The road has changed.

I remember it as much bigger with larger hills. But the landscape is unchanged. We drove along Blanchard Furrh Road through small hills and winding turns toward Walter Jacob’s Nature Park just west of the sprawling village of Blanchard.
I grew up in these hills and woods. With anticipation, I couldn’t wait to see the brick facade to the abandoned Buckley Station. Way back in the 1960’s, Buckley Station was a pumping station for natural gas. And the employees had wonderful benefits. A couple of dozen houses were built around a circle on the wooded hill next to the road to the station. In the center of this circle of houses was a huge playground. And not far behind the houses was a private lake and clubhouse for parties and large group gatherings. No one could use those facilities but the people who lived there. What was cool to me as a ten year old was the step like construction of the sign. I could climb up the two levels above the ground.

That’s me in our front yard and right across the highway was the wood around that romantic lake.