The Dinthwaite Medieval Village Foundation is a Kansas Not For-Profit Corporation and 501(c)(3) Private Operating Foundation dedicated to the establishment, administration, upkeep, and development of a medieval village dedicated to living history and reenactment pursuits. The medieval village will not be an open air museum or tourist attraction, instead it will focus entirely on immersion events, exploratory archeology, and long term living history projects and experiments.
Current Activities
The Foundation is continually writing and submitting for grants, with a fundraising goal of $2 million for purchasing and developing the site for the village.
How Much Land, Really?
I have started to keep a close eye on available properties in the area, through both the magic of the internet as well as the help of our real estate agent and their automated MLS notification service. As either suitable, or representative, projects come up I have been sharing their aerial view to social media, and a short description about that makes them suitable. This has evoked some conversation, both in comments and through PMs, about the number of acres the Foundation is interested in (and why.)
In this have historical villages as a guide, opposed by the realities of the modern world we’re nestling the village inside of. Using medieval land division as a guide, a 100 to 120 acre plot size would accurately equate to a medieval hide of land, as a unit of area, and as such the village would in this respect accurately represent the barest minimum of size the most minor of the gentry may have controlled. The modern world has many ways in which it intrudes into our sense of historical immersion, and one of the most difficult to control is sound. While a thin line of dense trees or shrubs can break up the sight line to modern infrastructure, sound abatement using solely foliage is an inefficient and variable tool. It is more effective in the summer than the winter, it is subject to temperature and humidity and wind direction – especially in regards to noise generated by vehicles.
Most highway noise reduction recommendations do not even treat vegetation as an abatement medium, however there are some recommendations out there which suggest 500 or so feet of solid wood can eliminate most, if not all, single point vehicle noise (and it gets more complicated and difficult when there is a line of noise such as is produced by a road with solid, continuous traffic.) A square acre is a bit over 200 feet long, so a good rule of thumb is 2 – 3 acres of “buffer” land would be required between any village structures and any place where there may be cars (street, a driveway, a highway, etc.) to prevent modern noises intruding into the immersion area of the village. More if there are gaps in the foliage, or it is lightly forested. Depending on the land prices at the time, other sound abatement techniques such as cement walls or tall berms, can cost as much as or more to construct than the acreage itself.
While very little is truly perfect and square, for the sake of estimating, to represent a village “footprint” of 50 acres, with a two acre “buffer” around it would require about 120 acres, which conveniently coincides with the historical goal of having one hide of land. Of course, this is all in an ideal world where everything is even and square, where foliage is sufficiently dense in every location we require it, etc. Additionally, the more space we have which is not taken up by buildings can be used for other types of reenactment, including agricultural experiments such as row crops or orchards, hiking or “patrolling the woods” events and activities, campaigning style events and activities, pastureland for animals, etc. Agricultural space can also be used to their actual, intended, productive use producing crop, fruit, or grazing animals – the profits of which can be used to defray the costs of reenactment use. Additionally, large amounts of undeveloped space gives the Foundation the opportunity to create wildlife conservation areas, participate in endangered species restoration, and sequester land for native habitats against future development.
Densely forested, undeveloped land tends to be considered “recreational” land as the typical buyer is someone who wants a hunting plot, or those who are looking to homestead or have lower maintenance (in regards to mowing) country property. This makes these types of properties somewhat cheaper than flat, open, arable land which is competed for by commercial agriculture and tends to be valued more on its business potential. As such, we are looking at $7,000 – $9,000 an acre in the area, or an expected purchase price of $750,000 – $1,000,000. Our 2 million land acquisition goal reflects the purchase price of the land, covering future annual property taxes without having to push the cost to those using the village, as well project money for the initial earthworks and any clearing of land necessary to prepare the village for building construction.
Dinthwaite is explicitly nestled in a forest. That forest, however, does not have a name. We are accepting a single-point donor who would name the forest, a name which will be reflected in every article, map, and on the Gatehouse of the site between the parking lot and the immersion areas. Smaller, but substantial, contributions are encouraged to name glens, meres, glades, meadows, etc. It is also important to remember, as soon as we have land, and even before we construct buildings, the site can begin to host camping events. The Dinthwaite Medieval Village Foundation is a 501c3 Private Operating Foundation and a gift such as this would be tax deductible. Interested parties are encouraged to contact the Foundation on any of its social media platforms, or via email at DinthwaiteVillage@Gmail.com
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DonateFounders of the Dinthwaite Medieval Village Foundation
- Matt Blazek
- Trent Shadburne
- Jack Sutter
- Troy Holsopple
- Karley Ailin
- Ari Ibsen
- Richard Westwood
- Lawrence Davis
- Ana V Flores-Ibarra
- Eli Smith
- Chris Kerr
- Victoria A. McDonough
- Rebecca Vandewalle
- Henry B Hina, Jr.
- Jim Bundstein
- Mark Barrows
- Andrea Ray
- Kaelyn Ailin
- Ruben Hernandez
- Kendra Brown
- Angela Ferber
- Elisa Bechtel
- Amelia Ailin
- Bill Ernoehazy
- Timothy Kupec
- Cole White
- Andrew Fraser
- Ian Marra
- Evan Schultheis
- Jon Minard
- Edward Lindey
History
At the end of 2023 a Kickstarter campaign was run to get the seed funding for setting up the foundation’s legal structure, and establishing the basic fiscal framework in preparation for grant writing, programs, and other future fundraising efforts. After a tumultuous campaign, including multiple attempts at sabotage by fraudulent backers on the platform, the Kickstarter ultimately ended without funding. Still passionate about the project, and with the encouragement of a core group of backers and supporters, Ari resumed fundraising for a smaller goal: the legal expenses of incorporating the Foundation, and chose instead to request direct donations instead of using Kickstarter, or one of its competitor, platforms. On January 15th, 2024 enough was raised by the core group of initial founders to begin the process of incorporation and consulting an attorney for the legal documentation to begin operating as a foundation, and applying for grants. After consulting with Sage Law, the Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws were vetted, approved, and adopted leading to the formal incorporation of the Dinthwaite Medieval Village Foundation, February 16th, 2024 as a Kansas Not For-Profit Corporation.
Summer 2024 a new annual tradition began with an inaugural 50/50 raffle, which will recur every summer. This raffle is a valuable tool fundraising tool as it has a low financial and logistic burden on the Foundation, while also having a high reward for a member of the extended village community!