My camera is sitting on a shelf collecting dust. I have no desire to pick it up and especially have no desire to be outside. With heat indicies over 100 I'd rather stay inside. I know, that you know, I DO NOT LIKE SUMMERTIME!! Enough said about that! Anyway I was scrolling through some old summertime blog posts trying to get a little inspiration when I discovered a post I'd begun, but never finished. So I thought, why not share it now? I can do that from the coolness of my living room and it's an amazing place with an interesting history!
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Nestled in the woods beside a lovely spring-fed lake sits a castle-like rock building built in 1926 as the Shriner Country Club which included a golf course, clubhouse, and swimming beach. During the late 1920's, the country club was popular with wealthy Little Rock residents, who drove 15 miles down a dirt road to attend dances in the ballroom. Although the country club did well for a while, the Shriners struggled to make payments on their construction loan during The Great Depression and were forced to close it.
a postcard view of the side away from the lake
After the country club closed, the land and the building were sold. That's when the inhabitants of the building gets interesting.
- 1937 - Property was bought by the infamous Dr. John R. Brinkley who was known as one of the greatest quacks of the 20th Century! He preformed surgical procedures transplanting animal organs into humans. He used the building as a convalescent home for his patients. Needless to say, he was run out of town!
- 1944 - Little Rock's Baptist Hospital bought the property for use as a convalescent home.
- 1947 - Property was sold to R. G. and Evelyn LeTourneau with the stipulation that it be used for "Christian purposes." The couple opened an interdenominational camp called "Pine Lake Camp" for underprivileged boys.
- 1951 - The property was sold to Carmelite Friars. The clubhouse became Marylake Monastery which serves as the novitiate house of our Province of St. Therese. Here men undergo a year of intense prayer, discernment, and training in the Carmelite life.
Jesus was given honor when the property name "Pine Lake" was changed to "Marylake" after was His mother. The former country club ballroom was converted into a chapel.
This beautiful swinging bridge was built in 1963 by Father Herman Estuan prior at Marylake. Father Herman studied the Golden Gate Bridge to get the proportions correct, and then he designed this suspension bridge, that leads over to the cemetery which was formerly the 9th hole of the golf course.
Even though Marylake is on a fairly busy road, there is a feeling of peace as you stand looking over the fence.
I've been there several times and every time I've seen dragonflies land on the fence posts.
The still lake is perfect for reflections and . . .
waterlilies!
I hope you enjoyed this little history lesson about the great rock castle in the country. I have this insatiable appetite for information about historical buildings. I want to know when it was built, who built it, and who occupied it. I find if I post the information on my blog, I can remember where it is and revisit it.
Hope you're having a great summer!
