When we set out to bring the inspiration behind Hearthstone to life, (our autumn beard oil from the house-made line of Beardsgaard) we knew we were setting off on an adventure the likes we have never undertaken before.
This is Dan, a client since right about the time we opened Beardsgaard Barbers. He is a husband, father, and quite the photographer, but that’s not why we requisitioned him to be the face of Hearthstone.
It is because we needed a windblown wayward adventurer with a great beard and hair, and his has long been one of our favorite heads in the shop. He also likes to hike, so Blademaiden didn’t feel bad dragging him around a state park for so many hours. The wilds, however, were not the first place we went.
A place like Hearthstone needs to be suitably epic, crumbling ruins, woodland setting, autumn leaves. But here we are in small town Batavia, Illinois, where were we to find such a thing? As it turns out, 5 minutes up the street there just happened to be an 1800s-era “grotto” shrine thingy built by a German monk from a nearby seminary.
As you do.
The second half of our photo shoot brought us an hour and a half southwest to Oglesby, Illinois and Starved Rock State Park, where the Beardsgaards have been spending an awful lot of time lately. It is full of cliffs and canyons, set along a large river with 12.3 miles of trails, some all boardwalked up, but plenty where you are completely alone most of the time and having to ford canyon streams to continue on your path.
It’s a magical place, if you’re around this neck of the woods we highly recommend you give it a stroll sometime.
Until then, we invite you to explore more of the story over at River Peak Apothecary, including exactly where you can get everything that Dan here is wearing.
Business Beard