The Barker House and Barker Woods figure prominently in the history of Shirley Heinze Land Trust and, together, are a testament to the spirit of not-for-profit conservation efforts in northwestern Indiana. Each has its own interesting story, but, first, here are a few words about the home’s original owner, Marjory Clark Barker, and her daughter, Margery Barker. A distant cousin by marriage of Michigan City founding father, John Barker, Sr. (who built the historic Barker Mansion in 1857), Marjory Clark Baker was a champion of environmental causes. In addition to her loving care of Barker Woods throughout her adult life, she was an early key supporter of Dorothy Richardson Buell’s Save the Dunes Council, served on the Council’s first Advisory Board, and provided funding for its 1953 purchase of land that is now part of the Indiana Dunes National Park property known as Cowles Bog. Marjory’s legacy of environment concern passed to her daughter, Margery, who also served on the Save the Dunes Advisory Board and who received honors from The Nature Conservancy in 1976 for her care in preserving Barker Woods.
Shirley Heinze Land Trust occupied offices at Barker House from 1986 until we acquired our Meadowbrook property in Valparaiso in 2013. The structure is a turn-of-the-century Renaissance Revival style home which attained National Historic Landmark status in 2001. The house has three outbuildings–a 3-car garage, a carriage house and a dance hall–which sit on either side of the main dwelling. Constructed in 1903-1904 by Marjory Clark Baker and her then-husband, Norton Wallace, Barker House was Marjory’s residence until she died in 1974 at the age of 98. When Marjory’s daughter, Margery, passed away six years later, she bequeathed Barker House to The Nature Conservancy with the vision that it be used for not-for-profit conservation efforts. Ownership of the house briefly passed from The Nature Conservancy to the Midwest Audubon Society (to serve as their Midwest Headquarters), and then back again, until The Nature Conservancy sold it to the Save the Dunes Conservation Fund in 1997. Save the Dunes has continued to own the property since then, and the house is now the home of Save the Dunes.
Barker Woods is the 30-acre wooded property that adjoins the house. It offers a 0.78-mile loop hiking trail that begins at the Barker House parking lot. Now surrounded by development, Barker Woods is a rare example of an urban old-growth forest. Dominated by red oak, black gum and maple trees, it is ablaze with red, orange and gold in the fall and with white flowering dogwood and shadbush in the spring. The woods are a haven for woodpeckers, great horned owls, and many other species of birds. Barker Woods was dedicated as an Indiana State Nature Preserve a year after Marjory passed, and, following her daughter Margery’s death, they were bequeathed to The Nature Conservancy for use exclusively as a wildlife preserve and example of conservation and forestry care.
Shirley Heinze Land Trust acquired ownership and responsibility for Barker Woods’ ongoing care from The Nature Conservancy in 2006, along with our Hildebrand Lake and Miller properties, and an endowment fund at the Unity Foundation of LaPorte County that supports the maintenance and restoration of all three properties.
If you are interested in learning more about the Barker House and Barker Woods, you can visit the following links: