A Large Price To Pay

Dear Viewpoint:

Recently, a writer wrote a letter to the editor regarding the proposed Sam Snead golf course. In this article he writes: “The small piece of land in the unused part of this huge park is a small price to pay for an attraction that will bring more people to the area.” In the summer of 1950 there were people in Clarksville who also felt that taking a small piece of Occoneechee land was a small price to pay for economic progress. The following was taken from Judge Tisdale’s book, The Story of the Occoneechees published in 1953, “This was an emergency survey, made in such haste, because the site was about to be destroyed by the construction of a new railroad bridge over the very heart of the burial site.  Upon the completion of the survey the site was pushed into the Staunton River. The earth was to be used to build cofferdam to protect the workmen building the bridge piers.  Actually hundreds of burials were pushed into the river.  Great quantities of human bones, human teeth, shells, fired stones and broken clay pottery could be seen rolling over and over before the blades of the giant bulldozers.”

The aforementioned railroad bridge can be viewed to your right from the bridge entering Clarksville. Today, fifty years later, the railroad track is abandoned and even though Clarksville officials have never apologized for this great act of sacrilege they are bulling ahead with the same “small price to pay” mentality. Today my father and I walked the 23 acres proposed for the golf course and within a half hour discovered what appeared to be fired stones from a ancient sweat lodge ceremony and a couple of other artifacts. With the 23 acres being directly in front of one of the Islands of course they lived on and used this land. 

The writer of the letter to the editor goes on to say, “This land has never been used for anything since it was a farm in 1945.  If it is rented to the town for a golf course, at least it will be producing something for the people of this area.” I’m only fourteen years old, but I know enough history to know that this land has been producing for 20,000 years and more.  The birds and other wildlife use this land daily.  We caught sight of a huge, beautiful osprey soaring from within the 23 acres.  He uses the land.  Trees that produce oxygen for us to breath use this land everyday.  As we walked the land we saw several people within a half hour using this land.  My family uses this land as part of our homelands for Native American ceremony.  In addition, I don’t see how these 23 acres could have been farmed in 1945, since there is a mature forest here with trees over 100 years old.

The writer goes on to say, “This land is over one mile from the main part of the park and the people that use that part of the park won’t even know that the golf course is there.”  This is misleading.  The writer is unaware of the plans for the park.  There are many other low impact developments planned to span the entire length of the park. This is what the Master Planning process presently underway is all about. And the golf course will cut the park in half.  In order to get to the horses, cabins, Native American village site, etc, people will have to pass through the golf course with golf balls flying.

Travis Carter