Fairy Trail Finale

Fairy House Architect

Want to know who’s behind the little bit of magic in the South Mountain Reservation?

Therese Ojibway took to the woods years ago when her son, Clinton, who is now 25, was 3. He has autism, and the nature reserve has been a place of freedom for him and a retreat for her. Five years ago, Ms. Ojibway, a 60-year-old special education teacher, started building the fairy houses, drawing upon a childhood she said was rich in fairy-tale lore and stories like “Thumbelina” by Hans Christian Andersen, “The Borrowers” by Mary Norton and the Flower Fairies, illustrations by Cicely Mary Barker.

Ms. Ojibway said she was also influenced by the fairy homes on Monhegan Island in Maine. “I started looking at the hollows of the trees and thought, ‘If I were a fairy I would live there,’” she said. Ms. Ojibway says she loves that children have been inspired by her work to make their own creations. Children occasionally leave notes with instructions for the fairies, which Ms. Ojibway sometimes acts on. One child left a shell for her to make into a bed, which she did. Others have left their baby teeth for the tooth fairy. She does upkeep on her little houses about once a week, usually in the evenings with her son.