Avant Gardens is located in Galena Township. The same place where 200 years ago the Pottawatomie Nation of Native Americans created trails that ran through the woods, where 130 years ago the area’s timber was milled for the rebuilding of Chicago, and where (up until recently) Oprah Winfrey owned a farm.

Nature Lane, the gated entrance to Avant Gardens off of Fail Road, winds through one of the property’s former cattle pastures, up a large hill and then opens onto the prairie. It is only here at the first crest of the open prairie, set back more than 500 feet from the main road, that one first sees the homes of Avant Gardens.

Some of the homes are tucked back into the woods. Others are set atop the many hills within Avant Gardens. Several back up to one of the many ravines that run through the property. All of them face the large prairie that, itself, is surrounded by a mature forest of mostly maple and beech trees with several shagbark hickory, oak, and tulip trees added in for more dramatic autumn leaf colors.

Wildlife and Forest Preserve

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources provided consulting to help ensure that the prairie was replanted with the native grasses and wildflowers once common on Indiana prairies. All this ecological emphasis has resulted in more than 60 acres of land within Avant Gardens being placed into a classified Wildlife and Forest Preserve. Trails have been added to the prairie and forest so the land can be explored on foot, on bicycle, or even on cross-country skis.

History

In 1948, Lee and Phyllis Lotter -- newlyweds looking for an idyllic setting in which to raise a family -- purchased the land that would become Avant Gardens. Here the Lotter children grew up climbing the maples and carving initials into the beeches. The children chased Black Angus cattle through the pastures that would become the prairies at Avant Gardens. Lee Lotter even felled the pines himself from the property to build the tiny log cabin that now sits next to the small pond in the center of the main prairie. Lee and Phyllis used to fish in this pond, and once a year they would pack up the family in their hay wagon and head to the "back forty for a wienie roast."

For fifty years the Lotter's lived out their dreams on these 103 acres. Now, twenty families can experience the same simple pleasures of living in a home surrounded by nature.