Schönwald is a German word meaning "Beautiful Forest", and we think you'll agree that it is a beautiful and peaceful place to visit whether you are coming for outdoor recreation, environmental education, or nature immersion.
History: For much of the 20th century Schönwald was part of the Richmond Family Farm which spanned both sides of Richmond Road near the intersection with Lebanon Rd in Western Orange County. In the early 2000s the Richmond heirs sold the farm to a developer who split the land into 10-15 acre lots. Schönwald is one of those lots.
When we purchased Schönwald in 2019 there was a small clearing where there had once been a small homestead with evidence of various animal paddocks. The homestead had long ago crumbled to the ground and all that was left of any structures was crumped piles of metal. Decades worth of trash had been dumped in piles all over the property. Our first task was gathering the trash, recycling as much of it as possible, and hauling the rest of it away.
We expanded the clearing from 0.5 acres to 2.0 acres and built a small farmhouse, a pole barn, and a wood shed on the land. We learned a lot in the process of clearing the land and building the farm buildings and we look back on those months as some of the most joyous of our lives! Scroll through the pictures below for a glimpse into the process (click on any of the pictures to enter a slide show with higher resolution pictures).
