Today we hiked to a 65-year-old homestead that is hidden in the middle of our grasslands.
This is the third time that we have returned to this homestead. We first discovered it while camping and hiking on the Rim in October 2019….this was before we bought our cabin in Pine.
We were intrigued with this homestead…..so intrigued that we returned to it again to celebrate our anniversary in May of last year.
Who lived there, for how long, what were their hopes and dreams, why did they leave? Who lived here in the 50’s….when we were just little children?
In 2019 Google Maps identified this home as the V Lazy Y Cabin. Luckily, you can no longer find it on Google Maps. The only way to see this homestead is to stumble upon it as you hike deep in the vast grasslands on the Mogollon Rim.
We have researched this area and the homestead. We have asked Forest Service Rangers about it. We have even looked it up in books on the history of the area. Nowhere can we find any answers to our questions. It all seems to be lost in history.
Lovingly written in the wet cement on the bottom step of the front porch is, “Welcome” and “July 9, 1959.
This makes us believe that whoever made this homestead—with a two story home, a large barn, a shed, a well, and an outhouse, had intended to work the land, raise farm animals, have livestock, and to make this their home for some time—maybe all their life.
There is also a flowering fruit tree in the yard that is enclosed with a picketed fence and a metal gate. This seems to be a family home, with a wife, and maybe children. There is the feel that the family who settled here had a great love for their home, and the grasslands that stretch in every direction as far as the eye can see.
We also love this homestead and these grasslands.
We honored this remarkable place by resting on the front porch, and my Danny drank his morning cup of coffee. We listened to the birds, gazed at the land surrounding us, smelled the grass, and felt a deep love for each other. We believe that the family who lived here often did the same.
As we sat in the shade of the porch, we could feel all the hopes and dreams surfacing from the past for this old forgotten homestead. This special place should be treated gently, and with care and reverence for those who created it and lived here before.
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