Star Watch

Sequoyans of a certain age were privileged to attend camp at the dawn of the space age.  A group of Nature Lore campers met Michael "Uncle Mike" Hoffman after taps, when the moon was low and the stars stood out.  We had our flashlights and Field Guides, but tonight we needed no guide, just good eyesight, for Echo, a 100 foot silver balloon satellite sent into low earth orbit, was due to pass overhead.  And then it appeared, a star among the stars, moving silently across the sky, the first man-made object in space we had ever seen.

Today, Echo has been replaced in orbit by the Hubble Space Telescope, a platform for viewing the farthest reaches of space and the earliest reaches of time itself.  In a deep field of myriad Milky Ways, Hubble recently detected the earliest and most distant galaxies.

See the latest Hubble wonders.

The Era of the Hero

What makes a hero?  Here's a fascinating essay from The New Yorker, which examines three men, Fridtjof Nansen, Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott.  There seems to be no debate about Nansen as hero, but what about Amundsen and Scott, contenders for First to the South Pole?  Along the way, you'll encounter a cliffhanger on a mountain in Ethiopia and a list of more good reads.

Cold Comfort

A Death in the Forest?

Does that sound familiar?  It should -- it's the title of the story, featured below, about the hemlock blight.  Except, this "death in the forest" is a Sequoyah mystery, as related by Justin Coleman, Tsali '75, in his Guestbook entry.

Check it out.

Letter from North Carolina
A Death in the Forest

We remember the hulks of American chestnuts we encountered on our hikes.  Now, the eastern hemlock is about to join them, thanks to a new blight called the hemlock woolly adelgid.  The New Yorker has an excellent article about the battle against this pest.  The setting is the Great Smokey Mountains.  Click the title above to view the PDF, exclusively for Sequoyans.  You might find the reading easier if you print out the article.

Lest there be any doubt about the continuing relevance of the
Spirit of Sequoyah . . .

Sequoyan Frank Tindall's Camp Falling Creek
is featured in a recent cover story of
TIME Magazine. 
Until recently Falling Creek was owned
by fellow Sequoyan Chuck McGrady.
Don't miss the photo essay.

From a recent message from an old Sequoyan . . .

I was so pleased and pleasantly surprised to find the Sequoyah web site today.  Sequoyah was such a unique and special place, the most fantastic setting, and the finest staff and campers there could have been.  Thank you so much for your efforts on behalf of all of us who were touched by this special place. I remember the camp nurse saying to me that "Our trails will cross again", and with this web site, that has come true.

Revere "Brud" Harbourt, 65, 67

— Dwight D. Eisenhower

Hello Sequoyans! I found the site a while back when I met David Brown on one of the tours I operate.

Since Sequoyah, I have not stopped paddling. I have made my living and supported my family doing what I love, and I owe that to Sequoyah. If it were still open, I have no doubt that I would still be there and in many ways I still am. Seqouyah's influence has been very meaningful to me. My kids are eager to hear stories as we look at this website together. I have had the good fortune to run into old Sequoyans. Their memories are usually as fond as mine. I have dreamed of creating a Seqouyah-type experience here in Costa Rica where I live.

On numerous occasions as I paddled Smokey Mountain streams I made the opportunity to walk through camp. To see my name still on the cabin plaques—to remember mud soccer, tying the bowline under the waterfall, Randolfs Route, and the people who influenced me—was a great thrill.

I owe my first paid paddling job to being on a list of honor campers from Sequoyah that was picked up after the closing. I only hope I can create the experience I had at Sequoyah for my kids. Thanks for the site, a real treasure.

Neil Kahn, '74-76

Halley's Comet

George Harrell, III, Sequoyah camper, Tsali boy, Pirate, Counselor, has a splendid collection of photos and memorabilia, which he is sharing with us.

The George Harrell Collection

 From his tiny hut beside the Nature Cabin, Michael "Uncle Mike" Hoffman, with his white mane and weathered countenance, presided.  Uncle Mike had his own flagpole, flying the colors of the United Nations, which we still revered in those days, to remind us that we are stewards not only of our little corner of paradise but of the whole world.  In matters celestial and terrestrial, Uncle Mike was Sequoyah's go-to guy. 

Each of those who knew him has his own fond memory of Uncle Mike.  For those who came after, perhaps the best way of making the acquaintance of a Sequoyah legend and his love of nature is through these recent news items, a tribute we hope Uncle Mike would find fitting.

Are cell phones wiping out our bees?

Global Warming

Space Telescope

Restoring the American Chestnut

Saving the Elms

Proof that nature still has the upper hand . . .
Rodents 1 - Humans 0

A Death in the Forest

Cold Comfort