A game played with his children inspired a present to the community.

“Old Dog” as he is known at church and around Gordon County, and his eight children would use clay people he’d made and with those people, created a town where they would buy and sell their wares and visit other people’s castles.

“It started out as books on the living room floor, then clay homes, and now this is what we have,” said Old Dog, who said the game started in 1976 or 1977 with his children.

That inspiration is a prayer garden with three villages, four stone castles, bridges, roads and even porcelain people, all hand-made, and connected by more than 100 feet of road. It’s located behind the Seventh Day Adventist Church on Hwy. 53 and is open to the public, said Old Dog.

“It’s a church garden, we want it open to the public as guests,” he said. “We want them to feel the Lord’s presence.”

Joyce Maples helped with the building, which began in September 2007, but other volunteers have helped, too.

Soon, a five-foot tall French Gothic Cathedral with stained glass windows, will be complete.

Old Dog, a professional artist, said even now, the tradition continues with his children and his grandchildren. He gives them playing pieces as Christmas gifts and each marked with a color that corresponds to the owner, so no pieces get mixed up.

Volunteers began work on the project began in 2008 and has continued steadily since then. At first, many volunteers helped out, but even though the numbers have dwindled, they keep building. Donations of shell and stones often come in.

Janette Teehee come and works on one part, while Joyce Maples works on the Notre Dame inspired church that stands almost five-feet.

But the preparation was a long time in the making, Old Dog said. He began experimenting with how to make the homes and castles sturdy in 1995. The village, built along a small stream that runs behind the church has survived floods and even had trees end up on the structures from the passing waters.

“We just move them off,” said Maples.

It’s a project they are determined to work on until “Jesus comes back,” they said. Plans for expansion include adding Bethlehem, Japan, and China, including the Great Wall.

Volunteers at the Seventh Day Adventist Church are building a prayer garden behind the church. Planters are constructed out of pebbles and cement and wire. They have made four stone castles, eight bridges and three villages connected by over 100 feet of “roads.” The structures are surrounded by herbs, flowers and trees.

This has been under construction since September 2007. Working doesn’t stop in the winter, either, said Maples. They just move indoors to make smaller structures.

“We make about one or two houses a week in the winter,” she said.

On very special occasions, the garden is illuminated with more than 250 candles for an enchanted evening. The villages are populated by people which are hand built out of porcelain. Old Dog said later this month, they are hosting an invitation-only chance to play the “Town Game” and at the end, the town will be lit up.

“It was time to offer this gift to the community for all to enjoy,” said Old Dog.