Under the Big Hickory

Under By Tina Badger

THE BIG

About fifteen miles west of New Castle there is a place on Johns Creek where the hickory trees grow big and drop their bounty for wildlife – and for Lillie Reynolds and her family. I met Lillie in downtown New Castle and rode with her to her family farm in western Craig County where I found a place of quiet and solitude that will forever be preserved for future generations. It is abundantly clear why Lillie loves this land and wants to preserve it. It is quite, secluded, and brings fond memories to mind when she comes here.

Lillie’s father, a coal miner who worked in Buchanan County, VA, purchased the property in 1952 to give his family a better way of life away from the coalfields of far Southwest Virginia. Lillie says she has a distinct memory of her first visit to the Craig County farm. “The grass was waist high!” Lillie remembers, and the expanse of land was very different from what she was accustomed to in the Jewell Valley where houses were built close on steep hills and in deep hollows of the coal mining community. The openness and quite solitude struck her as something special.

Lillie’s father continued to work in the coalmines in Buchanan County while the rest of the family lived on the farm in Craig County. Her father would leave for a week while her mother and the six children stayed to work the farm. The family continued to build up the farm, growing crops, raising chickens, and caring for a milk cow. While her father did not spend much time on the farm during his working years, Lillie recalls that his love for the land was evident. He always talked about creating a wildlife preserve on that land and wanted to preserve it for years to come. He recognized the value of the land and all that it supported and worked hard to instill the same value into his family.

Her father’s love for the land made an impact on her and she was determined to honor her father’s wishes. When her

John’s Creek provides a great place for the family to fish and enjoy the solitude on the Reynolds’ farm

Hickory Tree

father died in 1989, the land was divided among the remaining children. Lillie eventually ended up with 1/3 of the original farm, which came to about 100 acres. She and her husband went on to maintain the land together, often talking about how they would preserve it for the generations that followed them. It was not until her husband passed in 2018 that Lillie realized that there was no better time than the present. Lillie said, “We always had it in the back of our mind that when the time came we would do whatever it took to preserve the land.” That is when Lillie moved forward with placing the property under a conservation easement with Blue Ridge Land Conservancy. She had

Just a few hickory nuts Lillie Reynolds gathered by John’s Creek Lillie Reynolds looks out over the land where her children and grandchildren come to hunt

many reasons for doing so but of utmost importance to her was being a good steward. “I never felt like it was really mine but that I was the caretaker of this land. I knew if I didn’t do something it would not remain here for future generations,” Lillie told me during my visit. She intends to teach both her children and grandchildren to be good stewards of the land. She says one of her greatest joys is seeing her grandchildren come gather at the small cabin to

fish, play, and just seek the solitude of land that remains undisturbed by development. This is the gift she wishes to hand down future generations. As we were leaving, Lillie stopped and got out of the car. She stooped down to gather a handful of hickory nuts from under the big hickory tree and handed them to me to take home. There by John’s Creek, under the big hickory trees, Lillie gave me just a bit of the gift that conserving her land provided.