The story of Miles’s Meadow
On April 10th, 2021, Lori asked me what I would do if God took her home “early”. I told her that I would probably move to the country (since I’m a country boy), build a small house by a small lake with possibly enough land for an airstrip. Lori replied back that she would like to begin looking for land which, as I told her, didn’t make a lot of sense to me since we were visiting Siteman two to three times per week so staying in St. Louis seemed to me what was best for her.
She said that she would look forward to developing some land so we got in a car and looked for a lake on the Illinois side. We couldn’t find a good lake to build where land was available so we began looking for a creek on land for sale so that we could possibly dam up the creek and build a lake.
We found a creek in the Millstadt area so while traveling to see this piece of ground, we drove up Beil Road through an open gate. Wayne, Barry Hayden’s worker, stopped us in Barry’s Kubota side-by-side and said that this was private property and we weren’t allowed to be there. I looked at this beautiful piece of land with lakes and observed no houses on the east side of the road and asked Wayne who owned that ground. He said it was for sale and that we would have to meet with Barry Hayden since Barry and Debbie owned this land. Wow!
I called Barry and he agreed to meet us that next morning at 11am. We talked for a while and then Barry kindly gave Lori and me his Kubota to travel around the property. This is what Lori and I saw that Saturday morning.
I asked Barry how the lake gets its water because the lake is on a hill and water should flow into from the opposite side of the dam which obviously can’t be the case since the road is the opposite side and it can’t get water from the other lake since that lake is at a lower elevation. Answer: Underground spring.
He says that he likes to keep the lake full of water just so it looks good and about every three years, he pumps water into the lake during a dry summer. He dug a 4800′ well between the lakes and is able to pump 1,000,000 gallons of water into the lake in 48 hours.
Lake C&H has Georgian growth bluegill which are a little bigger than a hand, also striper bass. For $12,000 Barry made these three small lakes into one full lake. The big lake has 3 – 5 lb large mouth bass, 3 lb crappie, and walleye. We know it’s 38’ deep because Barry’s friend’s fishing boat with a depth finder measured its depth.
Barry said that Lake Lori Ann was built in 1941 while the Hayden lake was built a few years later. The town of Millstadt would bus kids out to the lake in the summer so it became Milsltadt’s swimming lake. In fact, Barry’s wife, Debbie learned to swim in this lake when she was a little girl.
Here’s a few pictures…
Here’s a few pictures of Barry and his father soon after Barry purchased the property.
Barry said that he tore down 19 barns and sheds because each of them had bad roofs.
It is interesting that on the peninsula where we built our house, we found soft brick. Barry has no idea where that soft brick came from.
Barry developed the subdivision on the north side of the property and saved approximately 130 acres for his family. We purchased the north 62 acres of that 130 acres.
On April 17, 2021 Kim, Mom, Dad, and Henry visited the property. Henry loved it! Unfortunately, Lori didn’t feel well enough to accompany us.
I brought our architect, Dave Schaub, to the peninsula to see if a house could be built there. He thought so after doing some laser shots.
I brought other experts to the property such as Harold Hughes who helped me through the process making sure we did our due diligence.
From that first visit to Millstadt property, I asked God to put barricades in front of this project if it didn’t meet with His perfect will. I expected huge barricades, but rather I found that the project kept making more sense as we sailed through the exploration process. I kept praying nevertheless.
Barry significantly reduced the price over the past year to $740,000 and rejected those interested in the property because he didn’t like the idea of turning it into a horse pasture or a golf course. We closed on the property on May 14, 2021 for $675,000.
I immediately began working with Dave Schaub on a design for the house so I had an idea if the house would fit on the peninsula.
On May 14th, we closed on the property with probably the most awesome new neighbors we could ask for, Barry and Debbie Hayden.