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.