Commissioner Fyke To Dedicate New Feature at Rugby State Natural Area August 27

Celebrating the new Massengale Homeplace Trail and Exhibits

Rugby, TN (2010-08-24) Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Commissioner Jim Fyke will join elected officials and members of the community on Friday, August 27, 2010 to unveil a new feature at the 667-acre Rugby State Natural Area, beginning at 11 a.m. (EDT) at Historic Rugby.

Commissioner Fyke and Historic Rugby representatives will open the first trail in the natural area – the 1.2-mile Massengale Homeplace Loop Trail and outdoor exhibits. The trail project was funded by a $32,200 Recreation Trail Program Grant from Environment and Conservation, with additional funds provided by the Cracker Barrel Foundation.

The short ceremony will include a “vine cutting,” which will take place at the new trailhead kiosk located behind the Rugby Visitor Centre off State Scenic Highway 52. Parking is adjacent and across the highway.

After the ceremony, TDEC’s East Tennessee Stewardship Ecologist Lisa Huff and others will lead the short hike to the Massengale Homeplace, where participants can be the first to see the large three-panel kiosk that features original art, historic photographs and drawings and extensive archival materials to portray “Uncle” Dempsey Massengale and the rest of the Appalachian family who lived on the ridge top from the 1860s to early 1900s.

An authentic hand-split black locust rail fence surrounds the cabin site, where the chimney remains and stone corner blocks mark the original two-pen log cabin. A short side trail leads to the family’s Civil War-era stone springhouse.

The Rugby State Natural Area and Massengale Homeplace Trail are managed through a cooperative agreement between TDEC’s Resource Management Division and the non-profit Historic Rugby.

Rugby was founded in 1880 by British author/social reformer Thomas Hughes as a cooperative, agricultural community. Twenty Victorian-era buildings remain in a wooded, river gorge setting and are on the National Register of Historic Places. Non-profit Historic Rugby has been working since 1966 to restore, preserve and interpret the historic village and surrounding woodlands and watersheds.

Call 1-888-214-3400 or view www.historicrugby.org for Rugby and area lodging, camping, and other information or e-mail rugbylegacy@highland.net. Historic Rugby is adjacent to the Big South Fork National Park on State Scenic Hwy. 52, sixteen miles southeast of Jamestown and 35 miles from I-40 or I-75 in East Tennessee.

Tennessee has 81 designated natural areas throughout the state, covering nearly 117,000 acres of ecologically significant lands. More information about Tennessee’s natural areas program, including a complete list of all natural areas and scheduled field trips, can be found at www.tn.gov/environment/na/.