Spring Tours Coming!

Spring tours this year will begin on March 8, with Second Saturday Guided Tours and archaeology projects continuing on April 12 and May 10th, 2003.

The Passport In Time and Friends volunteers will be finishing up the downtown wheel-chair trail testing and continue testing other parts of the town on those weekends. The newly cleared northern part of downtown may have several undiscovered buildings in it to be tested. Becky Bruce and Jack Wynn will direct the archaeology until the new Forest Archaeologist is on board.

Please tell your friends and neighbors about the Second Saturday Guided Tours at Scull Shoals! We will begin to advertise our tours more widely this Spring, so we hope to bring in more visitors for the guided tours.

If you have family, school, or club groups who want special tours, they can be scheduled. Group tours should have at least 15-20 ticket holders at $8.00 each, with two weeks' notice to set them up, on weekdays or weekends.

For information, or to schedule a tour, call Jack Wynn at 770-536-2564, or e-mail at mfjtwynn@bellsouth.net

Greensboro Southland Jubilee - April 12

Bus Tours from Greensboro to Scull Shoals will highlight the Southland Jubilee April 12.

A special bus will take visitors from the Scull Shoals exhibit tent out to Scull Shoals for a guided tour and return them to Greensboro several times during the day. Friends member Dr. Margaret Sommer will drive the bus, on loan from her church in Watkinsville for the day. Our sincere thanks to the church for their kind assistance, and to Margaret for driving.

Bob Skarda's great Oconee Raptor Pins will be on sale at the booth, as will "Voices" (or chances) for the Colonial Dames of the XVII Century's beautiful native plants quilt. Proceeds from both sales go to Scull Shoals. The Colonial Dames' contribution is putting in the new picnic table at Scull Shoals this spring!

Friends of Scull Shoals will have our exhibit tent on Heritage Row this year. The city re-named Greene Street for the Jubilee, and all the heritage-related exhibits, from the Native Americans to the two jails and the Historical Society Museum, can be found there.

If you can volunteer 2-4 hours that day in the shade of the tent to greet people, please contact Gale Farlow at 706-467-3352!


New Forest Supervisor: Kathleen Atkinson

The Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests have a new boss! The new Forest Supervisor is Kathleen Atkinson, at the Supervisor's Office (S.O.) in Gainesville. She comes to us from the Deputy position in Florida, and was a District Ranger before that. She is a professional Forester, and has extensive resource management experience.

Welcome to Georgia, Kathleen! We hope she will be visiting us at Scull Shoals soon!


Winter Work Projects

This Winter, Friends and PIT volunteers did archaeological testing for the wheelchair trail in Scull Shoals. Small teams nearly completed screened shovel testing around the downtown loop, as well as places for interpretive signs and the new picnic table location. Shovel testing followed metal detector surveys by Dick Brunelle and Connie White along the route. Dr. Ervan Garrison of UGA also consulted with us on possible old building foundations.

The new South Loop Trail construction is complete, and awaiting interpretive signing for the house sites, mill site, old roadways, and other interesting places. Large volunteer teams worked in November, January, and February to clear the route and build the trail. Fifteen people, including Ranger Nightingale, cleared around sites to be interpreted. Thanks to everyone who worked on this new trail project!


Jill's Farewell February 8

After seven years working on the Chatta-hoochee-Oconee National Forests, as District Archaeologist, then as Forest Archaeologist, Jill Kingham Harrell has left us for a new life in Bend, Oregon. There she will earn her MA degree, and spend time with her son Jake (4).

Friends gathered to give her a send-off lunch on Saturday, February 8 at Scull Shoals. Thirty people showed up that day, wishing Jill and Jake well on the "other end" of the country.


New Board Member: Cindy Bowden

One of our "Founding Mothers" of Scull Shoals is returning to our Board! Mrs. Cindy Bowden, Curator of the American Museum of Papermaking, and current President of the Georgia Association of Museums and Galleries (GAMAG) was in the group that founded the Friends in the mid-1990s. Her interest, and that of the Institute of Paper Science and Technolo-gy, then was in Scull Shoals as the site of Georgia's first paper mill. Unfortunately, the Forest Service was not in a position to develop those possibilities at that time.

Cindy has years of experience in developing exhibits and finding funding, and she will assist us greatly in both of these areas. Welcome back, Cindy! We look forward to working with you -- and learning from you -- again!


Land Purchase Process Continues

Negotiations continue on the purchase of property for the Scull Shoals Educational Center on Macedonia Road. The contract with the Plum Creek Timber Company is nearly complete, and plans are set for boundary surveys, title searches, and so on. Attorney Dick Schmidt of Greensboro is assisting us in pursuing this project. Closing is set for May 21, 2003.

Banker Richard Maddux, of the Citizens Union Bank of Greensboro, Lake Branch, is assisting the Friends with a Line of Credit to allow the purchase of the land.


Skarda's Oconee Pins for Sale

Our resident artist, author, and tour guide extraordinaire, Bob Skarda has placed his Oconee Raptor Pins on sale on our web site and at each of our gatherings.

Bob modeled his pins from Native American images from archaeological research in the Oconee River valley. Most of the images were from the Lake Oconee reservoir excavations of the late 1970's.

Eagles, owls, and hawks are featured in three colors for your enjoyment, and the cards they come on give some of the history of the items.

Funds from the sale of the pins will go to Friends of Scull Shoals, so all you buy will help forward our interpretive efforts at the site.


Artists' Day at Scull Shoals, March 8

The Greene County Arts Alliance includes artists in many fields. Several of them are planning an outing to Scull Shoals on Saturday, March 8, while our tours are underway.

The artists will be drawing, painting, sketching, and otherwise recording their impressions of the old mill town, and possibly the enthusiastic volunteers as they work.

It is hoped that some of the resulting artwork can be offered for sale to the public as fund-raisers for the Friends, in cooperation with the artists. This" Artists Day at Scull Shoals" idea grew from a slide show to the Arts Alliance at Reynolds Plantation last year.

We welcome the artists' participation in the volunteer efforts to publicize the romantic old ruins and the dynamic efforts we are making to revitalize them.


Elaine Neal: new Hunt Editor

New Friends member Elaine Neal, a former federal government editor, has volunteered to assist us in editing Caroline Hunt's manuscript on the history of Scull Shoals.

Publication of this huge manuscript has been moving slowly for some months. Jack has been scanning the text and converting it to a digital format. The document is over 380 pages of typescript, in three large Parts, with a dozen photographs. It has no index, though there are hundreds of people and places named in the document.

Friends plans to edit, index, and publish the book for genealogical and historical research, as well as for family interests. A foundation grant will be sought to publish the book, once editing and indexing are completed.

Up to now, Martha Jones has been working on editing Part I. Family concerns have made it necessary for her to withdraw from the effort. Thanks Elaine for your help!


Slide Talks Available

If your group: family gathering, school group, church, or civic organization needs a speaker, call on us! We have a fine slide show or power-point presentation we can bring to your group meeting about the work at Scull Shoals. For information, contact Jack Wynn at 770-536-2564, or mfjtwynn@bellsouth.net

New Forest Archaeologist in late Spring

Recreation, Engineering, Archaeology, and Lands (REAL) Staff Officer Larry Luckett of the Forest Supervisor's Office in Gainesville says that a new Forest Archaeologist should be chosen soon from among the many applicants.

That means that the new person could be on-board and getting started by late Spring. We look forward to having new leadership and introducing this new professional to Scull Shoals and all our enthusiastic volunteers!


Dues are Due Again!

Friends, as you work out your taxes this Spring, be sure to include a generous donation to the Friends of Scull Shoals. Dues are not set in stone; you can raise your contribution at any time! Remember that we operate entirely on our dues, donations, and the income from the tours.

January through March are our main dues collection times. Remember also, each of us is to bring in a new member this year! Have you invited anyone to join us yet?


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