History
of Wortroot
Introduction
I have cobbled together a basic history of Wortroot in this
section. All of the information is drawn from the memories of
those who attended the April 2003 Board Meeting. Although this
summary should be enough to set the stage for
the biological survey of the property which follows, a more
complete written history should be put together at some point since
Wortroot's history
is currently only an oral history.
From 1870 to the 2004
The large farmhouse in Wortroot Cove was built between 1870 and 1890,
though there may have been a house in the area prior to that
time. In the late nineteenth century and in the first two-thirds
of the
twentieth century, much of Wortroot was probably used for
pasture. When
Ken Marion found and bought the first part of the property in 1970,
he remembers that much of the forest had been cut down and grazed over
by goats, cattle, and
horses. Middle Cave Ridge and some other parts of the property
were bare and rutted from erosion.
Ken quickly formed a land trust and began to fix up the house. He
planted loblolly pines and tulip-trees on the bare hillsides.
Goats which had escaped from domestication continued to run wild across
the property until they were shot by a hunter in the mid-1970s.
The sunroom on the south face of the old farmhouse. Photo
Credit: Maggie Hess
The goal of the land trust, which will be discussed in a later section,
was to use and live off the land, building places for human habitation
without
scarring or depleting the earth. Many people lived at Wortroot
for
a period of time, but eventually this
generation moved into town and had kids of their own. Wortroot
became
more of a retreat to be visited, though it has usually had at least one
caretaker in residence who typically stays for a year or two.
In the meantime, Wortroot's purpose began to morph from a community
land trust
(a commune) to an ecological land trust (a nature preserve). This
study is in keeping with the second purpose of Wortroot, documenting
the ecology of the property in its youth. Much of the forest on
the property is about as old as the land trust - 34
years - while the origin of some of the forest precedes that
date. In another fifty years, perhaps Wortroot's woods will have
matured gracefully into their role as a nature preserve.
Questions or comments?
Email:
Last updated 9/04.
