When asked to describe HomeWaters Club, Founder Donny Beaver, quips, “We’re a throwback to the weekend driving excursions our family took when I was a kid.” Beaver goes on to recall his happiest memories growing up in the 1950s and 60s, “Most weekends we’d drive to my grandfather’s camp along the Raystown Branch of the Juniata River. It was there that I first fell in love with God’s great outdoors.”

At Camp Beaver a gang of kids would explore a few thousand acres of forests, fields, streams and rivers from breakfast until suppertime. “Grandma would pack our lunches in a World War I gunny sack, and our posse would burn daylight swimming, canoeing, fishing, hunting fossils, gathering berries, fetching water from the spring house, building tree houses and forts, and shooting hay bales with arrows and tin cans with BB guns. Most days we’d eat our lunches by 11am, so by the time the dinner bell rang, we were famished.”

Table fare was a smorgasbord of bounty plucked from family gardens, taken by rod and gun or gathered from beehives, maple trees and berry bushes. The men butchered the meats, and the ladies cooked everything on a wood-fired stove. Beaver continues, “Everybody chipped in. It was family living at its best…four generations of men, women and kids laughing, loving and learning together.”

Evenings were spent outdoors chasing fireflies, playing hide-and-seek, roasting marshmallows and telling tall tales by the campfire. If the inclement weather drove us indoors, a seemingly endless variety of games occupied everyone until the wee hours. Youngsters played jacks, checkers, pickup sticks, marbles and tiddlywinks. Adults enjoyed cards, chess, Scrabble and Parcheesi.

“Sleep was never a problem. Most nights, our dad would carry us to our bunk beds. We were already fast asleep.”

Unfortunately, the Beaver’s (and hundreds of other families) lost their rural retreat to an Army Corps of Engineers hydroelectric project in 1972. Beaver adds, “I’ve spent my adult life recreating our family’s lost mountain paradise. My burning desire has always been to conserve a special spot in my native Allegheny Mountains for my family, friends and future generations to enjoy the great outdoors. As fate would have it, we’ve assembled a portfolio of rural properties across Pennsylvania and Colorado to provide a connection between our members’ families and the natural world.”

HomeWaters Club is not your typical destination or private residence club. “First, our main amenity is the great outdoors, not a resort community or busy city,” Beaver continues. “Our members mostly reside in concrete jungles and live hectic lives. HomeWaters properties have been carefully selected over the past 30 years to provide an escape from life’s crazed pace and offer an immersion into the peace and tranquility of nature. Most importantly, our hand-picked staff is well-trained in the art of helping you slow down and take it easy.”

The club members enjoy guided access to over 75 miles of private trout and steel head rivers and streams. After a day of casting and catches, it’s time to relax in the adjacent, well appointed cabins and lodges, enjoying the culinary creations prepared by the clubs private chefs.

With waters in Colorado, Ohio and Pennsylvania the club is located within driving distance of many major urban areas. “Members often visit for a day or a weekend and 50% of trips are booked within 10 days of their visit” explained Beaver.

From its original fly-fishing roots, the club has expanded to offer sporting clays in Colorado, snowmobiling, snow-shoeing, hiking, fitness, cooking classes and other guided experiences. “We’re still an over the river and through the woods experience” says Beaver, while adding “But we’ve also seen member requests for retreat and wellness double over the last three years.”

Beaver concludes, “We’re comfy…not flashy. If you’re looking for special rural spots to retreat, relax and rejuvenate with family and friends, HomeWaters just might be your ticket.”