Tour of historic structures augments Touch A Truck event at Heritage Park
The Oconee County Historical Society hosted free tours of three structures including the breathtakingly well preserved school house with new tin roof and a fresh coat of paint at Heritage Park Saturday during the Oconee County Recreation and Park Department's extremely successful "Touch A Truck" event Saturday below Farmington. Tractor rides were given with large donation buckets not seeing nearly enough action for this history minor's preference.
At one time several years back I was on a volunteer residents Historic Sites and Tourism committee tasked to find the perfect footprint for this school's relocation, which made national news coverage at the time. There were all kinds of hassles over methane pipes from former landfills as to exactly where and how close to the road and I am glad we are not still in meetings trying to figure out the best place to leave it.
There were some really interesting vehicles deployed and on display, including the used UGA bomb robot and the Oconee County Sheriff Department's rolling K9 unit. My favorite was the small two person helicopter and the really tall cherry pickers. We picked up the swag and toured the historic structures on a lovely first day of Spring, 2010.
It was very nice of the Oconee Enterprise to supply plastic cups and post-it notes and the Rec folks were trying their darnedest to give away all their donations with raffle tickets that no one could seem to identify in that short time instance it took to check out the dozen plus vehicles.
It was wonderful to see some old familiar faces and make some new friends at this event, but it did get my mind wondering about the manner in which historic structures have been plopped down in a large acreage with only the slightest bit of consultation and deliberation. For now it is enough that we are saving school and tenet houses. Can we add a barn somewhere in between? I can think of a crumbling barn at the end of Milledge Avenue in Athens that is in severe need of being relocated. Any volunteers in the agricultural, engineering, developmental or architectural fields that want to take on moving that massive structure some 20 miles to the South?
There is fear of flopping houses in a haphazard manner by some and a recently donated tenet house by Albert "Wimpy" Ward illustrates the difficulty as the owners had some difference with at least one member's fear of a zoo of houses being dumped in the southern end of the county. Local artisan John Cleaveland has taken a particular outspoken approach to the seemingly random placing of structures in the park with Oconee County Historical Society members working to come up with a better footprint for future plans to better be ready when other older building are donated to the county.
The bigger problem may indeed prove to be the cooperation of the bicyclists and the horses. At first that was on an even-odd schedule on the trails but now at least the two seem to coexist with mutually exclusive paths that crisscross the big area. Successful six and 24 hour bike races have gone on here with horse shows of every manner includes rodeos recently on display here. So far so good with the cross county bike riders and equine crowd, and I hope it remains so for the foreseeable future
Heritage Park is a wonderful facility that is used for Easter Egg contests such as the one being put on by the Clarke-Oconee Junior League and not nearly enough other events. A wife of a friend called me looking for the name and number of someone we all know and love who would serve as the honorary first egg contest caller this year, and while I do not know if even she was reached or accepted, there are not many ex-Bishop City Council members who have been in the headlines for a whole lot of other reasons. I hope I put them in the right direction to find her and she accepts and everything is perfect for all concerned on Easter Sunday in Heritage Park next weekend. Please bring your kids to the Easter Egg event next week, and bring your own bags.
I hope the tenet house gets the tender loving care it deserves. I do not understand the bitter rivalry of the Ward brothers, but I hope they can get over their differences to make this place as authentic and well research a park as possible for all people to come and enjoy with pride and knowledge we have done the best we possibly can. I think everyone should become dues paying members of the Oconee County Historical Society as soon as possible. We have an abundance of amazing people with lots of talent. Now can we just get along?
It is an amazing facility that cannot possibly continue to be all things to all people. We need to have a master plan to make sure that the facilities already there continue to be well maintained and preserved, and careful design to recognize there were no cul-de-sacs in Oconee County in the early 20th century.
I do think that historic preservationist, horse people and bike rides can co-exist in harmony at this facility, but there is probably going to need to be more staffing and active programming at this massive park. I hope the Board of Commissioners and the Oconee Parks and Recreation Department continue to support this facility and choose creative ways to market this natural wonder. Do you think it would be asking too much to make a better example out of Elder Mill Bridge Park if there ever is one? I do not know how far from this park to Elder Mill, but I am sure it could function as a satellite of an office for full time Recreation Department personnel in the not too distant future. We can never learn too much about our past. But there is no time like the present to preserve the past.
At one time several years back I was on a volunteer residents Historic Sites and Tourism committee tasked to find the perfect footprint for this school's relocation, which made national news coverage at the time. There were all kinds of hassles over methane pipes from former landfills as to exactly where and how close to the road and I am glad we are not still in meetings trying to figure out the best place to leave it.
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| The Oconee County Historical Society gave tours of the three structures at Heritage Park in Southern Oconee County with various antique tractors. (Photos by Daniel J. Matthews, Jr.) |
There were some really interesting vehicles deployed and on display, including the used UGA bomb robot and the Oconee County Sheriff Department's rolling K9 unit. My favorite was the small two person helicopter and the really tall cherry pickers. We picked up the swag and toured the historic structures on a lovely first day of Spring, 2010.
It was very nice of the Oconee Enterprise to supply plastic cups and post-it notes and the Rec folks were trying their darnedest to give away all their donations with raffle tickets that no one could seem to identify in that short time instance it took to check out the dozen plus vehicles.
 |
| The helicopter had the longest line of interested kids by by a long shot. (Photo by Daniel J. Matthews, Jr.) |
It was wonderful to see some old familiar faces and make some new friends at this event, but it did get my mind wondering about the manner in which historic structures have been plopped down in a large acreage with only the slightest bit of consultation and deliberation. For now it is enough that we are saving school and tenet houses. Can we add a barn somewhere in between? I can think of a crumbling barn at the end of Milledge Avenue in Athens that is in severe need of being relocated. Any volunteers in the agricultural, engineering, developmental or architectural fields that want to take on moving that massive structure some 20 miles to the South?
There is fear of flopping houses in a haphazard manner by some and a recently donated tenet house by Albert "Wimpy" Ward illustrates the difficulty as the owners had some difference with at least one member's fear of a zoo of houses being dumped in the southern end of the county. Local artisan John Cleaveland has taken a particular outspoken approach to the seemingly random placing of structures in the park with Oconee County Historical Society members working to come up with a better footprint for future plans to better be ready when other older building are donated to the county.
 |
| Children explore the desks at Central School House. |
The bigger problem may indeed prove to be the cooperation of the bicyclists and the horses. At first that was on an even-odd schedule on the trails but now at least the two seem to coexist with mutually exclusive paths that crisscross the big area. Successful six and 24 hour bike races have gone on here with horse shows of every manner includes rodeos recently on display here. So far so good with the cross county bike riders and equine crowd, and I hope it remains so for the foreseeable future
 |
| While it stays busy with bike riders year round, not nearly enough events keep this park booked. |
Heritage Park is a wonderful facility that is used for Easter Egg contests such as the one being put on by the Clarke-Oconee Junior League and not nearly enough other events. A wife of a friend called me looking for the name and number of someone we all know and love who would serve as the honorary first egg contest caller this year, and while I do not know if even she was reached or accepted, there are not many ex-Bishop City Council members who have been in the headlines for a whole lot of other reasons. I hope I put them in the right direction to find her and she accepts and everything is perfect for all concerned on Easter Sunday in Heritage Park next weekend. Please bring your kids to the Easter Egg event next week, and bring your own bags.
I hope the tenet house gets the tender loving care it deserves. I do not understand the bitter rivalry of the Ward brothers, but I hope they can get over their differences to make this place as authentic and well research a park as possible for all people to come and enjoy with pride and knowledge we have done the best we possibly can. I think everyone should become dues paying members of the Oconee County Historical Society as soon as possible. We have an abundance of amazing people with lots of talent. Now can we just get along?
 |
| Bike riders pedal past the door of the newest structure donated to Heritage Park on their way to the network of trails. This is not ready to be shown yet. (Photo by Daniel J. Matthews, Jr.) |
It is an amazing facility that cannot possibly continue to be all things to all people. We need to have a master plan to make sure that the facilities already there continue to be well maintained and preserved, and careful design to recognize there were no cul-de-sacs in Oconee County in the early 20th century.
I do think that historic preservationist, horse people and bike rides can co-exist in harmony at this facility, but there is probably going to need to be more staffing and active programming at this massive park. I hope the Board of Commissioners and the Oconee Parks and Recreation Department continue to support this facility and choose creative ways to market this natural wonder. Do you think it would be asking too much to make a better example out of Elder Mill Bridge Park if there ever is one? I do not know how far from this park to Elder Mill, but I am sure it could function as a satellite of an office for full time Recreation Department personnel in the not too distant future. We can never learn too much about our past. But there is no time like the present to preserve the past.
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