The farm has been a source of inspiration and delight for three generations of the PA clan. Here are a few highlights of the farm's recent history.

Early Spring 1967: Discovery

One cold, sunny afternoon, the future president (PA, not pictured above; that's a mule) of Woofleberry Forest Corporation and his elder daughter first set foot onto what is to become Cave Creek Farm.

Late Spring 1967: Settlement

PA brings his wife and family for a picnic to the farm. All are thoroughly and permanently enamored of the place.

Spring 1973: Groundbreaking

Two trucks bearing house ingredients head up the 2.5-mile driveway. One truck, whose driver isn't the soberest of men, gets stuck. Still, Prow House eventually springs up on the hilltop. During construction, as I recall, the dog (pictured below) learns how to climb the ladder to the second floor.

Summer 1974: Home Improvement

With split logs of locally grown locust, PA single-handedly builds an elegant snake fence that circumscribes the prow house yard. Nearly thirty years of rain-sodden summer and snow-driven winter haven't diminished its integrity or grace.

Spring 1977: Addition to the Family

A brown-haired lad is discovered wandering alone and lost in a hollow, and is adopted by KA: the beginning of a 15-year friendship.

Fall 1977: Wired for Sound

Spout Cave is best known for the underwater stream that meanders deep into the cave's black passages.

PA decides that some unexpected sound effects, triggered once visitors have rafted deep into darkness, would enliven the spelunking experience. His wife vetoes his initial concept: the sound of vast quantities of water being sucked down a drain. His second idea — a ferocious animal roar — doesn't fly either.

So, armed with a powerful flashlight, PA paddles into the tunnel's misty inner reaches. In tow: a floating platform bearing a cassette player cued to his audio selection. He anchors the craft securely and then departs, unraveling behind him a trail of wire underwater.

The visitors arrive. They embark, full of cheer and bravado, and float around the bend into the dark, watery chamber underneath the mountain. After an appropriate interval, PA, waiting outside, flips the audio switch. Handel's Water Music explodes into the silence.

When PA hears the visitors' laughter turn to expletives of shock, he determines that his endeavor is an unqualified success.

Fall 1977: Bears in the Mist

Many people hear about Cave Creek's healthy bear population, but few have the good fortune to encounter the creatures. Always thinking of others, PA seeks a way to enhance the wildlife-viewing experience of the farm's visitors.

The easy part is renting the bear costume. More difficult is talking someone into wearing it. A gracious friend complies and heads for the forest as the guests, unsuspecting, enjoy the view from the porch as evening mists rise and blur the wood's edge.

The guests' attention is drawn to a large black object moving into the field.

"Could that be a cow?"

"No," PA answers. "Cattle don't come up here. Why, I think it must be ... a BEAR!"

No one believes him. In the thickening darkness, two guests charge down the meadow for a closer look. They still can't make out the object. Laughing, they start to toss pebbles at it. Bad idea. The object rears up on its hind legs and growls aggressively.

When PA hears the visitors' laughter turn to expletives and watches them screaming back up the hillside, he determines his endeavor an unqualified success.

Summer 1979: Life & Death

This reptilian patriarch, victim of an encounter with an automobile, did not die in vain. Rather, it gave its life to give a name to a now-prominent Cave Creek Farm landmark: Copperhead Curve.

Spring 1979: Little House in the Wall

CG surprises the PA and family with the installation of a family treasure.

Summer 1987: Naming Names

In her Cave Creek log, BNA observes a rash of possessiveness as family members clamor to immortalize themselves by — literally — staking out territory.

Spring 1988: Revenge of the Pies

In reponse to his siblings' claims on the property, elder brother issues a decree that grants his sisters ownership of — and responsibility for — all the cow droppings on the property.

Spring 1990: A Shed is Born

Perhaps it's the climate, or maybe it's something in the water. Whatever the reason, farm vehicles seem to reproduce and multiply at an alarming rate at Cave Creek Farm. Thus, a new shed is built to give them shelter from the elements.

Spring 1992: Underground Magnetism

While scrambling with difficulty out of a particularly challenging pit cave, PA loses his full set of farm keys into the bowels of the earth. Thinking it unwise to return for them, he devises a sophisticated retrieval mechanism: an industrial-strength magnet mounted on a long stick, which proves a success.

Fall 1995: Property Development

To attract wildlife, provide additional recreational opportunities and generally enhance the view, Cave Creek Farm management plans and builds a pond in the lower meadow. Bear, wild turkeys, deer and other creatures are now frequent visitors to the area.

Summer 2002: Candid Camera

PA mounts a motion-activated camera at the edge of the woods a quarter of a mile from the prow house. We're still waiting for photographic evidence of a mountain lion, but in the meantime we've captured on film various other creatures, including wild turkeys, deer, bear, raccoons, fox, deer, cows, and also some deer (not pictured).

Contact Cave Creek.