Cabins in the Woods: A Visit to the Highlights Foundation Retreat

The folks at the Highlights Foundation invited me down for a visit last week, to see the beautiful property where the Founders Workshops take place and to visit with the writers who were there on retreat with author/editor extraordinaire Carolyn Yoder. The drive through New York’s Southern Tier and the Delaware River Valley to the Poconos was beautiful – so many great small spots along the way. Like the Masonville General Store…

…and Butterfields Cafe.

If you’re ever hungry in Deposit, NY…Butterfields is a tiny, charming place with all organic produce and poultry.

Once we arrived in Honesdale, Miss Annie, one of the Highlights interns, welcomed us at the foundation’s offices in Honesdale and took us on a tour that included this office mascot, Giggy.

(It’s actually a model a model of a Giganotosaurus Skull that was used in a promotion a while back)

We got to see some fun sample crafts that Highlights creates to be photographed for all of their craft features in the magazine…

…and the piles of children’s writing and artwork submissions being considered for the kids’ pages.

My daughter was delighted when the Highlights folks pulled out the September 2009 issue in which her mermaid poem appeared. She was tickled to know that her original poem is living in a giant creativity warehouse in Ohio, where all the other past submissions are stored.

We got to see the very first issue of Highlights from 1946.

Some of the features made us smile.

It was great fun to see how the style of the magazine and the depiction of kids and parents (moms especially!) has changed over the years.  And then it was off to Boyds Mills to the retreat property.

It’s easy to see why the Highlights Foundation Workshops draw people from all over the country. It’s a remote and beautiful place to write and learn.

Thanks, Highlights family, for a lovely visit to your corner of the world.