Seventeen Pete Nance Boys & Girls Club members traveled recently to the Nance family tree farm outside of Tignall. Joining the kids on the field trip were club art teacher, Davilyn Rainwater, outdoorsman Tom Meyers and Advisory Board members: Claude Grizzard with wife Liz, Mardel Kolls, Charles Finch and Corey Crouse. Sharon Nance White, daughter of Pete Nance, and her husband Dennis were hosts for the event.

The Nance tree farm spans 770 acres of plowed ground, plus a dense tree forest, spill pond and frontage on the Ocoee River. Recently, 12,500 young saplings were planted at the farm. Mrs. White explained to the youth how only six men planted thousands of one-foot tall pine tree sprigs. She indicated that the reason her father purchased the property was to be a good steward of the environment and to promote active tree farming and forest preservation.

“Mr. Tom” Meyers led the crowd on a morning forest hike to search for evidence of wildlife, like animal tracks and rough cedar tree bark—indicating that deer rubbed their antlers to remove new growth antler velvet. Prior to the field trip, he conducted an informative program at the club that included pictures of wildlife indigenous to middle Georgia woodlands, plus actual turtle shells, animal skins and deer antlers of various sizes.

Before a picnic lunch on the grounds of the Nance farmhouse, kids piled into a long trailer that was pulled by a large tractor expertly driven by Dennis White. Kids and chaperones traveled deep into the forest with a stop at a spill pond, complete with a beaver dam, pond grasses and tadpoles.

The Pete Nance family, in addition to donating a generous endowment to the Boys & Girls Club of Greene County last year, offered their tree farm as a destination for educational and recreational field trips for club members. The youth are not only benefitting from the inspirational life story of Pete Nance, for whom their club is named, but also from his efforts to promote awareness of the conservation of our natural environment.