I discovered Caledon in the first year I was in SL, when I would venture out mouselike and explore late at night. I would flee at the sight of any other green dots on the map. I was searching for places to explore, and did a search for Caledonia when looking for Celtic themed places. I am pretty sure that the place I discovered initially was the castle in Moors. There was a box that said if I was interested in property in Caledon I should drop a notecard to Des. I had no idea what a notecard was nor how one worked so I explored about and then moved on.
About a year later I was renting in Wunderbar and encountered Caledon again, and knew how to send Des a notecard this time. I had visions of Queen Anne painted ladies and 2nd Empire mansions when Des had me meet him at a property he had coming available. It was in Steam SkyCity, which was a terrible disappointment to me. No landscaping, no cottage, just a berth on a floating city cum airship. And my first impression of Desmond was that he was a kid. No idea that I was actually the one who was oversized! I quickly fell in love with my spot in SSC, and the rest is Caledon history. And ancient history these days! But SSC will always be special to me since that is where I fell in love with the most amazing man I have ever known.
And Caledon is where I have made friends who have become a big part of my life. I am so grateful for everyone who appreciated what Des envisioned, who riffed on it, who managed it and picked up the trash.Fogwoman Gray-Volare
I became a Caledonian during the in early 2009. I had put it of for so long because everything I read about it made it seem such a bright and shining land, full of creative and very witty people. I did not figure I would be able to join such an elite area. But I did wander across the borders and found that all of the rumors where true!. But the people were also very kind and funny and accepting. It has been a pure pleasure to be a Caledonian all these years!LadyDawn Starbrook
My first Encounter with Caledon.
I must confess that in September 2006 I’d never even heard of Caledon, until that is, Blu Sparkle and I got talking with Woody Burleigh whom we knew from the T1 Radio club. Woody explained that it was a set of Victorian/Steampunk themed regions where most people dressed accordingly, although as visitors we weren’t expected to. He said that people there were very formal and polite to one another and addressed one another as Mr. <whatever> or Miss <whoever>. We didn’t have any plans when T1 closed up for the evening, so we were excited to take Woody up on his offer of showing us around.
We landed, as well you might expect, at the landing point in Caledon. There was a shop on the corner that if I recall correctly offered information about Caledon, and sold walking sticks. I’m sure it had many other wares too, but walking sticks is all I can remember. It’s now the Caledon Welcome Centre. We moved in a westerly direction along the footpath, I don’t really remember what was on either side but 50 metres from the landing point my life changed forever. “Look at this chap!” whispered Woody, “He’s training his dogs.” We peeped over the wall into the Virtual Kennel Club Dog Park and there was a man with a large brown dog. We watched as the avatar typed and the dog sat. He typed again and the dog lifted his paw to shake hands. The man turned away from the dog, walked a few paces, turned and typed again. This time the dog stood up, moved walked right up to him and sat down again. I don’t know what the expression on my avatar’s face was like, but in real life, my jaw dropped. I’d seen some pets in SL, but nothing on a par with this. And to be honest, I still haven’t.
We didn’t go any further in Caledon that night and it was well over a week before we saw any more if it. Each night after that we were back at the Dog Park. We didn’t go to T1, we didn’t go to other clubs, we barely even went shopping. We went back to the Dog Park. We were fascinated. We got to know the owner, Mr. Genosse and his dogs Bo the Bloodhound who was the one we had seen on that first night, Paris the Irish Wolfhound and not long after that Admiral the Australian Shepherd. The Dog Park is still there. The wall has long since been replaced by a smart white fence and the tiny workshop where Mr. Genosse created his early wonders has been deomolished. But, the Gazebo remains and the cypress trees too, but they’re mesh now and a lot better looking than the originals! Second Life was never the same for me after that first visit to Caledon. It was fun and adventuresome before, but that night it became inspirational too.
Sandry Logan
Caledon Memoirs 