The first order of business was securing the necessary positions to rebuild the executive committee.
At our last meeting on June 27, three vital officer positions were filled as follows:
Brian Bockhahn, President, was born in Niagara Falls, NY and graduated from the New York State Ranger School. He moved to North Carolina in 1996 to find work as a State Park Ranger. In 1997 he was assigned a permanent position at the BW Wells Recreation Area where he discovered the beauty and solitude of Rock Cliff Farm
Margaret Pridgen, Secretary, was born in Durham, NC in 1938 and grew up in Wake Forest. Returned to the area after living in Washington, DC for 40 years. Charter member of the Virginia Native Plant Society and lover of all things green. A close friend of Maude Wells and daughter of Ed Osborne who helped catalog the plants at Rock Cliff Farm with Dr. Wells.
Bill Williams, Treasurer, humbly allows a simple biography, growing up in the area, and now living within two miles of Rock Cliff Farm. Bill is highly experienced with his current position as the Secretary/Treasurer for Stony Hill Fire Department. Also a member of the Wake Forest Garden Club and a retired Raleigh Fire Fighter.
The next few months will be exciting as we continue rebuilding. With several motivated individuals helping, our success is assured.
Our local scout troop (which has been present the past three years) were already willing to volunteer for a rescheduled work day.
Public Lands Day is always the third Saturday in September, and is much cooler than June, so it was a logical choice for a rain date.
People For Parks, who coordinate National Trails Day, is very excited about the idea, and will volunteer their efforts.
We will begin at 9:00 a.m. with a safety talk and trail work demo, then work until noon. Lunch will be provided by Whole Foods, followed by a tour of Rock Cliff Farm.
Bring your friends and family and some work gloves. Tools and water will be provided.
I had the well listed as a priority project on my pending Eagle Scout project list, and it was taken fast.
In late February I met with Garrett to draw a rough sketch of the well structure using notes from speaking with the caretaker David Ray.
After that it was up to Garrett. For his Eagle Scout certification he had to write up a full project report complete with sketch, materials list, funding, etc. To achieve Eagle Status the scout must show leadership by preparing the plan, raising funds for materials and then coordinating the project.
The project entailed digging out the well about four feet deep, in a square shape, as it was before, and then building the wooden portion of the well. David Ray had the original bucket, tickle and chain.
So, after only a few months of planning, it was completed on May 28, 2003. The well greatly adds to the interpretation of the farm features, recreating the 19th century farm life.
Volunteers and Eagle Scouts will continue to prove vital to the establishment and maintenance of farm features.
As I was to learn, he was a shrewd observer of the landscape and one who could weave his observations into credible hypotheses to explain what he saw.
What struck me most at this first brief meeting was Wells’ physical and intellectual vigor. Although retired, he was clearly up-to-date on ecological matters, still willing to discuss them, and still willing to explain and defend his views. Our subsequent personal interactions in the field, in the office, at seminars, and at his farm solidified my view of Wells as one of the premier first generation plant ecologists in the United States. He was also perhaps one of the least appreciated and least understood, at least outside North Carolina. Nothing since ever caused me to change that view.
Arthur Cooper, Professor Emeritus, NC State
Our first day of archiving found us a list B.W. made of all of his paintings and who he gave them to. And so the search begins.
Jean Harrison has taken it upon herself to begin looking, with Brian Bockhahn as camera man. It is our goal to locate as many paintings as possible to confirm the location and get digital images of them.
If you have any paintings or know of the location of any of B.W.’s paintings please contact Brian Bockhahn at 528-1690 or Jean Harrison at 556-4149.
Jimmy Ray was one of six children raised by David and Ruby Ray, Rock Cliff Farms caretakers since 1950. He affectionately referred to the Wells as “aunt Maude and uncle Bert.”
Through Jimmy’s eyes we not only found out about the structures on the farm, we also learned about farm life.
He showed us a well we had not previously known about, the location of the former large vegetable garden, his fathers piggery, and the rock wall where B.W. inscribed his initials!
He showed us where they used to play baseball and we learned that B.W. had built him his first ball.
They also had a hand crank phone to call each other’s houses. Bert or Maude would call at 5:00 p.m., so they kids could sneak over to watch the Mickey Mouse Show.
A lot has changed at the farm in the past forty years, but the history is still there in the spirit and minds of those willing to discover it.
What once stood as one of the best examples of savanna habitat in the state was being transformed into orderly rows of cash crops. Dr. B.W. Wells and several other ecologists fought to save the site as a park, but were unsuccessful.
Big Savannah-or at least part of it-may still be with us. A 117-acre remnant was found under a power line. The site shares the same rare soil type and plant assemblages as the Original Big Savannah. Even better was the discovery that the site was for sale.
In April 2003 The Coastal Land Trust began a fund-raising campaign to purchase the land. A portion of Maude Wells’ estate was given to the NC Wildflower Preservation Society, and was donated to the Coastal Land Trust.
www.coastallandtrust.org
The skylight on B.W. Wells studio was damaged by falling debris. This skylight, albeit ingenious for it’s time, was flawed from the beginning.
It has been leaking for quite some time and the entire roof may need replacing.
New member Jeff Adolphsen with the State Historic Preservation Office has volunteered his services to inspect the roof and the skylight.
Replacement or repair will be the highest priority. Funds will hopefully be secured through the Division of Parks and Recreation Emergency Repair Fund.
The skylight and studio are a vital part of the Farm tour and B.W. Wells heritage.
Members of the workshop labeled B.W. Wells as North Carolina’s Aldo Leopold, reflecting on the similarities of their environmental ethics, quotes, poems and other insightful remarks.
Jayme Bednarczyk
Jean McCamy
Jean Harrison
Jeff Adolphsen
John Pelosi
Hugh Norse
Rita Kesler
Ken Moore
Alice Zawadski
Nancy Hilmer
Margaret Pridgen (LIFE)
Benson Kirkman (LIFE)
Ray Noggle (LIFE)
Wake Forest Garden Club
If you have any information about the following please contact Brian Bockhahn at 676-1027, or email Brian.Bockhahn@ncmail.net
Naming of Ziegle’s Rock
Moonshine Trail rock markers
History of John Davis
History of Wyatt Mangum
Lowery home sites
Pet Cemetery information
PO Box 1901
Wake Forest NC 27587