About Sacred Travels
In the wooded hills outside St. Louis, author and photojournalist Jeanette McDermott discovered the hidden Black Madonna Shrine and Grottos in Pacific, Missouri. Built by hand over more than two decades by a Polish Franciscan friar, the shrine stands as a remarkable expression of devotion, craftsmanship, and faith.
That discovery eventually gave rise to Sacred Travels.Captivated by the beauty and mystery of the place, McDermott began researching the shrine’s history and the life of Brother Bronislaus Luszcz, whose quiet dedication transformed a hillside into a sanctuary of grottos honoring the Black Madonna.
That research became the book Walk the Pilgrim’s Path: Discover the Black Madonna Shrine and Hidden Grottos of the Ozarks, written to preserve the story of the shrine and the tradition of pilgrimage that surrounds it.
How It Began
After the book was published, readers began asking a simple question: Can we visit these places together?
Those requests led to the first pilgrimages and, eventually, to the creation of Sacred Travels. Today the initiative is led through a partnership between author Jeanette McDermott and travel curator Onawa Terburg.
Today, Sacred Travels invites visitors to encounter sacred places across St. Louis and the Midwest—churches, shrines, grottos, and devotional landscapes where faith, history, and human creativity meet. Through guided visits, storytelling, and film, these journeys bring renewed attention to places that are often overlooked but deeply meaningful.
Many people first encounter these sites through Walk the Pilgrim’s Path. Sacred Travels offers the opportunity to experience them firsthand. Together, these efforts bring renewed attention to the sacred heritage of the Midwest.
Collaboration and Stewardship
Sacred Travels is made possible through collaboration. The initiative is guided by a shared commitment to thoughtful travel, cultural respect, and the preservation of sacred places.
Travel curator Onawa Terburg, founder of OnaTour, LLC, partners in the planning and coordination of select journeys. Her expertise in travel logistics ensures that each experience is thoughtfully organized while allowing Sacred Travels to focus on the history, stories, and sacred character of the places we visit.
Walk the Pilgrim’s Path, a program of Gubbio Studios, remains the literary foundation of the initiative. In partnership with Midwest Tonight, the project also brings these sacred places to a wider audience through film, storytelling, and community engagement.
Together, these efforts bring renewed attention to the sacred places and traditions that shape the spiritual heritage of the Midwest.
Looking Forward
Sacred Travels continues to expand its journey calendar and growing film archive while discerning the initiative’s long-term path. Whether devotional, cultural, or educational in tone, each journey is guided by a simple belief: sacred places endure when people encounter them with care, curiosity, and reverence.
The People Behind Sacred Travels
Jeanette McDermott
Author of Walk the Pilgrim’s Path | Co-Founder, Sacred TravelsJeanette McDermott is the author of Walk the Pilgrim’s Path and co-founder of Sacred Travels. A photojournalist, author, and Vietnam-era veteran, her career began in military journalism and expanded into foreign correspondence, global fieldwork, and environmental storytelling across six continents. Today her work focuses on sacred places and the quiet landscapes where history, faith, and human creativity meet.
Her discovery of the Black Madonna Shrine and Grottos in the wooded hills near Pacific, Missouri led to years of research into the life of Brother Bronislaus Luszcz, the Polish Franciscan friar who carved the hillside grottos by hand in honor of Our Lady of Częstochowa, the Black Madonna. That research became Walk the Pilgrim’s Path, a book dedicated to preserving the story of the shrine and the tradition of pilgrimage surrounding it.
Interest in visiting the sites featured in the book led to the first pilgrimages in the St. Louis region and eventually to the creation of Sacred Travels. In partnership with travel curator Onawa Terburg, co-founder of Sacred Travels and founder of OnaTour, McDermott now guides visitors to sacred places across the Midwest.
She lives in St. Louis, where she seeks the sacred in everyday life and opens her home to shelter dogs in need.
Onawa Terburg
Founder, OnaTour LLC | Co-Founder, Sacred TravelsOnawa Terburg is a cultural travel guide and experiential learning advocate who creates meaningful travel experiences that invite travelers to encounter the world with curiosity, reflection, and deeper cultural awareness.
She is the founder of OnaTour, a travel company dedicated to educational and experiential journeys that help people connect with the history, culture, and human stories of the places they visit. Drawing on a background in education and curriculum development, Terburg approaches travel as a form of learning that unfolds through direct experience rather than observation alone.
Her work reflects a simple belief: meaningful travel expands perspective. By stepping into unfamiliar landscapes and cultures, travelers often rediscover parts of themselves that everyday routines can obscure.
She later co-founded Sacred Travels with photojournalist Jeanette McDermott, guiding reflective journeys to historic sacred landscapes across the Midwest. Together, they guide reflective journeys to historic sacred sites across the Midwest, where travelers encounter the region’s devotional landscapes with curiosity and attentiveness rather than conventional tourism.
Onawa's work invites travelers to slow down, ask better questions, and experience the world with renewed curiosity.