by MEGAN NORTHCOTE
Intern Lifestyles Reporter

Mountain Man knows a lot about living off the land with no electricity.

After all, William W. Rayfield, known locally as “Mountain Man,” learned everything he knows about sustainable living from Eustace Conway, founder of Turtle Island Preserve.

Conway established Turtle Island Preserve in 1987 as a 1,000-acre environmental education center designed to teach people how to live environmentally-friendly lives.

“People, especially students, come from all over the world [to Turtle Island Preserve] to learn about primitive living,” Rayfield said.

Last Sunday, approximately 250 people came to the preserve’s open house to watch and participate in primitive living demonstrations.

Bee keeping, tepee building, woodcarving, blacksmithing, open-hearth cooking and basket making were among several activities shown to the public.

Rayfield, along with son-in-law Alan W. Story, demonstrated basket making by weaving shavings of naturally dyed white oak, producing intricately designed baskets.

Rayfield learned the art from his great-grandmother, a Cherokee.

Appalachian State University students attended the event to learn how natural arts apply to their lives.

Chole A. Tipton, freshman building science major, first heard about Turtle Island Preserve after reading “The Last American Man,” the story of Conway’s life on the preserve.

“I’m interested in the community [Conway lived in] and I’m also very interested in primitive construction,” Tipton said.

All of the buildings on the preserve were constructed from wooden panels, and senior applied technology major Daniel P. Girard plans to install solar thermal panels to further Eustace’s mission of sustainability.

“Eustace had dreams to be a naturalist,” Rayfield said. “This was his dream to live off the land."

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Show/Hide comments