Team Member: Steve Waldron

Position: Innkeeper, Castle Steward, Chief Game Instructor

Ravenwood: Tell us a bit about yourself.

Steve:  Where to start.  I have been an avid backpacker and hiker all of my life.  I started gaming at an early age, cutting my teeth with 2nd edition AD&D in middle school and regular family board game nights.  While attending college I was an EMT and canoeing instructor for inner city kids at a summer camp run by the Rescue Mission of Syracuse.  Working there cemented in my mind that I wanted to live and work in the woods.  I changed my major to Recreation Adventure Travel and Ecotourism and moved to the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York to finish college.  In college I took my first trips overseas.  I loved interacting with the people of different cultures to hear their stories and enjoy their company.  After finishing college I became a lead wilderness instructor for at risk/adjudicated teens in Southern Pennsylvania where I met Amanda.  After working together for two years we decided to make the team permanent.  We got married, quit our jobs and moved to China to do mission work.  Seven years later and Amanda and I are working together again as the keepers of the Ravenwood Castle.  Two years ago we were blessed with our amazing little boy Leland.  He’s been such a great addition to our lives that we decided we needed more, and our second child is due later this year.

Ravenwood: What did you do before you joined Ravenwood Castle?

Steve:  Most recently I was working as a Design Engineer for Falk Precision in Syracuse, New York.  I was responsible for creating CAD files so we could machine them for our customers.

Ravenwood: What is the best part about working at Ravenwood Castle?

Steve:  People.  I have always enjoyed talking and spending time with people.  Good company is a joy.  We can share time over a board game or just sitting on the patio talking and relaxing.  Either way people are a wealth of knowledge and experiences.  I enjoy hearing their perspectives and about their lives.

Ravenwood:  You are Ravenwood Castle’s Chief Game Instructor.  What is your favorite game?

Steve:  My tastes change as I play more games.  Lately I have been really enjoying Agricola.  It is a worker placement game where each player is a central European rural farmer in the 17th century.  Everyone takes turns assigning tasks to their workers as they build farms to provide for their families.  Raising sheep and growing vegetables has never been this much fun.

Ravenwood: What do you like best about living in the Hocking Hills area?

Steve: I like being away from the city and the hustle and bustle.  I like the simplicity and pace of living in the woods, to be able to walk out the front doors of the castle and hear nothing other than the rustle of the leaves in the breeze and birds singing.  It’s great at night to walk outside and see a sky full of stars without light pollution obscuring them, and listen to the crickets and frogs.

Jim Reed

Jim Reed is a lifelong gamer who started with the original red box Dungeons & Dragons. After spending 20 years in the corporate world, he decided it was high time that work be fun and struck out on his own. Jim now owns and operates Ravenwood Castle, and spends his days ensuring his guests have as much fun as he does.