Destruction!

“I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree…A tree that looks at God all day and lifts her leafy arms to pray…A tree that may in Summer wear a nest of robins in her hair…Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree.” – Joyce Kilmer, “Trees,” 1914

The sound of destruction has been coming from the lot four doors down for weeks. First it was the loud ripping of metal and wood, as they battered and beat the house and garage down. Then there was the sound of the bulldozers, backhoes and dump trucks, as they tore up the concrete garage pad and hauled all that had once been a historic home and recently-built three car garage away.
They didn’t spare the little pink play house in the back or any of the shrubbery. It seems like such a shame - a historic house that had been a cozy home for so many years, and a big, potentially useful garage – gone. I wonder if they even salvaged any of the materials…

Then, last weekend, it got worse – way worse. They took down all the trees on the lot – nine 100-year old oak trees – felled, sawed up and hauled away, in three days time. What were they thinking? Why turn a beautiful, old growth, fully wooded lot into a barren silt pit, devoid of all vegetation? Couldn’t they have found a lot without trees somewhere else?

Why in the world would you buy a lot on a tree-lined street, full of historic homes, then tear down the historic house and cut down all the trees? It just doesn’t make sense.

Some of my neighbors tried to call attention to the destruction, and while the city fathers listened to their pleas, the answer to their questions was that Winder has no ordinances governing the destruction of historic property or old trees. Since historic properties and old trees are two of things that make old town Winder most appealing, that seems like a shame.

Years ago, when I was a house painter, I painted that old house at 146 N. Center Street. It took me months, and I ended up not making much money on the job, but I really enjoyed the work. It was profoundly rewarding to take something that had reached a point of near decay and bring it back to life – protect it, caulk it, fix it, and then cover it with a nice coat of paint.

In the process of painting that house, I got to know the woman who grew up there, and lived in it still. Her name is Lynn Roberts and her father, the late Col. Harry O. Smith, bought that house and the 3+ acres it stood on for $1,000 in 1937. At that time the house had only four rooms, (as Lynn told me over a delicious tomato sandwich and some sweet tea last week.) She remembered how, as a “not quite five-year-old” child the upper two rooms “swayed in the wind on a cold winter night.”

Coming from Atlanta, Lynn said, “we thought we had moved to the wilderness,” but the fully wooded lot and ample space gave the family room to keep horses and gave young Lynn space to roam free.

Eight years later, in anticipation of his second child, Col. Harry O. added a bathroom and a screened porch to the house. He also built Lynn a little play house, which was initially white, but later turned “a rusty red when Daddy painted it with some leftover barn paint.” Lynn has fond memories of playing in that little house (now gone) and I remember imagining what fun it must have been to be the little girl who once played there, as I toiled on the back of the main house.

In 1950 or so, Col. Harry O. added two more rooms to the house, finishing the floor plan to what it was when the home was destroyed. Lynn returned to the house to live with her father and her two children in 1974, after her mother died. She lived there until she and her husband, Ted retired and moved to a more modern and much easier to keep home, on a smaller lot, several years ago.

Lynn told tales of the “horse shows” she and the neighborhood kids used to have, and how they were always fascinated by a “headstone” (actually a discarded Veteran’s marker) they found in the back of the lot. There were stories of ghosts and “many good times,” Lynn said, in reminiscing about her years in that house.

And, now it’s gone.

Lynn said she wasn’t’ surprised the house was taken down, as it had stood empty with a leaking roof for the past couple of years, and “it always had water problems.” She said the lot was “swampy” and the house had been built “flat on the ground.”

“In fact,” she said, “that lot ate up two big rocks and a St. Joseph statue. They just sunk into the swamp and disappeared.”

Like Mr. Clark and I, and so many of the neighbors, Lynn said she was devastated to hear about the destruction of the trees.

Winder’s historic district needs to be expanded to include all of the historic homes in the “Olde Town” area. The city needs to research what other cities have done to protect their historic homes and trees. And, the council needs to adopt stringent ordinances to protect what is quaint, pretty and pure about this town’s history. The magic, beauty, stories and trees that once made 146 N. Center Street special are gone. Whatever replaces it cannot possibly have as much to offer to our city’s future, its history or our collective memories.

The city is asking for citizen input about how the future of downtown Winder will be shaped. A Livable Cities Initiative (LIS) meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 7, 2009 at 6 p.m. at the Winder Community Center; all concerned citizens are invited to attend.