Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation: O Pioneers!

Florence and Floyd Sherburne stand by the stone fireplace, a prominent feature in their hand-built home. Located in a new addition to Springbrook State Park, the home will be called Sherburne Lodge.

When he retired from the power company at age 65, Floyd Sherburne and wife Florence — ignoring everyone’s advice — struck out to build a new life in the country.

Working mostly alone — with limited money, limited training and unlimited self-sufficiency — Floyd set about building their new home. He gathered stones where farmers had piled them in fields, carried them to the house-site in five-gallon buckets, and eventually created a two-story fireplace that served as the home’s only heat source for decades. He and Florence always planted a huge garden and lived off its produce year-round. The couple maintained this lifestyle for 31 years, even as health problems began to take a toll.

When doctors insisted that Florence must have full-time care in late 2007, 98-year-old Floyd knew what he had to do: move together to the local care center and pay for it by immediately selling their special home and its 10 acres.

Because the Sherburne property is within the Springbrook State Park boundaries, the DNR wanted to buy it, and Sherburne wanted them to have it. Unable to meet Sherburne’s need for an immediate sale, DNR officials called INHF. Within days, we met with Floyd and signed the papers. Floyd teared up during the signing— his sadness mingled with relief that the land and house would be protected.

INHF will hold the land until the DNR raises the necessary acquisition funds, hopefully later this year. Their home will become Sherburne Lodge, which park visitors will be able to rent for overnight stays.

Florence has since passed away, and Floyd is now living with their daughter in Georgia. Park manager Carolyn Hack has reserved Sherburne Lodge for Floyd to celebrate his 100th birthday there in May 2009.