Carving a new path

Richard Cornelius' small woodcarving studio can be seen from miles away as it sits quietly atop a small grassy hill just south of Pickrell at 710 W. Dogwood Road.

Inside the studio, Cornelius spends hours a day, listening to music and occasionally glancing out the window onto either the vast prairie land or town of Pickrell in the distance, as he delicately carves away piece by piece of a large wooden door to create an original design.

“We're up on this hill because we've got the great view,” Cornelius said.

A year ago, Cornelius and his wife decided to move to rural Pickrell where his parents were born and raised. He then built a house for him and his wife, his father and a studio for his work.

His father, Lee, who is 95, who left the area in the 1940s, can still remember the days when he lived in Pickrell as a boy, including riding the train down to Beatrice every day for school.