This virtual tour will take you to some of the highlights atop Grindstone Mountain.

The weather at Hillspeak is seasonal.

Winter can be icy:

 Spring brings the birds, flowers, apple blossoms and lots of pollen.

Fall is always colorful.

Inside our Big Red Barn, built in 1923 at a cost of $3200, you will want to see, on the ground floor:

• St Mark’s Chapel  [note the unusual cross over the altar designed by the Rev Howard Lane Foland (1908-1989), founder of THE EPISCOPAL BOOK CLUB (1953) and The Anglican Digest (1958)].  The chapel is open around the clock throughout the year; 

                                   

• The Board Room with its maps and its display of forty-plus years of ANGLICAN (EPISCOPAL) BOOK CLUB Selections

• Hillspeak’s collection of church plates and plaques (additions are always welcome);

• The Hillspeak Processional Cross with its Alleluia/Amen backpiece. 
• The Crown of Thorns sculpture. 

(The processional cross, its backpiece, and the sculpture were done by Benn Bunyar of Independence, Missouri; another of Mr Bunyar’s sculptures, the Resurrection, is in St Mark’s Cemetery.)

Now let us walk you through our buildings and grounds (take time to smell the flowers, admire the views, and listen to the birds):
 

       1.  Left of the reception area is the Sacristy with its portrait of Fr Foland  painted in 1984 by Cornelia Pruett then of Green Forest,  Arkansas.
  
 
 

     2.  On the right-hand side is Operation Pass Along.  Started in 1972 by the late Wynne Swinson Hensel, a resident of Hillspeak for many years, Pass Along  receives and passes along about 3000 books a year.  Pass Along has received books from, and shipped books to, every state in the Union and to all six inhabited continents.  You are welcome to any books Pass Along has on its shelves without charge (there are more than 14,000), but PLEASE check with an employee for the proper procedure to follow.

3.  From Pass Along go up the stairs to the left of the front door to the former hay loft.  At the head of the stairs is the Howard Lane Foland Library.  The Library already has in excess of 10,000 volumes dealing with all aspects of the Church and is constantly adding to its store.  Books are available on the premises to scholars and others in the Church.  Two comfortable study areas are provided for those who wish to use them.
 
4.  From the Library you may exit by the rear stairs (a spectacular view  of the Ozarks from the upper landing, but if you don’t care for heights, don’t attempt it) or you may go  back down the inside stairs to the first floor of the Barn.

•    a. If you return to the first floor inside the building go out the front door and turn left to walk through the parking shed and up the steps; turn left again at the end of the walkway toward the flat rock set in the ground that marks the Waters Works (be sure to read the inscription).  On the way, read the little plaque about the Bells which chime the hour and half-hour daily from 8 am to 8 pm..

•  b.  If you come down the back stairs, walk up the hill to the flat rock set in the ground which marks the Waters Works (be sure to read the inscription).

 5.  From the Waters Works walk northwesterly along and past the fenced yard  for about 100 yards to the replica of the Chapel’s Good Friday Cross. The replica, fabricated by Charles Robbins and Richard Allee, is a memorial to Fr Foland.  At the foot of the cross is the Hillspeak Memorial where memorial bricks enshrine the memories of those for whom bricks have been purchased by loved ones and friends.
  
 
 
 








 

6.  From the Good Friday Cross continue for another 100 yards to the wrought-iron fence marking St Mark’s Cemetery.   In walking to the cemetery you will have followed the route of the original road from Eureka Springs to Rogers, long since abandoned and much of it now under Beaver Lake.
 

Resurrection Sculpture in cemetery.

Father Foland's grave marker.

7.  Retrace your steps from the cemetery past the two white sheds and angle to your left so that you come out in front of The Farm House, built about the turn of the century and now used as guest quarters.
 
 
 
 
 
 

 8.  The house next door, known as The Old Residence, is the oldest building standing on Grindstone Mountain.  It was built, probably before 1860, as a two-room, dogtrot log cabin and was added to and boarded in, much as you see it today, some time before 1914.  Part of an interior wall has been exposed to show the original hewn log construction.
 
 

9.  Look in the direction the houses face, roughly north-northeast.  If they are not obscured by foliage you will be able to see, clockwise, the Crescent Hotel, Christ of the Ozarks, and the dome of the reproduction of Jerusalem circa AD 30.  To the right front and in the distance you can see the county seat, Berryville.  The far ridges directly in front of you are in Missouri.
 

10.  Continue your tour by walking in front of and past the old cistern, which will return you to the parking lot.  In days past, the Silver Cloud Ranch depended upon rain water for its domestic use and a very elaborate system of gutters and  downspouts (you can see the collection boxes at the east end of The Old Residence) took the runoff to the tower cistern and to an underground tank (now under the Gazebo).  Later, the buildings were served by a spring about a mile away, which continues to flow at a copious rate, and still later by the deep wells which provide Hillspeak’s water today.
 

11.  If you wish to walk the perimeter of what Fr Foland called the Morningside of Hillspeak, take any or all trails marked on the map or any mowed path.  Take your time -- there are several good viewpoints as you follow the trails.  You may begin or leave the trails wherever you choose; at no point will you be more than a quarter-mile from the Big Red barn.

We hope you have enjoyed your virtual tour of Hillspeak and that you will come visit us in person soon.    The chapel is open 24 hours each throughout the year.  Operation Pass Along is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and at other times by appointment.

We have guest quarters for those who wish to visit —  to take a virtual tour of these apartments, click on the link:  Guest Quarters Tour

             The Calf Barn has an upper and lower unit.             

These guest quarters are primarily for those who wish to use the Howard Lane Foland Library for scholarly purposes;  second priority is for those who wish to make a personal retreat at Hillspeak; third priority is for ANGLICAN BOOK CLUB members and supporters of The Anglican Digest.

For reservations or appointments call during office hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.   Our telephone number is 479-253-9701.  The fax line is 479-253-1277.  Or e-mail us at anglicandigest@att.net

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