A quiet corner of the farm that isn't asking anything of you.
Not every part of Crown Point has a program, a schedule, or a reason you need to be here. Walk the 1995 Chartres-style labyrinth, sit in the Meditation Garden, or speak to someone you've lost on the wind phone dedicated in memory of Ben Maruk.
The Labyrinth.
A labyrinth is not a maze. It has no blind alleys and no dead ends. It has one single path in, and one single path back out — that twists and turns on itself many times before reaching the center. There's nothing to solve and no way to get lost.
The labyrinth at Crown Point was created in 1995, modeled after the labyrinth inlaid in the floor of Chartres Cathedral in France — one of the most well-known labyrinth designs in the world. Walking it is simple: follow the path in a spiral to the center, then retrace your steps back out, praying or simply seeking quiet along the way.
It's free to walk, dawn to dusk, seven days a week, including holidays — no admission, no registration. There's no set time for walking it, either. Some visitors are done in five minutes. Others stay much longer. Both are the right way to do it.
Wear long pants and closed-toe shoes, especially if you're sensitive to poison ivy — this helps reduce tick exposure too. Note also: the labyrinth is not currently wheelchair accessible, per its public listing.
Finding it: from the driveway, veer left at the directional sign. Park in the grass or stay on the gravel drive. A mailbox at the labyrinth sign holds information about the labyrinth and Crown Point's mission, and a trail map kiosk sits near the red Century Barn.
The Meditation Garden.
This is a separate space from the labyrinth, with its own history. It began in 2014 as the Medicine Wheel garden, built from a design by Sun Bear, an author known for his work on Native American earth astrology — a central boulder representing a creator, four large colored stones marking the cardinal directions and the values of self, family, relationships, and purpose, and smaller stones along the paths reflecting concepts like sacred family and totem animals.
By 2021, reduced use during the pandemic had left the space overgrown. A core group of volunteers and staff restored it — keeping Sun Bear's original design intact while adding Native perennial plantings (Mother Sage, Father Sage, and yarrow) and benches for rest. The garden was renamed the Meditation Garden to reflect its broadened, more inclusive purpose.
In 2022, a visiting Northern Cheyenne family blessed the space through smudging, using Mother and Father Sage grown in Crown Point's own greenhouse — and gifted Crown Point the sage seeds themselves.
Crown Point calls this space the Meditation Garden. Native annual and perennial plants continue to surround it, benches remain throughout, and Crown Point describes it simply as a place of peace.
The Wind Phone.
A wind phone is a disconnected telephone — no wires, no signal — placed somewhere quiet in nature as a place to speak aloud to someone who has died. The idea began in Japan, and spread after a CBS news segment introduced it to a wider American audience, including a phone in Washington state that people used, as the segment put it, to "connect with your people on the other side."
That Washington state story reached Lisa and Jim Maruk of Brecksville in the fall of 2021, a few months after their 23-year-old son Ben died unexpectedly that August. Ben was born with Angelman Syndrome, a genetic condition that affected his mobility and speech — Lisa describes him as "pure joy, a beautiful soul and bright light all the time." He communicated through an iPad device, loved music and games, and loved being with family.
The Maruks built a small wind phone in their own backyard to talk to Ben. Word spread quickly — visitors kept asking to use it — so the couple built a larger one for the wider community, and found a home for it at Crown Point, where they'd long walked the labyrinth and taken part in programming.
Crown Point's wind phone — the seventh in Ohio — was installed in fall 2025, sited within the Meditation Garden.
We are living in a time of collective loss certainty, routine and connection. The phone isn't only for grief — it's a place for quiet connection and mental health generally, a place to unburden yourself to nature."Nature knows how to hold grief."
Using the Wind Phone.
The wind phone sits within the Meditation Garden, partially wooded. Next to it is a journal, where visitors can write notes and share thoughts in addition to speaking into the phone. A basket of polished river stones sits at its base — visitors can write the name of someone they've lost on a stone and leave it there, alongside everyone else who has done the same.
There's no fee, no appointment, and no set amount of time to spend there. Come speak into the phone, write in the journal, leave a stone, or simply sit. Crown Point's wind phone is listed publicly alongside others worldwide at mywindphone.com, part of a registry of more than 400 wind phones across the United States alone.