“Town In The Pines” Started With Saloon

“Town In The Pines” Started With Saloon AG WORLD To celebrate their 40th anniversary Gary Zell jokes that he built a saloon for his wife Ruth Sixteen years later the Zells and their retired friends have added several other buildings to create a rustic town in the pines on their rural St Johns Mich property It’s become a popular gathering site for card-playing friends a venue for weddings and a place to host an annual summer party Because the buildings are small and not on permanent foundations Zell calls the structures “lawn ornaments that look like buildings ” They are tucked in gaps in the pine trees the Zells planted in 1980 The structures were inexpensive to build since materials are recycled donated or purchased used For example the saloon walls were made from an old tool shed the Zells’ oldest son tore down They used a chainsaw to cut the back wall into pieces hauled and then screwed them together for the walls They made floor boards and a false front from lumber sawed up from old cottonwood logs Friends donated café doors for the saloon doors and it’s furnished with a chandelier and old furniture The next building they tackled was a jail because “a saloon and jail” go together Zell says Walls are made from cedar siding salvaged from a garage and the jail bars are from a cow barn that had bars on the windows Other buildings include a general store with 100-year-old leaded glass rescued from a city cleanup and a one-room schoolhouse with old school desks from an area school a bell and some of Zell’s 1949 schoolbooks The “fanciest” and most challenging building is the chapel It has stained-glass windows made by a local artist and pews made of wainscoting found at the city dump The pews are based on the pattern of a local church and painted white The steep roof and 20-ft high steeple with a gold cross made the chapel the most dangerous building to work on “We had a couple of men in their 20s on ladders put up the steeple ” Zell says The Zells’ favorite building is the log cabin with a wooden fireplace with photos of ancestors on the mantel a mural with horses representing the five civilized tribes of the West a collection of arrowheads found on Zell’s home place and a cowhide rug the couple picked up in their travels It captures the life of families before them Zell says “Every couple of years we get the bug to do something ” Zell says of himself and retired friends “When we get together we do more talking than working And we have no floor plans or building codes ” Still the “lawn ornaments” turned out well enough to draw a crowd when the Zells host a party in the summer Guests bring dishes to pass and there’s a beer keg in the Conestoga wagon and live country western music from a couple of musicians on the saloon porch Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Gary Zell St Johns Mich

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