The story begins at Purdue University where Teri, a small town girl from Indiana, met Nestor, who’s family had immigrated from Cuba after the Castro invasion of the island took over the family road construction business.  Teri graduated with a degree in Industrial Management and a minor in Mechanical Engineering. Nestor graduated with an Agricultural Economics degree.  The couple worked in various professional positions in Pennsylvania, Chicago and Indiana until Nestor’s job brought him to Jacksonville, Illinois, selling agricultural chemicals for Dow Elanco, a division of Eli Lilly.  Teri came to Jacksonville as a process engineer at Mobil Chemical.  After 3 children, Teri no longer worked professionally, and stayed home to raise the children.  

Nestor left corporate life and started his own import/export business which led him to buying used oil well drill bits in South America and selling them in the US for deep water wells.  The family moved to Bolivia, South America in 1996, where they bought a cattle ranch and Nestor developed an environmental company in conjunction with BP Amoco to remediate contaminated oil well sites that the Bolivian Government had left behind. 

The family planned to return to the US as the children were entering high school.  They bought a farm at auction in 2001, which was a homestead and cattle pasture from the turn of the century.  It was soon to have the 4 lane Highway 67 constructed separating the pasture ground and crop ground. Nestor continued working in Bolivia, a month at home and a month in Bolivia, until 2005.  

The family decided to name the project “Beautiful View” or Buena Vista after a small town near the cattle ranch where they lived.  It was breathtaking to drive up the mountain and then overlook Buena Vista, a quaint town in the valley.  There was a French lady who had a small and wonderful restaurant on her home’s patio and they made the trip frequently.  

The first step in the vision was to carve a pond where an overgrown ditch had eroded the crop field. Fingers of the large 4-acre pond wrapped around a point of land, where ground was broken in spring 2005 for a building with a gorgeous view called “The Lodge”, where meetings and parties were held. The “Barn”, for larger events, was completed in 2006. Buena Vista Farms hosted many weddings and meetings. The Barn burned in the winter of 2017 due to a faulty heater.

Sporting clay shooting and a 250 yard target range and an archery range were added in 2008. The "Reinhart 100", a bow and arrow shooting event with 100 various targets, was held on the 145 acres, along the Mauvaisterre creek bottom.

The "Grain Bin" was converted to a very interesting and rustic office and check in station, in 2008, and functions as the camper check in spot with a small gift and convenience store. Please feel welcomed to stop in, have coffee or soda and sit to visit over a game of checkers!

The campground was developed and built in 2012 with 60 RV spots that have 60 foot wide yards.  Some spaces are 90 feet long to host Big Rigs. An additional lake for paddle boating and fishing was formed from the deeply eroded ditch.  Park Model Home (Tiny Home) cabins were added so guests could join their RV friends. The campground development ended the shooting and archery events, but weddings became weekend destination events. Rehearsal dinners, all wedding day activities on site, gorgeous photo shoots, ceremonies in the woods, or the pergola and receptions in the Euro Style air conditioned tent and Sunday Brunch in the lodge was all part of the package to send off the Bride and Groom to their happily ever after. Buena Vista Weddings won many awards including The Knot "Best of Weddings" in 2015. The tent was sold as the campground became busier and working long weekend hours took its toll. Now our focus is on outdoor hospitality with full hook-up RV spots and Glamping cabins.

We welcome our RV and cabin guests to enjoy the "beautiful views" of the two lakes, woods, creek bottom, spring wild flowers and abundant wildlife such as deer and turkey, hawks and an eagle who frequent our skies. Our resident pair of swans hatched babies last year and we all love watching them, and they keep the messy geese off the lakes. All of our staff strive to offer a retreat from stress in a peaceful and quiet setting, away from city lights. We love our dark, star-filled skies, while relaxing around a bonfire. Formal gardens are a Monarch way station (

MonarchWatch.com

) and Pollinator Pocket (U of I Extension) and the two lakes offer great fishing and kayaking, or paddle boating. There are many photo settings, spots to sit and relax, hike or play outdoor lawn games for casual celebrations and reunions.

Buena Vista Farms believes in being thankful and giving back.  We contribute to:

Operation Restoration in Bolivia

Christians For Biblical Equality, CBEinternational.org

Wounded Warriors

Prager University

Hillsdale College

Shilo Christian Children’s Ranch in Shelbina, Missouri

And locally:

Westfair Christian Academy

Fellowship of Christian Athletes

The Downtown Jacksonville Concert Series

We are members of:

Illinois Campground Association ICA

The national Outdoor Hospitality Industry OHI (formerly known as ARVC)