🌿 We Are a Family-Owned Business: On Fourth-Generation Family Land

The story of the land that is now home to the Ichetucknee Yoga Club and Outdoor Meditation Center spans four generations of family history, hard work, and deep connection to place. It is a story rooted in North Florida soil—shaped by industry, transformed by time, and ultimately reclaimed by nature and family.

A Legacy Beginning With Lillybelle

Our family’s connection to this land began with Lillybelle Harris, a determined woman whose life and choices laid the foundation for everything that followed. After her divorce and remarriage, she became Lillybelle Mulkey, the matriarch who once owned more than 400 acres of pristine land near the Ichetucknee River.

Much of that acreage would eventually be sold for the development of what is now the Three Rivers community on the Suwannee County side of the river. But the northwesternmost 40 acres—the acres that would one day become our home and sanctuary—took on a different path.

The Mining Years and the Building of Florida

By the 1950s, a limerock mining operation had begun on this portion of the land. Railroad tracks stretched directly onto the property, allowing crushed limerock to be loaded into hopper cars and transported north. This stone played a role in the early construction of Interstate 75, a defining infrastructure project for Florida. The first northern segment of I-75 opened in Lake City in 1962, with materials drawn in part from this very property.

But progress alters landscapes in more ways than one. As I-75 expanded southward, U.S. Highway 441—once a major route for visitors entering Florida—saw a decline in traffic. As transportation routes shifted, so did the demand for limerock from this site. By the 1970s and 1980s, other mines across North Florida became more convenient and economically viable, and the once-busy operation here gradually slowed.

A New Chapter: Farming, Family, and Transition

Through the 1980s, limited mining continued—now only a few truckloads per day, and without the railroad. During this time, Lillybelle’s children, Margie and W.C., oversaw the remaining operations.

When Margie and her husband, Carl DeLaney, inherited the property in the late 1980s, they slowly transitioned away from mining and toward agriculture. The little bit of leveled land surrounding the quarry offered a perfect plot for growing watermelons and peanuts, and throughout the 1990s their small family farm added a new chapter to the property’s evolving role.

Their son, Pat DeLaney, grew up deeply connected to the land. An avid fisherman, he spent more than 10,000 hours on his parents lake, as well as on the rivers and waterways of North Florida. But with time came uncertainty. Pat knew that his parents might one day choose to sell the property, and he felt a powerful responsibility to preserve it for future generations.

Pat’s Decision to Preserve the Land

In the 1990s, Pat made a life-changing commitment. He sold his fishing boat, a prized possession, and used the proceeds to fund an addition to the home he shared with his wife, Dorothy. When they later sold that home at a profit, they used the funds to purchase the 40-acre property outright from Pat’s parents.

This single decision preserved the land in family hands, ensuring that the legacy begun by Lillybelle would continue.

In 1999, Pat, Dorothy, and their son Michael moved onto the land permanently. Pat spent months fencing all 40 acres by hand, restoring boundaries and protecting the recovering ecosystem.

A New Generation Returns to the Land

At age 20, Michael left home to pursue spiritual study and scholarly growth. He became deeply involved in the study of Hare Krishna philosophy, eventually moving to Gainesville to earn a degree in criminology from the University of Florida.

After completing his studies, Michael returned home—drawn back to the very land that shaped his childhood. Today, he is in a graduate psychology program, focusing his research on forest bathing, nature-based interventions, and the neurological effects of phytoncides, the beneficial compounds produced by trees.

His work continues the transformation of the property from a once-industrial quarry into a place of healing, mindfulness, and natural restoration.

Today: A Sanctuary Reborn

Standing on this land, it is hard to imagine the decades when trains hauled limerock across it. The mining scars have healed into a spring-fed lake with a connection deep into the Florida aquifer. The trees have returned. Wildlife thrives. And the DeLaney family’s story continues—now woven into the mission of the Ichetucknee Yoga Club and Outdoor Meditation Center.

We are more than a business.
We are a fourth-generation family legacy, shaped by love, labor, and a deep commitment to stewarding this land for others to enjoy.

Thank you for being part of its next chapter. 🌿