Where We Came From
The original buildings at the Austin Cary Memorial Forest were built by the Work Projects Administration to provide for a summer camp for forestry students. One of those building was the “Mess Hall” which was converted to a field classroom after field experiences were implemented year round, not just in summer. This building was lost to fire from an electrical problem.
The faculty, students, staff and alumni volunteers took the materials gifted by friends and materials sawn from trees on the Forest and built a replacement facility that continued to meet classroom needs; but also became a conference building for university faculty, a retreat site for government and non-government users and on its deck overlooking Lake Mize a favored place for weddings.
Professor Post and a crew of students. 1986
That there was an emotional and physical attachment to the building at this forest site was made clear to the comments that came to the Gainesville Sun article that appeared July 19 and dozens of emails, phone calls and letters. Here is a sample of the comments received by the Gainesville Sun:
Aw, man, this breaks my heart. Such a cool building.
It's hard to imagine how this happened - Very sad-
I am so SAD
So sad to hear this - one of my favorite places for training
This is the building on the forest at my Alma mater. We had many events there in my undergraduate days. I can recall watching some classmates roll logs in Lake Mize for conclave and my friends Ely and BJ were married there. I'll miss that building!
My husband and I are both Gator-foresters. We were married outside the conference building, on the deck overlooking Lake Mize. Our hearts are saddened today.
I have many good memories of events at the lodge from the past 25 years.
This is so sad. We will rebuild and create new memories.
I taught the last lecture in there only a few hours earlier. What a loss to the School. A new building must be built.
We need to do a fundraiser for rebuilding it. Patty and I will provide entertainment free if you end up doing one.
