The Highland Rustic Trails have seen many improvements over the past few months. One particularly exciting upgrade is the addition of a picnic area adjacent to one of the new trails in our south pasture. This Eagle Scout Project was completed by Life Scout Luke Brown of Boy Scout Troop 17 in Charlottesville. Luke is a student at St. Anne’s-Belfield and enjoys history and the outdoors…a perfect fit for the Highland Rustic Trails! We asked Luke to tell us a little about his motivation for choosing this project, and how he planned and executed the work.
“For my Eagle Scout Service Project, I worked with Highland to develop a plan for creating a functional picnic area to be integrated into the estate’s extensive trail network. I made several visits to the site before work began in order to take measurements and pictures. There appeared to be two naturally level areas on the site that were selected for picnic tables. I constructed two picnic tables off-site from pre-treated lumber and brought in close to a dozen members of my Boy Scout Troop (Troop 17) to transform the heavily overgrown site into a functional picnic area. We cleared the site of vegetation, debris, fallen logs, branches, and a large stump, and pruned a heavily overgrown area on the west side of the site to open up a spectacular view of the pastures and mountains beyond. Our objective was to balance the beauty of the site in its natural state with creating a safe, accessible picnic and reflection area for hikers of all levels of experience. It took many hours of planning, two days to construct the picnic tables, and nearly a full day of on-site labor to transform the site.” – Luke Brown
Thank you Luke for creating such a lovely addition to the Highland Rustic Trails. We are certain that visitors will relish the opportunity to relax and have a snack while taking a walk along the trails.
*A special thanks to Highland Ambassadors and trails volunteers Harlow Chandler and Tamara Wamsley for helping manage this project.