In an area notorious for toxic waste, a small group is determined to restore to a portion of the land the honor and respect they say it deserves.

Beulah Land, the name given to the 23-acre former farm, lies in Petroleum Valley, a section of Parker in northeast Butler County that is known for industrial pollution from the chemical, mining and petroleum industry.

Undaunted, the six board members of Beulah Land Inc., a mix of Roman Catholic nuns, environmental professionals and concerned friends, are staking out the beginning of a spiritual and ecological settlement.

Recently, they invited others to honor the Earth by gathering on a hillside to celebrate the coming of summer. As the sun set June 19, about 40 people trekked up an isolated hillside of wild strawberry, clover and grasses to surround a bonfire in celebration of the summer solstice.

Later, they danced and sang by candlelight before walking the paths of a labyrinth cut into the hillside.

They seemed to hold little in common, coming to rural Parker from cities such as Butler, Pittsburgh and New Castle, Lawrence County, except the desire to celebrate a spiritual connection to the Earth with fellows of like mind.

Word had spread through friends and through an article in a regional New Age magazine called Point of Light that a summer solstice celebration would be held at Beulah Land, a budding center for sustainable living just west of the small town of Bruin.

"Why did I come? The spiritual essence, the energy. How do you describe something spiritual?" said Joanna Wilkson, a visitor from New Castle, struggling to describe the spiritual component of the night. "You come to feel camaraderie among human beings from all walks of life."

Sister Marion Senish, of the Sisters of Divine Providence, likened the walking of the paths of a labyrinth to one's own personal spiritual journey. Because it was too dangerous to travel to Jerusalem in medieval times, pilgrims would symbolically walk the labyrinth instead. The Beulah Land labyrinth is modeled after one constructed in the Cathedral of Notre Dame in France during the 13th-century crusades, she said.

No one at the celebration minded that the actual solstice wouldn't occur until two days later, June 21, which fell inconveniently on a Monday.

Kimberly Donovan, board director of Beulah Land Inc., described the celebration as simply an event that doesn't exclude any set of beliefs. Donovan, who describes herself as non-Christian, noted that the celebrations of the evening were for anyone who traveled along a spiritual path, regardless of which path they have chosen. If Beulah Land's spiritual concept seems to be free flowing, the land management concept is solid.

The 23 acres were purchased 11 years ago when Sister Carla Weemhoff, touched by a passion to reconnect people to the Earth and preserve it, began searching for land. Weemhoff, who was born in the Netherlands, entered the order of the Ladies of Bethany and came to the United States about 40 years ago.

She had been inspired by the writings of the Rev. Thomas Berry, a Passionist priest who was revolutionary among ecology-minded theologians.

Berry, now 90, was influenced by the ecological revolutionary Rachael Carson and her book, "Silent Spring." He holds that humans have developed a pervasive spiritual sickness because they have been separated from the natural web of life of the Earth. People, he maintains, no longer feel a kinship with other life on the planet, and he raises a challenge: Satisfy essential human need without destroying the rich biodiversity of the planet.

Weemhoff, 72, said she was taken by his ideas. "I visited other sustainable living communities, like Genesis Farms in Ohio, and confirmed what I wanted to do."

The goal of sustainable living is to live on the land without damaging it. Weemhoff searched for property and found the former Daubenspeck farm in Parker. Although the farm is near a former toxic waste site, its land was never treated with chemicals, according to Weemhoff.

Weemhoff shared her vision of owning the land with Senish, who, upon visiting the property, declared that the nun must have her land. The Sisters of Divine Providence helped pay for the property, which holds a small farmhouse and a few outbuildings, and Weemhoff secured a loan.

"Somehow, we paid off the loan. I still don't know how it happened. It was a miracle," Weemhoff shrugged.

Weemhoff named the site after an Old Testament verse, found in the book of Isaiah: Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married."

Weemhoff and the other five board members of Beulah Land hope to one day have an ecologically gentle village there, complete with about five cottages built of natural materials such as straw bales covered with concrete. Home builders also may choose to build cottages made from rammed earth, a method in which a mixture of earth, water, clay and sometimes concrete is poured into molds, forming walls that are 12 to 24 inches thick. Other options such as building from recycled materials also are being considered.

"We are open to building forms that are made from recycled or environmentally friendly products, renewable materials for our local region and anything else that a potential community member can demonstrate is a viable, accepted building method that falls within our organization's core values," Donovan said.

Donovan, a certified public account who has a master's degree from Slippery Rock University in Science in Sustainable Systems, describes two key concepts of Beulah Land: an intentional community and a sustainable living network.

"An 'intentional community' is a group of people who have chosen to live together with a common purpose, working cooperatively to create a lifestyle that reflects their shared core values," Donovan said, noting that although Beulah Land is a rural location, such communities can be located in suburban or urban neighborhoods.

Sustainable living, she noted, is living and working in ways that are compatible with the preservation of the environment. It is based on a philosophy of interdependence, respect for life and nature, and responsibility for future generations.

The group will lease the land through a community land trust, an agreement that whoever builds on the land will not own it but will promise to comply with the environmental regulations as a condition of the lease.

Paradoxically, the Earth-friendly community is a scant mile or so from what was once deemed one of the worst toxic dump sites in the United States.

The Bruin Lagoon in Bruin was the site of toxic waste dumping for more than 40 years, first by a local petroleum refiner and later by a coal mining company. The site was littered with 33 abandoned chemical tankers, some rusting and leaking onto the soil. The lagoon was filled with oily asphalt-like sludge, mercury, arsenic, pressurized pockets of hydrogen sulfide and sulfuric acid, and other toxins, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency documents.

The deadly stew escaped the lagoon in 1968 when a retaining mound collapsed and 3,000 gallons poured into nearby Bear Creek. The results were ecologically devastating. The sludge left 4 million dead fish in its wake. As far as 200 miles away, water companies along the Allegheny River closed intake valves while the sludge passed to prevent the toxins from contaminating drinking water.

Patrick Boyle, spokesman for the EPA, confirmed that the lagoon was listed among the five most toxic sites in the nation when the Superfund clean-up program began in 1980.

After spending $15 million to clean up the lagoon, the EPA declared in 1997 that it no longer posed a threat to human health or the environment.

But more contamination was discovered from other toxic dump sites in Petroleum Valley. In 2000, well water for more than 900 homes, businesses and schools in and around Petrolia was found to be polluted. The pollutants were traced to chemical runoff and spills at 24 dump sites used from the 1950s through the 1970s by Pittsburgh-based Koppers Co., which operated a plant that produced toxic adhesives, and Witco, which operated a petroleum plant.

In May, Gov. Ed Rendell announced the state had awarded a $16.6 million grant toward the construction of a public water system to provide safe drinking water to the area.

Weemhoff is baffled by the mindset she's encountered in those who live in the area."People close their eyes," she said. "People around here say, 'Well, that's the way my father did it and the way my grandfather did it.' But that doesn't make it right."

She hopes that as the community grows, it will educate others who want to preserve the Earth. People, she noted, are always welcome at Beulah Land to learn and honor the land.

Julie Murphy, vice president, works to publicize Beulah Land through the annual solstice celebration. Last year, the celebration attracted nearly 80 people, Murphy said.

Murphy has worked as an environmental consultant in the Pittsburgh area for more than 15 years and became involved in Beulah Land two years ago. Her next step is to ask for charitable funding and grants so the residential phase of the land can move forward.

For more information, visit www.beulahlandpa.com.