Construction has been active on Monteith Gap Road, South Painter Road and Ledbetter Road to create a new roundabout. The goal of the project is to make the intersection less dangerous for both drivers and pedestrians. However, the construction borders the Cullowhee Community Garden interrupting the garden’s previous tranquility.
“People come to the garden to work in the dirt,” David Claxton, garden manager, said. “But also, it’s a peaceful, quiet, natural place to be. So, when you’re in the garden and you’ve got tons of machines working around and making a lot of noise, it does affect the calm and peaceful setting of the garden.”
Despite this, as a commuter on the constructed roads, Claxton sees the importance of the project. According to Claxton, while being a commuter on that road there have been multiple accidents, one that resulted in a death.
Outside of building a new roundabout, there are also plans to build new sidewalks and bike lanes. The new pedestrian routes will make things safer for students who walk or bike to WCU’s campus from Bellamy, University Suites, University Villas, River Park, River Walk or The Maples of Cullowhee apartments.
During construction, Claxton and the construction team formed an unlikely friendship.
“The people who are building that roundabout have been very, very easy to work with,” Claxton said.
As the project began, Claxton was having problems with water running from the parking lot to the entry path of the garden. He asked the project leader, Lenny, for help. Lenny returned with road bond and used machinery to spread it. Since, Claxton has had no issues with the parking lot flooding into the path.
Lenny and his team saved the day again in mid-August. When volunteers and gardeners pull weeds, they create piles that are removed by the Public Works Department. When the department showed up to remove the weeds, they told Claxton there were too many and it would take a long time for it to be fully removed. Claxton asked Lenny for his help again and he used machinery to pick up the weed pile and filled two dump trucks cutting the work load down significantly.
Like in nearly all construction projects, some native plants have been killed and removed to make space for the new roads. Lenny did his best to prevent this though. Claxon said, Lenny dug up a large magnolia tree that would have been cut down during construction and replanted it in the garden.
“[Lenny] said, ‘it’s your job to keep watering it,’ so I’m doing my best to keep it alive,” Claxton said. “I think it’s going to survive. We wouldn’t have a nice magnolia tree without him putting it in the ground.”
Outside of the sound, there were concerns that plants could’ve been affected by the construction, but this isn’t the case.
“I talked to the woman who runs the beehives, and she said that they are producing tons of honey,” Claxton said. “So, I think the bees have all the flowers and native plants that they need.”
The goal of the Cullowhee Community Garden is to donate half or more of the food grown to aid food insecurity in Jackson County. This goal is always in the forefront of Claxton and other gardener’s minds.
This summer, Claxton was most excited about the new addition of fruit trees to see how they would add to donated food. However, one night Claxton said the fruit trees were stripped without documentation leading him to believe it was stolen.
Despite this incident, donation numbers are still higher than ever. By the end of August, the garden donated 750 pounds of food. This time in 2023, the garden donated 697 pounds, 510 pounds of that being fruit.
