Mary C. Scales English, a 2nd Year MHP student, received a graduate research grant from the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts during the Fall 2016 semester. The award was used to directly fund thesis research associated with traveling to and accessing archival data in Morrow, Georgia at the National and State archival facilities, and to alleviate expenses associated with data requests through the National Archives in Washington, DC and College Park, MD. As a recipient of this award, Mary will participate in the Three Minute Thesis Competition this Spring, where she will compete against other UGA graduate students for additional awards. Her thesis, Cultural Landscape Management in the Chattahoochee National Forest: A Look at Lake Winfield Scott Recreation Area, is an evaluation of public-private management practices associated with cultural landscapes, the application of preservation and conservation principles in National Forests, and brings attention to the importance of rural public spaces as resources for interpretation and stewardship.
“Lake Winfield Scott has been a part of my life since I was a child. Growing up in the rural mountains of North Georgia, I developed an appreciation for this landscape early in life. Since I became part of the MHP program, my love for and dedication to the preservation and conservation of rural cultural landscapes has developed into this thesis. Through this work, I hope to present an evaluation of effective public-private land management partnerships in the National Forest that may be applicable to other cultural landscapes. This project will lead to the preparation of a national register nomination, and hopefully listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Much of the research and investigation has been in tandem with the Blue Ridge Ranger District, of the United States Forest Service, who is tasked with overseeing management and applying prescriptions set by the Department of Agriculture for recreational facilities. I hope to see this site and others succeed in the future through an integrative approach to cultural landscape management.”
