Three Sisters Sanctuary

By Janet Dodrill

Good Time Stove Company

Unrevealed from the roadside and from the front of the Good Time Stove Company in Goshen, MA, lies a treasure — a healing garden, built by stove store and property owner Richard Richards to honor his three daughters (Tina Marie [late], Sara Wenona, Megan Elizabeth), called Three Sisters Sanctuary.

Three Sisters Sanctuary

The unique backyard grounds includes fire pits and stages, ponds and fountains, sculptures and mosaics, and is open to the public to walk through, ponder, take time, and enjoy this artistic and spiritual dream land. Additionally, events can be scheduled on the premises such as weddings, plays, parties and music concerts. There is beauty, fun, surprise, and thought provoking creative visual work and landscaping throughout the garden. Giant boulders including quartz lined-up to create energy fields are carefully arranged, and all excavated from the property.

An old friend took me there and Richard was there talking to people as they visited this special place. The stoves are a treat to see too.

Monumental Experience

By Janet Dodrill

Ernest Trova, Gox No. 3, 1974. at Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis, Missouri. Photo: © Janet Dodrill

When I lived and studied at college in St. Louis, I experienced a wonderful estate with a large variety of outdoor sculptures called Laumeier Sculpture Park. One of my favorite sculptures there is Alexander Liberman’s, The Way, 1972-80. If you are ever in St. Louis, pay it a visit and walk the property for a profound experience, of seeing both temporary and permanent sculptures, some of huge scale. You will walk through woods and over hilltops on walking trails to discover all the pieces. When I was last there, I saw many bluebirds in the wooded areas. There is also an indoor gallery.

In an upcoming trip to upstate New York, I am looking forward to visiting the Storm King Art Center, which, similarly, is a rolling landscape of large outdoor sculptures against the Hudson Valley highlands skyline. Their web site describes it as “a museum that celebrates the relationship between sculpture and nature” and “the exhibition space is defined by sky and land.” I am looking forward to also appreciating this creative wonder.