over fun little details. And again, because I'm doing thisfrom my phone and my blog editor app has dropped drafts of this post twice, I'm so giving up on writing about it all over again. Valerie's journaling is so much more detailed than any effort of mine anyway, so here are some of the things she had to say about this unique little place. Most of the photo creds go to her too.
"We had this place all to ourselves and at first we tread with great care because it felt as though we were intruding. It was so blazing interesting and yet, not a soul was there! It was odd and wonderful.
"They say that Red Oak II was the brainchild of artist Lowell Davis who grew up in the "real” Red Oak, Missouri, about 18 miles northwest of the "new” Red Oak II.
"The original Red Oak, like many other rural agricultural towns across the country, started to fade sometime after World War II, when people began to move to the cities. After Davis had left the area for a number of years in a very successful graphic design career in Arlington Texas, he returned in the 1970’s to find his home town had become a ghost town.
"In 1987, Davis was living on a farm near Carthage that was little more than an empty cornfield. the artist in him soon led him to turn his acreage into a tribute to his home town. He began to buy homes and businesses from the original townsite and other rural ghost towns, painstakingly moving them to the new site and restoring them to their original "grandeur.”
"Davis has a love for the simpler times of the past that are reflected, not only in his "new" town, but also in his paintings and sculptures. Of his re-created town, he said: "Red Oak II is a combination of a painting and a sculpture, and it is just made from things that someone else threw away."
"Today, each of the buildings in Red Oak II are privately owned. Davis lives in the Belle Starr house, where the infamous lady outlaw grew up, as well as owning a couple of other buildings. The buildings were once filled with period pieces and had a lively restaurant and more, but Davis went through a nasty divorce where he had to sell off that stuff.
"This quaint "ghost town” includes a Phillips 66 station, an old schoolhouse, feed store, diner, town hall, jail, and several homes. Two buildings that were important in Davis' life are the blacksmith shop, where his great-grandfather once practiced his trade and the General Store, that was run by Lowell's father and where he learned to sculpt and paint. Both buildings were moved from the original Red Oak townsite. Situated throughout the property are numerous Davis sculptures and old vehicles." -Valerie C
"This quaint "ghost town” includes a Phillips 66 station, an old schoolhouse, feed store, diner, town hall, jail, and several homes. Two buildings that were important in Davis' life are the blacksmith shop, where his great-grandfather once practiced his trade and the General Store, that was run by Lowell's father and where he learned to sculpt and paint. Both buildings were moved from the original Red Oak townsite. Situated throughout the property are numerous Davis sculptures and old vehicles." -Valerie C
I think the church and the pond were my favorites. I just love an old church.
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