Big Rock Candy Mountain Retreat is a labor of love that Roger and Lela Franklin have been joyously toiling over since they purchased the property in November 2019. They started by putting a new face on the place, and now the campground, restaurant and bar are operational.
They first visited the property in Spring of 2019.
“We could tell there was something special about this place,” said Roger Franklin. “We feel like this place has picked us. We had been searching (for something new) after about 20 years of doing what we had done, and we’re young enough to realize that we still have maybe one more run in us. We felt like a campground would fit our strengths.
“We wanted something that brought us outdoors. We feel that everything we have done and learned really culminating in this campground. The skills that we just so happened to be mastering over the last 20 years.
“We wanted to be free of preconceived notions. The ability to come out here and make something from scratch was really enticing and made it special.”
The Franklins moved from western Nebraska where Roger had a restoration business and Lela had an interior design company, businesses they sold to former employees before making the move to the Ozarks.
“We were able to leave a good legacy behind when we left Nebraska,” he said.
“It helped that we had a son and daughter-in-law that were willing to take on this undertaking with us. I don’t know if we would have done it if Jaime and Landon were not on board. We went all in, so here we are, and we feel like it was the right thing.”
Franklin said that he and his wife don’t view Big Rock Candy Mountain retreat just as a business, it’s their home.
“Something that we’re starting to do is welcome people to our house,” he said, gesturing around him as the mist settled on the front porch of the restaurant and bar that serves as the capstone of the campground operation.
“We’ve been really working hard over the last 18 months. We added some outbuildings, new roofs and this outdoor bar area,” he said.
“We think it’s a great place to come, we really do think of it as a retreat. Whether it’s a corporate retreat, a wedding retreat, a family retreat, we do see it being utilized by groups. Although individuals can rent the cabins.”
Franklin said the current capacity at the campground is 250 people.
“Our vision, out future, we want it to be a place of reconstructive rest, people can come out and listen to the rain on the trees and watch the leaves fall from the trees,” he said. “I sat on the deck one day last week and just watched some of the leaves fall out of this oak tree. I had never taken the time to just sit and watch a leaf fall from 80 feet, and it is really pretty beautiful to just watch this thing with no resistance float on the wind and kind of travel all the way to the ground and ever so gently and gracefully land on the ground and spin around. It has really been eye opening and heart opening, because when you’re working and you’re scrambling you don’t have time for that sort of thing.”
Franklin said that it makes him happy that the Big Rock Candy Mountain is a part of a greater good and can be a part of the community.
“Funny enough, some people don’t even know we’re out here, people in Salem and Houston and the surrounding area never heard of it,” Franklin said, emphasizing that once people know they’re out there, they believe success is bound to follow.
He mentioned the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce Event they hosted Oct. 27.
“It was a huge success,” he said. “Probably 35-40 chamber members, and they were all excited. That was really our kick off.”
They are open this year for dinner at the Big Chill Grill Thursday through Sunday until Nov. 20. They will open back up Feb. 28.
“The only reason we opened this year is so we can get a feel for it,” said Franklin.
It also gives them the added advantage of having people get used to the idea that they’re out there.
“I was bound and determined to make sure that we opened,” he said.
