Critton Creek Farm

For several years, Priscilla and Henry Ireys searched for a place that could meet an insistent need for solitude, for time with just their family, and for some freedom from demanding careers, from the internet’s sharp claw, and from a constantly humming city. They talked back and forth, finally coming to see that the place had to have three features: it had to be off a road that had no line painted down its middle; it had to be up a dirt road with no other houses in sight; and it had to have a house with an indoor toilet.

Through miracle or fate, they found their place, and it became their keep. They named it Critton Creek Farm. You can read about their experiences in The Keep, Living with the Tame and the Wild on a Mountainside Farm, published by the West Virginia University Press, October 2025. This channel provides additional stories with visuals that extend the offer made in the book: To share your stories about special places and special creatures, both human and animal.