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Another aspect of the woods that keeps me coming back is the supply of glass bottles and jars I find in a few specific places every time I go. This area, as I’ve defined as “Glassland” sits between the Firepits and Swampland on the far end of the creek. I’m not quite sure why this area has so many “junk spots”, but piles of ceramics, pipes, metals, porcelain, and glass scatter this area. I’ve found jars that date back to the 1880s, a marble tombstone, and a giant head-sized unidentifiable mound of wax/sap. After being told that there once was a water reservoir somewhere around what’s known today as “the Berlin Wall” in the woods, I’d like to assume that this may have been the area, since moist locations contain and preserve old junk.

After my collection grew to over 20 jars and bottles, I was given an assignment in 3D design class to transform something with little-to-no value into something valuable/meaningful. Though some of the bottles were considered “antique”, there’s a very small market for glass collecting and thought this would be the ideal opportunity to give these old dirty bottles new life and purpose. I chose jars of different sizes, filled each one with a glow-in-the-dark element (paint or marbles), bones, and seashells. I then strung them at different lengths with fishing wire and attached them to some old CDs and a plastic/metal hanger. The finished piece resembled a mobile or chandelier, and I chose to exhibit it in the Dark Room of the Photo Studio. When viewers came in, they could see the strung up bottles with a light shining from below to make a rainbow effect with the holographic bottoms of CDs. Then the lights went off and the luminous contents of the jars were able to be seen.

I like to believe that the woods is just one big jar, accumulating and preserving everything inside. Turtles can be preserved for months in the icy lake, but somehow thaw out and continue to live. I know this happens in many places, but it makes me think of the conditions that must be met to hold on to things. For the jars to remain uncracked and undamaged, they get washed to a tree base or a nook in a river bend and get buried, but so many things have to go exactly right for those things to happen. For every 10 pieces of glass I find, usually, only one will be intact, since it’s so rare those conditions are met. I wonder if the same goes for the turtles. I’ve seen them frozen in blocks of ice, just inches from the surface, but how many actually survive the freezes and what sort of conditions must be met to survive this way?

Since Camp Dark Waters is on the edge of the Pine Barrens, there are lots of diverse tree species on the land. There are currently,  28 species of trees in Camp Dark Waters, which is about 15 acres of land. Some species on the lands of Camp Dark Waters include Sweet Gum,  Sycamore, Black Gum, Tulip Poplar, Red Maple, Hollies, and various types of Oak Trees. Over the decades’ fires have been a big part of the developing Pine trees in the Pine Barrens. Pine trees survive best if a fire occurs every few years. Fires have allowed Pine trees to spread their seeds to regrow and survive through these lands. Natural fires and deliberately set fires have both occurred in Pine forests.

In the 1800s, the burning of the Pinewood benefited the charcoal industry. By setting fires to these trees, was to kill them and make the wood worthless to any other purpose than charcoal. Thus, these trees could be purchased cheaply. Also, young shoots would spring up after a bear fire, large luscious berries. These berries could be gathered and collected for sale. Often deliberate human origin fire occurred because of lands used for agriculture the rules and the proper boundaries of the land. Most of these disputes involved lawyers. Another reason for setting fires was angry landowners, but also fires were set to provide work for jobless individuals. Fires happened so often, that individuals looked at them as inevitable.

Since the Pine Barrens hadn’t had frequent forest fires, some Pine trees are dying off and Oak trees are being planted in replace of the Pine trees. The change from Pines to Oak trees has caused many changes to species including foliage insects, birds, small mammals, and mosses. In Richard T. T. Forman chapter called “The Pine Barrens of New Jersey: An Ecological Mosaic, he mentions the impact of fires for the stability of the Pinelands. Forman states, “Succession in the uplands leads to oak-history forests, but wildfires at perhaps a four-decade interval produce oak-pine forests and more frequent wildfires produce forests of pitch pine and shrub oak” (574). This explains the condition of camp dark waters. Oak trees such as  White oak, Spanish oak, and Black oaks have started to grow intertwined within the growth of Pine trees at Camp Dark Waters. Other trees that make up the diversity of Camp Dark Waters is the Sweet Gum trees, where the seeds are in a ball with spikes covering the entire sphere. Sycamores prefer to grow near water on the banks of rivers and creeks. Not related to the sweet gum trees Black Gum trees produce berries that birds like to eat as well as deer. Black gum trees prefer to also grow near water and in late summer early fall their leaves turn a vibrant bright red to their leaves. Another species of tree is the Tulip poplar which grows really fast, really straight and very tall (in the same family as the magnolia tree). These trees usually take over when an older bigger tree comes down and grows in its place. They also like to grow in bright open spaces where sunlight can reach them. Holly trees are evergreen trees and also known as understory trees. These trees tend not to be very tall and can grow and tolerate lots of shade. These trees grow slowly. The last species of tree I’m going to talk about are Ash trees, which are fast-growing trees and resemble maple seeds. Ash have wings on their seeds just like Maple seeds and blown around and taken away by the wind.

Contemporary Conceptions of the American Revolution

I recall fifth grade where I was first taught about the American Revolution, the heroic generals, the Founders, and the battles. I idolized and romanticized the past like many children. My views regarding history have certainly molded and remolded as I have grown, especially my views regarding the 18th century; however, few people study life in the 18th century aside from historians and historical battle reenactors. The common perception of 18th America largely stems from surface level misconceptions and popularizations. The perception of the past to changes as time soldiers on, though it remains vitally important not to judge the actions of those in history to the social standards of the present. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Americans remembered the past by preserving land and human historical lands that hold historical significance.

Dotted across the American countryside lie monuments, statues, signs, plaques and historic sites set aside by federal or state governments or even private historic preservations, much like the founding of the Guilford Battleground Company and the preservation of the Guilford Courthouse Battleground. Historical sites exist as a form of communion with the past for Americans today, and also as a way for Americans to confront nature.  Many families simply treat historical parks and sites as an attraction and educational tool for children, which was one of the ways that I kindled a love for history, but nature too plays a large part in illustrating history within one’s mind.

An Alter to Violence

Schenck and Morehead both raised in the Antebellum South, experienced and likely participated in a culture of violence both likely before and during their involvement in the American Civil War. The glorification and commemoration of war became their collective objective. Schenck and Morehead envisioned a massive monument to General Nathaniel Greene, leader of the combined American armed forces during the latter half of the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution. The monument defied previous 19th-century monuments erected in commemoration of the American Revolution by its sheer size alone.

The Greene monument looms over the main quad, though Greene’s statue isn’t the only one within the main courtyard. Below the bronze visage of Greene on horseback stands a bronze statue of a female with laurels in one hand and a shield in the other, symbolizing liberty. Around the two striking statues sit granite steps and platforms embossed with bronze inscriptions of quotes from Greene, General George Washington, and  those commemorating the statues; however, the main site for statues at the Guilford Battleground does not just consist of statutes regarding the Revolution. There are more statues portraying the founders, the members and the contributors to the Guilford Battleground Company than there are statues honoring the battle. Substantial statues of both David Schenck and Joseph M. Morehead stand at the perimeter of the central meadow easily marked by signs and informational plaques along the darkly paved path snaking around the green mound and into the wet woods and leaf soaked ground.

It would be foolish to not at least acknowledge that some things are unexplainable. As promised, here I will continue my recollection of strange and unusual occurrences I’ve experienced in the Guilford Woods.

My freshman year, close to finals in April, I’ll never forget witnessing a flock of Luna Moths come through the apartments, heading towards the woods at around 2AM. I had just finished a paper and it had been raining nearly all day. I came out to sit on our porch and was relieved to see the rain had stopped. As soon as I reclined into my chair, flits of green began circling the light posts. Thankful I wasn’t the only person awake at the time, two friends and I stood with jaws wide open. None of us had actually seen Luna Moths in person, and suddenly we were surrounded by dozens. Some drew closer to the porches but most crowded around lights, coming from a southward direction and heading northeast to the woods. In silence, we began to slowly follow their jagged direction into the dark woods but their group seemed to dissipate into the darkness. The three of us were at a loss for words and could only relate to each other about the experience because no one else believed us. Although one of us got a picture, it was lost, so I have added a photo from the internet as reference.

That same week, I remember a friend and I taking a nightly woods walk to enjoy the fresh spring air during finals. As we walked, the moon was bright enough for us to not need light, but my eyes were focused on the ground, at little glowing lights. I thought my eyes were playing tricks, but they weren’t. I shined a light and discovered a creature that resembled a crustacean or a roly poly, crawling slowly on the dirt, blinking a luminous bluish hue on one end of its body. Both my friend and I were puzzled and decided to bring it back with us to investigate. We ended up learning that it was firefly larvae, which was very strange considering they were larger than adult fireflies and because their heads glow instead of their butts (as adults). After asking biology professors, we still aren’t sure why this is the case. Once again, the original photo was lost, but here is a reference.

My concluding story begins with a group of friends and I walking towards the lake one afternoon from the campus side. As we crested the lake field, we could see the waxing gibbous moon rising from the far left side of the tree line. We paid it no mind as we approached our designated location: the slanted grassy green hill that runs from the golf field to the lake’s edge. We took our seats, got comfortable, and began listening to the frogs’ songs. Within minutes, a bright white shine caught our attention. It was moving slowly behind a row of trees to the far right of the lake and there was a moment when UFO was on everyone’s mind. The answer was even more baffling, it was the moon..the same waxing gibbous we had witnessed walking there, but coming from the completely opposite-impossible-direction. Everyone was stunned and couldn’t think of a reasonable explanation, so we agreed it was the woods’ doing and we shouldn’t question it. None of us enjoy talking about it and have never experienced anything else like it.

Standing at the beginning of the dull gravel road this morning, I knew that this would be the last time that I visited the lake and surrounding woods for this assignment. It’s been a great few weeks, and I know that I’ll be visiting the lake far after this semester is over. This blog post is a continuation of my last post, and will be my final one for the semester; it’s been a blast!

As I stand, taking in the scenery around me as I have done many a time, I note a flair of color in my peripheral vision. A pair of small trees stand to my left, thin in nature and fragile looking, yet sporting the emergence of a few bold pink flowers. These small buds bring with them the promise of spring, which is now asserting its dominance over winter as temperatures continue to rise. Spurred on by heavy rainfall, they have grown, splashing color into my surroundings and brightening my day. These budding flowers provide me with a sense of hope, as well as a sense of nostalgia, as this project is coming to a close. I know that I can’t stand here forever, and I set my sights on the road ahead of me.

I continue down the path, reveling in all that I can see. The sides of the path, normally clear (or at least as clear as a gravel path can be), are coated in mud, with bold tire marks indicating a recent drive down here. The beautiful sky, blue as a subtle sea, hides the secrets of the past few days of pouring rain. Messy footsteps and a small lake are all that remains of these past showers, and they’re swept away in my mind by the beautiful landscape that is the sky. As the lake is my focus for this entire project, and I haven’t touched on it specifically since two blog posts ago, I make my way over to the sandy area, which is quite possibly my favorite region of this landscape to just relax in. Crunching over the sand, my shoes sinking in, I plop down on the bench and look out into the water.

As I sit on the beach area, I notice that I have two visitors. These two turtles, vastly different in size, greet me as they stand still on the stony barrier between the water and the sand. Yellow-bellied sliders, as I believe they are called, look away from me, determined to continue in their stony nature as we exist side by side.

It is here that I end my blog for the semester: sitting on a bench in a sandy drift, looking out at the lake while the sun shines down on me and my turtle companion. It’s been a pleasure to have an excuse to visit this land so many times this semester. This place is a thing of beauty: man and nature coming together to create an intriguing mix, and I am so glad that I’ve been able to be a part of it throughout this journey. Thanks for reading!

Hello and welcome back to my blog. This will be my last blog post for this class, but I hope to continue to visit the park, even after this class ends. For this last blog post, I hope to finish reflecting on my most recent visit to Haw River State Park and then reflect on my experience as a whole, with this particular project and with this class.

Continuing on my trek along the Piedmont Loop Trail, I walk along the guided path before coming upon a tree. The tree was right in front of me. Literally. It laid across the trail so perfectly, like it was just lying down to take a quick nap. I suppose the tree had been there for a while, but I also wondered why it had not been moved out of the way of the trail. I mean, it was a pretty grand impediment that caused you to stray from the original path and follow a new, less-traveled one. Has any visitor told anyone about this tree? Would this be considered a safety hazard? Has the administration at Haw River State Park just decided to not do anything about it? As I look at this tree, thousands of questions pop into my head all at the same time. Then I pause, and remember again the true purpose of nature. It’s not here to please us or to be the perfect path to get us from one spot to another. It is here to provide us with necessities, such as water and oxygen. Occasionally, nature creates exquisite scenes that are interesting to capture and photograph, so we can look back at the pictures and always appreciate nature for all that it is.

After this minor inconvenience, I carry on with my walk around the park. Most of the time, everything looks the same. There are similar looking trees with similar looking leaves and I hear the same chorus of birds and grasshoppers come together. But occasionally I see a different tree, like this one I discovered with some interesting leaves that point downwards (I searched a while for the name of the tree but just could not find it). And I also see different colored trees. Aside from the typical green trees and the surprising redbud I found earlier, I also stumbled upon a white tree, which I later discovered was a flowering dogwood, a Cornus florida. Once again, I was drawn to this unique tree and took another opportunity to appreciate the diversity of nature. I was mesmerized by the change of this park over the 3 short months I have been visiting.

At the beginning of this project, I did not know what to expect. But now, I am pleasantly surprised by how much I have grown and how much I have learned about myself and about nature. I now have a greater appreciation for nature and all that it provides for us. This is the first time in a while that I have felt a strong connection to nature. Being on a campus like Guilford’s, where there are trees and other signs of nature all around, and where we can actually go outside to take it all in, has also helped me notice and appreciate nature more. Thank you, Jim, for challenging me to step outside of my comfort zone and allowing me to grow as a writer. To end this journey, I want to share two pictures, taken 30 minutes apart, from each side of the lake located at Haw River State Park. They show just how important perspective is and that sometimes you just need to look at things from a different point of view:)

p.s. I tried to rotate these photos but I could not figure out how to do it without uploading everyone else’s pictures as well. I apologize in advance.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, being an art major and lover of the outdoors, I’ve always been trying to connect the two. Wherever I went in the woods, I was always internally recording inspiration and externally collecting treasures. During my second year, I took 2D design class and was assigned a project titled “Selfless Portrait” where we were expected to create a self portrait, but it didn’t have to be accurate to what we looked like. Instead, we had to incorporate who we were and things important to ourselves. I immediately thought of the woods and began collecting. Everything that wasn’t tied down was susceptible to becoming my artwork such as leaves, bones, shells, rocks, flowers, moss, and even a dead Virginian Tiger Moth (pictured below).

Once a plethora of items (all from the woods and my bedroom) was acquired, it was time to construct. After hours or rearranging and detailing, I was beyond proud of my creation. Since it was made, I’ve allowed changes to take place (let flowers wilt) and added bits here and there, but the overall form has remained the same. After putting in so many hours, forming attachments to items, leading to stories and memories, I truly put everything I believed to represent myself into this piece. I don’t think I’ll ever stop adding to it because I will never really see it as complete, but it doesn’t have to be finished to bring me  pride and joy whenever I see it.

Just recently, I’ve included a cricket leg, a cicada wing, and a peculiar little flower I found on my last woods adventure. In general, I like creating pieces that require a large amount of time to fully view and understand. The more complex and intricate, the better. Not to sound arrogant, but it’s one of my only works that I can stare at for hours on end because of its meaning and detail. Each little item, attached to the item before it, holds a personal memory of when, how, and where it was acquired, telling mini stories that only I (and a couple others) know. Like the woods and forests overall, paintings and artwork retain the energy put into them and can reflect them back onto the viewer. That’s why I can only smile when I look back at this image.

As I exit the woods I see the two Muscovy ducks sitting by the lake.  They are quite large.  I never knew ducks could be this large.  Before I knew what it was I thought it might have been a turkey.  Ever since I have been here, I have heard the story of the two male ducks that came here and got too fat to fly away.  So, now they live here together, this is their place.

Mia did not like them at all. Once she locked eyes on them she couldn’t control herself. Her bark became low and sounded mean. The fur in her back stood up making a line down her spine. Her ears stood straight up. Even when we kept walking she kept looking back making sure that they weren’t following us.

When I get home I look up the Muscovy duck. It says that they are actually more similar to geese than ducks. In the photos on the internet, they seem much smaller than the ones that live here on campus. Guilford also has an abundance of canadian geese. When I look up pictures of the two, they don’t really look like thay are distant cousins but I’ll take their word on it.

Whenever I take Mia up to the golf field she chases the geese all the way into the pond. The minute she sees them she lays down in the grass and stares at them. When she feels like the time is right she bursts into a sprint to catch them. They all flee at once.

 I know many other people that have said the woods here has helped them cope with their mental illness.  Why don’t more schools give their students access to nature.  I wonder if when I go back home, if I will ever find a place like this one.  After all the hours that I have taken exploring it, I still feel that I haven’t experienced it all.  I am thankful that I have found a place where I can be with nature and experience its beauty. Mia and I have both had great joy throughout the semester exploring all 153 acres that it has to offer.