History: Finding His Home in the West
In 1941, Elizabeth Patterson and Norina Matchiabelli, two close Western disciples of Meher Baba, were sent by Baba from India to the United States to establish a Center for His work in the West. Baba gave these five guidelines for the property:
The climate should be equable.
It should have more than ample fresh water.
It should be virgin soil, never built upon.
It should be land that could be tilled.
It should be given from the heart.
Elizabeth and Norina journeyed across the country looking for a suitable location, from California to the Midwest to North Carolina, and then finally Elizabeth remembered a property that was owned by her father’s company in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. She and Norina visited, and, as they stood looking over a beautiful freshwater lake toward the Atlantic ocean, surrounded by sunlit trees and singing birds, they felt it—this was the place.