Forest House Ranch

"Life may not be the party we hoped, but while we are here we should dance"

Author unknown

Stories of the Forest House

The Hole:

There is a tiny hole in the middle of the door of the bedroom at the top of the stairs.  This bedroom is directly across from the ball room.  The hole is tiny you can barely fit the tip of your pinky finger in it.  It is about eye level for most men that stand facing the door.  The story goes that there was a cowboy one night at one of the Forest House social gatherings that had one too many drinks and got overly enthusiastic about courting a young woman who was staying at the Forest House. Instead of being a damsel in distress she took matters into her own hands and gave her own version of  "no thank you". The hole is a bullet hole put there by her garter pistol. A garter pistol is small enough to fit in the hand of any woman and was easily and discretely kept in a garter underneath their dress.  From what we understood there wasn't much more discussion after that.

The Ballroom:

If the walls of the ballroom could talk many of us would listen for days.  There are a number of stories about the galas, social events and dances the Forest House hosted.  It was boasted to have the best ballroom and dances in the county.  There are still dance cards to be found in the Forest House.  When the house was constructed there were springs put in the floor to better support the weight and to make an ideal dance floor.  The wide planked natural wood floor like the other lumber, logs and rocks were taken from the timber on the ranch.

The Pipes:

On a table in the house there is a whole basket of unfinished smoking pipes. They are at all levels of completion, sizes and shapes, none with stalks.  There is at least 30 if not more.  They are all hand carved out of wood from the ranch.  The story goes that carving pipe heads was a past time of "Yank Johnson" the man who tended the other end of the toll road at the top of Forest Mountain.  As he sat and waited for travelers in buggies, wagons and on horse back to pass on the toll road he carved pipes and this batch never were properly finished.

Future Stories of the Forest House are still to be written, we must put our efforts into the restoration and protection of this great place!

Our Mission and Vision For the Forest House

As a family our mission and vision for the Forest House Ranch is to protect, preserve and restore the house back to it's original state.  Our desire is to provide at least the next 5 generations/ 100+ years of our family, friends and community the opportunity to share and enjoy the history of the house and land.  We envision opening the house to schools, museums and history enthusiast alike.  We want to provide a destination where those that would like to be married on it's lawns and take pictures on it's porch and to enjoy the shade of the hundred year old trees to make memories that will last a life time. 

We would like to provide a place that makes history come alive for classrooms of school children.  Re-create a place where those who remember the Forest House from their youth to come back and visit to tell their stories and reminisce. 

We want the Forest House to serve as the iconic historical figure it always has been and will continue to be for our community.