Preserve a unique natural landscape by help us create an artist community village !

12 cabins and garden sheds in the woods minutes from Leipers Fork, each surrounded by 22 acres of hardwood forest. A conservation easement keeps biodiversity on the land.

Assist the Center for Sustainable Stewardship in our efforts to preserve and protect a unique 980 acre parcel (the blue area in the picture above) that lies directly across the road from the 714 acre-CSS campus (yellow area) and privately owned protected natural space (blue dashed area and internal tan areas) - all nestled along the National Park, Natchez Trace Parkway. The green hatched areas represent areas/trails maintained by Timberlands Park (Williamson County Parks and Recreation).

CSS is looking for neighbors with clean and green intentions with which to partner. HERE is the LISTING

How can we come together to save this land from over-development, light/sound pollution, and grassland habitat destruction ? Portions of the land could be added to the existing 1200 acre Big East Fork Conservation Easement. Imagine the ways we can steward this land and be in community with it.

Just eight miles from Franklin Square, seven from Leipers Fork, and twenty from Nashville, this parcel of land is the last large undeveloped natural area remaining so close to expanding population hubs. Every day, residential developments threaten to encroach. Marked increase in land prices and the desirable location of the land presents an irresistible temptation to those who may see a return on investment only in dollars rather than in our community’s well-being. With room for several large living structures, the land could host various creative and agricultural workshops facilitated by a dedicated crew of permanent residents. Fifteen houses and over 100 short-term rental rooms currently exist in walking distance or a short ride away. Other residences and environmentally friendly amenities could be added on this new land.

The Land’s Ties to Musical History:

This uninhabited swath of land at the head of our watershed is contolled by the DEL/DANE II LLC started by sons of the famous songwriting husband-and-wife duo Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. This amazing couple, Nashville’s first professional songwriters, wrote an incredible number of hits from the 50’s and 60’s (All I have to do is Dream, Wake Up Little Susie, Bye Bye Love, Raining in my Heart, Love Hurts). Their songs were recorded by the Everly Brothers, Eddy Arnold, Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Tony Bennett, Simon & Garfunkel, the Grateful Dead, Dolly Parton, Elvis Presley, the Beach Boys, Roy Orbison, Elvis Costello, Count Basie, Dean Martin, Cher, R.E.M. and Ray Charles. It has been estimated that the 800 recorded songs written by the Bryants have sold more than a half a billion copies worldwide. Felice and Boudleaux also wrote Tennessee’s state song - Rocky Top.

Boudleaux worked in Music Row, in an office next to record publisher Fred Foster, founder of Monument Records and first person to sign on Dolly Parton. Fred lived on the property just downstream from the Bryants, and needed a janitor, so he hired a young West Point graduate who wanted to break into the music biz. Fred used to visit and chat with Boudleaux’s secretary Bobbie McKee, liked her name, and suggested a song to that fresh aspiring songwriter, Kris Kristofferson. Me and Bobby McGee became Janis Joplin’s biggest hit, released shortly after her tragic death at age 27 in 1970.

Singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen (Hallelujah, I’m Your Man) wrote “Chelsea Hotel,” a eulogy to the recently departed Joplin while living in a rustic cabin on the property. That cabin was rented to him by county singer Johnny Seay, wrote a song about Cohen’s neighbor, infamous Willie York of Big East Fork. “Willie’s Drunk and Nellie’s Dying” became a gold record in 1970. Parts of Willie’s whiskey distilling operation grace the hollows.

The property’s southern border, along Parker Branch Road, is very rocky, so in honor of the Bryants, it is fitting we call this area RockyTop Wilderness a potential natural area with limited and controlled access, allowing it’s preservation

Imagine With Us:

The Rocky Top Wilderness Area” is home to a big old Tennessee barn, currently in disrepair, and several large meadows. A perennial creek and multiple contributing side creeks babble across the land. The headwaters of Big East Fork Creek arise on the property, making it an essential to preserve in order to maintain the pure (and potable) spring water that run through the valley. Vast stands of white pine, hickory, red oak, and beech provide a canopy for the diverse flora and fauna below. Crimson clover and assorted wildflowers color the meadows in the Spring and a riot of leaf colors ornament it in the Fall. Many shady and moist areas provide perfect breeding grounds for amphibians and mushrooms. Native birds and mammals flourish. Minnows, mollusks, and crawdads make the creeks home. Far from busy roads and the bustle of the city, only an occasional airplane breaks the serene natural soundscape.

Preserving this large area would allow for a 20-mile loop hiking trail, one of the longest in Middle Tennessee.

 Imagine CSS artists/scholars-in-residence (or even yourself) inspired by long morning walks through the forest and then returning to their on-site studio to realize their vision.

Imagine more places which students could explore and use as a natural laboratory for their STEM education. Imagine small stage performance in the forest.

By saving this land from over-development we could preserve this area for dark sky viewing, a difficult thing to find in our light polluted cities. Imagine taking a late night stroll to one of the meadows and observing all the wonders of the skies above with just the naked eye.

 We could have hiking entrances and small parking areas that would allow visitors to access the much enlarged natural area from multiple locations (possibly located off Parker Branch Road, Mt Laura Road, Highway 96, Timberlands Park, or Backbone Ridge Road, in addition to the main CSS parking lot on Big East Fork Road.)

 

The new protected land, including conservation easements and county park land, would stretch over five linear miles along Big East Fork Valley! Opportunities abound for day campers, organic farmers, bird watchers, plein air painters, hikers, bicycle riders, science students, and nature lovers of all variety. Imagine educational classes and workshops, out-door arts, community gardens, and small outdoor concerts. Think of not thinking at all as you breathe the fresh air, stand entranced by a gently waving field of broom sage , smell the sweet earth after a summer’s rain, hear the comforting call of the whippoorwill, and feel the refreshing spring breeze on your face. The possibilities are endless and enhanced by the sustainable intentions of (y)our stewardship.

 

 How Can You Help? Join us! We want to hear from you! What other ways do you imagine engaging with this area? What creative ways come to mind to bring this land into Stewardship before developers get to it? Will you join us in getting the word out about this opportunity to acquire and preserve this land?

 Please fill out the from below to share your thoughts and ideas and join us in this campaign.

If you are interested in helping CSS preserve and protect this unique piece of land, or have suggestions of how it may be used, please do let us know.