by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

What began as an idea spawned by a St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School Earth Day event has evolved into one of the Plateau’s most cherished assets, the Mountain Goat Trail, a paved multimodal path for pedestrians and cyclists that when complete will extend from Cowan to Palmer. At the Sewanee Civic Association Nov. 2 dinner meeting, Mountain Goat Trail Alliance Executive Director Patrick Dean shared highlights from the trail’s history and a glimpse at what lies ahead. This year marks the MGTA’s 20th anniversary. Based on data from the three trail counters stationed along the 12 miles completed so far, the trail welcomed 89,000 pedestrians and cyclists in the past 12 months.

The trail follows the path the Mountain Goat Railroad travelled transporting passengers and coal between Cowan and Palmer. In the 1980s, the railroad removed the tracks. SAS sophomore Ian Prunty seized on the idea of turning the railbed into a hiking trail and galvanized local support. A grant from the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) spurred completion of the first section of trail from Sewanee to Midway and the MGTA formed. A six-mile section from Sewanee to Monteagle and a six-mile section from Monteagle’s DuBose Conference Center to Tracy City are now complete and plans for moving forward with the remaining sections are in place.

Construction on the long-anticipated section of trail from Sherwood Road in Sewanee to Slagtown Road in Cowan is expected to begin any day. Dean projected a Christmas Eve completion date for the 6.5-7 miles of trail. The Tennessee Department of Transportation will bring the trail across I-24 in Monteagle when the bridge is replaced, completing a section of trail from Village Wines and Spirits to the Depot with construction likewise projected to begin in the near future. With completion, those two projects will open up 20 miles of trail for public use, with just over 15 miles remaining of the 35 miles called for in the final plan.

Going from Tracy City to Palmer, another TDOT grant will pave a mile and a half section departing from Tracy City. The MGTA has secured the property and funding for the next five miles to Coalmont. Dean expects construction will begin next year. Dean acknowledged there were “some property issues” for the remaining section between Coalmont and Palmer. “The railbed travels through people’s yards,” Dean said. “We’re counting on good community relations to work things out. We don’t want to be in people’s yards.” He anticipates finding a workable alternative route. Landowners have offered to sell the Palmer coal mine site and surrounding property to the MGTA for a historic heritage destination point at the end of the trail.

Pointing to an added environmental plus, Dean said material made from recycled tires provides the pavement surface on three sections of trail, the connector to the Fiery Gizzard Visitor Center, the connector to the Fiery Gizzard trailhead, and the Sewanee section at the Visitor Center. Porous Pave, a 50/50 mix of stone and recycled tire rubber, allows water to seep in and, as a result, reduces the likelihood of tree roots pushing through the trail. Using Porous Pave, a cooperative effort with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, removed 8,000 tires from landfills.

The trail’s signature event, the annual Mountain Goat Trail race in April has something for everyone, a two-mile walk, a five-mile run, a half marathon, and a post-race raffle hosted by Mountain Outfitters. The trail is a “family affair” writ large. Area families make frequent use of the trail, and an economic impact analysis projected the MGT will bring jobs, businesses, over $2 million in tax revenues and $2.5 million in retail sales to the area every year.

Switching hats, Dean encouraged the community to attend Yea, Sewanee Writes on Nov. 7, at duPont Library, 9–11 a.m., to chat with local authors selling and signing books. In addition to serving as the MGTA Executive Director, Dean has authored two historical biographies, “A Window to Heaven” and “Nature’s Messenger: Mark Catesby and His Adventures in a New World.” The books read like Crusoe-esque travelog adventures. “A Window to Heaven” is the story of Hudson Stuck, an Episcopal priest and 1892 graduate of Sewanee who went to Alaska as a missionary and with a party of four men made the first successful summit of Mount Denali, now known as Mount McKinley. “Nature’s Messenger” follows 18th century British artist and naturalist Catesby who roamed the eastern frontier of the United States in the early 1700s, returned to England, and, pre-Darwin’s Origin of Species, produced the first illustrated book of North American flora and fauna. Dean will also sign books at the Sewanee bookstore from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., on Nov. 7.

In the business portion of the meeting, President Ben Tarhan reported the SCA Community Chest had raised $22,000 toward the $118,000 goal. The MGTA is among 15 initiatives identified for funding, with recipients including food pantries, children’s programs, animal rescue, programs serving senior citizens, health care needs, and other ventures geared to improving the quality of life on the Plateau. Send donations to P.O. Box 99, Sewanee, TN 37375 or donate online at <sewaneecivic.org/community-chest/>.

Tarhan also urged the community to donate to Stock the Pantry, to benefit the Community Action Committee’s food pantry. For those who prefer to shop online, visit <https://a.co/f6TXKX4> to view the Amazon wish list. The items ordered will be delivered directly to the CAC, 216 University Ave., Sewanee.

To join the SCA, send a $20 check to the above address, or visit sewaneecivic.org. SCA members receive a free subscription to the online community bulletin board Sewanee Classifieds. Direct questions about Classifieds to Classifieds Administrator Justin Closs at <classifieds@sewaneecivic.org>.

The holiday season is right around the corner, and CAC is preparing to support our neighbors with Thanksgiving food boxes filled with a turkey and all the fixings. Thanks to community generosity, we’re partnering with Piggly Wiggly in Monteagle for the second year to collect donations. Stop by the store to purchase a bag for CAC or use our shopping list to build one yourself. We need more than 100 food boxes to help our neighbors enjoy a complete Thanksgiving meal.

Shopping list includes one box stuffing mix, two cans green beans, two cans yams, two cans cream style corn, two cans fruit cocktail, one box instant mashed potatoes, one jar of gravy, one can cranberry sauce, one can pie filling, one box of hot chocolate mix packets.

Please deliver food items to the CAC by Sunday, Nov. 15, 216 University Ave., Sewanee. Contact Sarah at <cac@stmarkstpaul.org> or call (931) 598-5927 with any questions. If you need a food box, call (931) 598-5927.

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

“The students will ask me if I went to school at the University and where I learned to do all this,” said University Domain Ranger Sandy Gilliam. Gilliam’s answer, “I say, no, if I went to college here, I probably wouldn’t be able to show you the things I’m showing you now.” A hands-on-learning style teacher, Gilliam has instructed students in a diverse array of skills ranging from trail maintenance to welding, to prescribed burns, to photography, to chainsaw certification, to butchering.

Gilliam has lived his entire life in Midway and got his first job at the age of 13. After high school he went to work at Peabody Tectank in Winchester as a welder. Fourteen years ago, Gilliam signed on as the University’s first Domain Ranger, given an official title for doing what he had already been doing for most of his life.

“I’ve always hunted in Lost Cove,” Gilliam said. “I’d keep an eye out on the Domain and the outskirts. If I found things that shouldn’t be happening, I pointed them out to the University.”

A student injured in a fall from a remote section of bluff prompted the University to create the Domain Ranger position. “The University was working with the family trying to figure out how to keep such an accident from occurring again,” said Domain Manager Nate Wilson. The agreed upon idea was to have a backcountry Domain Ranger, a non-law enforcement presence who maintained roads and trails and made sure those he encountered understood how to navigate the Domain safely. “Sandy was a natural fit,” Wilson insisted. “He knew the Domain like the back of his hand, and, as Franklin County Constable, he had a good relationship with both emergency services and police.”

Gilliam is responsible for everything outside the central campus, a little over 13,000 acres, the trails, campsites, lakes, ponds, roads, caves and more. He has a crew to help with weed eating and trail maintenance in the summer and work study students help out during the school year. The never-ending list of need-done tasks ranges from conducting prescribed burns to managing wildland fires to removing fallen trees blocking roads and trails. “A lot of times it may take a few years for trees to show their stress from drought or storms and die,” Gilliam observed, commenting on a recent spate of downed trees on the Domain. With the addition of a new trail in Lost Cove from Potters Ridge to Buggy Top Cave, Gilliam’s workload will increase. “It’s a lot to keep up with,” he conceded. “The state parks have five or six rangers to manage this much land.”

Gilliam worked as a welder for 31 years before signing on as Domain Ranger. The job was a substantial cut in pay but has its own perks. Gilliam has close ties with the students and keeps in touch with many of them after they graduate. Three students have asked Gilliam to gown them.

Responding to student interest, Gilliam has led seminars in skill-based learning most park rangers lack the knowledge to offer guidance in. Students living in the Greenhouse, with a focus on environmentally sound living and exploring ecological questions, have proved to be especially eager pupils. Gilliam has introduced students to welding, deer processing, butchering, and has plans for stonemasonry class in the near future.

Gilliam learned the craft of stonemasonry from his father, who learned from his father who learned from his father before him. “My great grandpap did a lot of the stonework on the chapel,” Gilliam said. Gilliam’s own stonework can be seen in burial plot enclosures at the University Cemetery.

“I had a lot of opportunities in my life,” Gilliam said of his many skills, “and when it came up, I would do it.” Perhaps most surprising is Gilliam’s skill as a photographer. He has an uncanny eye for what others pass by without seeing. He frequently worked with Art Professor Pradip Malde’s documentary photography class, prior to Malde’s retirement. What is Gilliam’s camera of choice? “Instead of having to pack a camera around, a cellphone is what I’m using most of the time now,” he acknowledged. “Most of my shots are nothing I ever went to look for. It happens, it’s there in front of me, and I take the shot.” Gilliam’s photos are a gallery of you-would-have-needed-to-be-there moments — a rattlesnake poised to strike, a once-in-a-lifetime sunset at The Cross. Asked about a gray dove and a mostly white dove in a photograph, Gilliam explained the largely white dove was a “piebald,” a genetic mutation. Like the seemingly bottomless sink in Lost Cove, there is no end to what Gilliam knows.

And, likewise, no end to what Gilliam does. In addition to his Domain Ranger and student mentoring, he works with Sewane Fire and Rescue and state park rangers when they need assistance. During his time off, Gilliam does what he has always done. During hunting season, he hunts. Gilliam also has a side job helping with the bison farm in Lost Cove. “Many, many years ago bison used to be native to here,” Gilliam mentioned almost as an afterthought, offering another gem from his treasure trove of knowledge.

The expression Renaissance man came from the Humanist notion “a man can do all things if he will.” Leonardo da Vinci is a leading example for his achievements in art, science, architecture, and invention. Now 67, Gilliam plans to retire in a few years. He suggested the University should perhaps be looking for someone to replace him, words of wisdom indeed. Filling the shoes of Sewanee’s Renaissance man will be no easy task.