I woke up at Barnsley Gardens on my fortieth birthday. My sweet husband planned the surprise trip almost six months prior to my big day. We have history at the historic resort, thus it was a perfect place to celebrate the milestone in my life.
After loading our bags as we prepared to leave, we took a stroll on the grounds. We'd been there before, crashed a wedding reception once. But I didn't learn the history until that weekend.
Barnsley Gardens is a resort area centered around the ruins of an old mansion built in the 1840's. Godfrey Barnsley, one of the ten most affluent men in the south at that time, built the mansion for the love of his life, Julia. Sadly, the mother of his six children died of a lung ailment before construction was completed. Godfrey abandoned the project until she appeared to him over a year later and told him to finish the home.
The Italian villa came to life by the late 1840's, complete with marble floors and formal gardens. In 1864, however, just over twenty years later, the Civil War caused irreparable financial damage to the estate. When a tornado took the roof off the home in 1906, there were no funds to pay for repairs. And by 1942, the home was sold in auction. Piece by piece, local thieves stole the marble floor. The second floor collapsed. Vines grew thick.
As Don and I walked the grounds, we came upon the family grave site. There, on my fortieth birthday, I thought about what was left of one man's life and legacy: the ruins of his dream. He'd enjoyed all the money in the world for about twenty-five years. But a war changed all that.
In 1988, Prince Hubertus Fugger (A German Prince) purchased the land, opting to revive the gardens and restore the ruins. While a walk among what's left of the house is a peaceful step back in time, it's also a haunting reminder that nothing lasts.
That's what I thought about on my birthday.
Life came and went at the ruins. And similarly, my life will come and go. As I turned forty, the thought made me want to live my life fully now.
"For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light." (Ps. 36: 9)
