The Joseph Sadony Estate Past…
In Joseph Sadony’s early years he envisioned that one day he would settle down in a little valley along the shores of a large expanse of water, with a stream running through it and surrounded by an enormous stand of pines. Also in this vision he viewed a house, several barns and out buildings all at the end of a little road.
In the 1900 while on a camping trip from Chicago to the western shore of Lake Michigan, he planned to follow the little beacon light of his vision and hunt for his future home. Joseph placed a diagram and description of the kind of place he was looking for in the hands of real estate agents and almost immediately an agent told him of a place just as he had imagined but that it was not for sale. Undaunted, Joseph made an offer of $3,500 for 80 acres, the offer was soon accepted.
On March 17th of 1907, Joseph and his wife made their way to their new home, The Valley of the Pines. Over a period of 53 years Joseph and his little family proceeded to build upon his vision of building a little heaven on earth. Eventually he would have over 15 buildings to include several shops, barns, a chapel and museum, a laboratory, office, and a library that would contain over 30,000 books, two cabins, guest house, and a print shop.
Joseph worked very hard to make his little farm almost self sufficient with a cistern that holds over 5,000 gallons of water, an electrical shop that provided much of the power needed for the farm, a blacksmith shop where Joseph did all his heavy metal work as well as shoeing the horses, a barn that housed his menagerie of animals that included championship horses, Jersey cows, pigs, goats, chickens, pigeons, pheasants, bees, and even raccoons. He also planted extensive gardens and orchards for beauty and to provide food for his family and friends.
Please choose the link below to view images of the Joseph Sadony Estate, The Valley of the Pines;
(All photographs and images on this site are watermarked and the sole property of the Joseph A. Sadony Estate.)