For Love of the Land did not come into being the usual way, with the author getting an idea in her head and then deciding to write a book. This book came about through serendipity. Don Faulkner, a successful real estate agent in the 1960’s and a visionary who loved the beauty of mountain land, was talking on the telephone to my sister-in-law, Berta Bocock, in 2013, wondering aloud about looking for a writer to write the history of Wintergreen.
Don was one of a group of five men with intimate and long-standing knowledge about how Wintergreen came to be. They had already done extensive interviews, and were looking for a writer who was familiar with the area, and familiar, too, with the unique, conservation-minded approach to development that guided those who created Wintergreen.
“Who should we ask to write it?” Don asked Berta.
Only an old friend could answer as Berta did. “Who do you think, dumb bunny, Mary Buford is sitting right under your nose!” I had known Don growing up, as he was a good friend of my brother, Fred Bocock.
I was raised in Richmond, daughter of Elisabeth Scott Bocock, an early conservationist and environmentalist. I had written a book about her, Never Ask Permission, and another book, Riding to Camille, about horseback riders caught on a three-day pack trip in the Blue Ridge Mountains in August of 1969, when the backlash of Hurricane Camille devastated parts of Nelson County.
This book was a novel, but it was based on historical fact. This became useful, as the damage done by Camille destroyed the tax base of Nelson County, making the planners and county supervisors more open to the idea of the huge, ambitious new resort being planned on top of the mountain.
Luckily for me, the seed Berta planted took, and Doug Coleman, head of the Nature Foundation at Wintergreen, came to see me along with Don. I signed up, and they agreed to line up sponsors who would pay to have the writing done and the book published.
More to come…
“For Love of the Land”, a full-color hardcover history of one of the first environmentally conscious developments in the country, will debut at an Open House at Wintergreen on Memorial Day Weekend. For more information, including how to purchase the book after June 1, please visit the Nature Foundation at Wintergreen website, www.twnf.org.
