Glendale Memorial Nature Preserve: The Green Side of Life (and Elsewhere)
By Bruce Collier May 4, 2006 Issue

John Wilkerson is one of those fortunate people who gets to do what he loves, and call it his job. Wilkerson and his associate Barbara operate the Glendale Memorial Nature Preserve (GMNP), north of DeFuniak Springs. Wilkerson says he acquired the 350-acre property “the old fashioned way—I inherited it.”

The land is held in trust, and operates as a sort of hybrid park, nature walk, picnic spot, and al fresco art gallery. The latter element is probably the first thing one notices upon entering the property’s parking area.

“Rustaphoria” is Wilkerson’s collective name for what he describes in detail as “artifacts of modern civilization, repurposed in useful and creative ways.” Rustaphoric creatures dot the property, made up of wood, stone, car parts, old machinery, tubs, tools, and even a vintage soft drink machine. There are assorted birds, “rustasaurs,” farm animals, and eccentric humanoids. They go by names like Snaggletoothed Fantail Rustasaurus (which looks just like it sounds), R.C. (the beverage machine), Ribeye the cyclopean bull, Love Bug, The Lady of the Woods, and Miss Beady. Their creator knows them all.

Wilkerson grew up in this area of Walton County, and has lived here most of his life, barring four years at the University of Florida, and a hitch in the military. “I majored in mechanized agriculture,” he says, though he believes that his skill as an improv sculptor is “pretty much genetically inherited.”

A natural showman with a sly-and-dry humor, Wilkerson plays host and tour guide with great relish. Visitors can walk on trails, or ride one of several more sophisticated conveyances. For individuals, there’s a seat on an open-air golf cart. Wilkerson and fellow mechanical artist Drew Young have been putting the finishing touches on a multi-passenger “rickshaw.” Today they are fitting it up with a sporty, curiously familiar-looking blue canopy. “Courtesy of FEMA,” says Wilkerson.

In addition to the rickshaw, larger parties can ride a tractor-drawn hay wagon, furnished with bales of insect and critter-resistant oat straw. On wet days, this canopied wagon is easily the way to go. And there is a way to go, if one wants to see everything.

In addition to the metal menagerie, there’s the Laura Moretz Wilkerson Memorial Bamboo Grove. The grove is a tranquil two square acres, bounded by 30-feet-high bamboo poles. Wilkerson has hewn and placed seats and benches all around the area. Visitors have asked to schedule business conferences and retreats in the grove, and a local Sunday school teacher thought she’d like to hold classes there. A few steps in, and the sun seems to vanish. Wilkerson says it’s usually about 10 degrees cooler in the grove.

Best reached by wheels, the non-denominational open-air chapel sits some distance from the main office and bamboo grove. Similar to a covered park picnic shelter, the high-roofed chapel contains benches, seats, and a podium/altar. Suitable for parties, weddings, and funerals, the chapel adjoins yet another feature of the preserve, the “green” cemetery.

Wilkerson is at his most enthusiastic when speaking on the subject of natural or “green burials.” GMNP offers sites for burial or deposit of ashes, and accommodates humans and pets. The plots themselves are actually free, with a charge for opening and closing the grave space, and for placement of a small metal marker for location purposes. Flat marker stones of up to four-feet square may be placed, but no vaults or non-biodegradable caskets are permitted. GMNP does not offer pre-need plans, and does not perform customary funeral director services, but sells wooden caskets that meet the cemetery’s requirements.

These caskets are made at an onsite sawmill. The boxes, made of poplar or pine, are modestly priced, and can even be purchased by their eventual occupant for use as clothes cabinet in the interim. Several models are on display in the sawmill, and Wilkerson has an amusing patter about their varied uses. It’s a tribute to his tact and kindly nature that none of this is ever made to seem ghoulish or disrespectful. In addition to people, GMNP offers accommodations for departed pets as well.

Wilkerson came to the conclusion to go green partly as a result of his parents’ own funeral wishes, and partly through educating himself on the environmental effects of conventional funeral practices. In addition to a description of the cemetery and price information, GMNP’s brochure offers statistics on what gets buried in America every year—embalming fluid, non-biodegradable caskets, and steel and cement vaults. When Wilkerson learned of a green cemetery in South Carolina, he decided to follow suit in Florida. Through visitor word-of-mouth, correspondence, and other sources, Wilkerson and Barbara keep current on the subject.

For those still living, the preserve offers the Lake Barbara Boardwalk, made of “pieces of piers that didn’t survive [hurricane] Ivan,” glimpses of water plants and gopher tortoises, a demonstration of turpentine collection, and the highly-visible GMNP fire tower, formerly a forestry tower, just inside the preserve gate.

Wilkerson says that he hasn’t yet determined if he has a busy season, for any of his activities, but adds that his visitors tend to be older, particularly the snowbirds.

Nothing is ever likely to supplant our famous beaches in the hearts of tourists, but Glendale Memorial Nature Preserve offers a hospitable, good-humored and welcoming north-Walton alternative to soaking up rays down south.

Glendale Memorial Nature Preserve is located at 297 Railroad Avenue, just off of U.S. Highway 83, about 10 miles north of DeFuniak Springs. For details, call 859-2141. The online address is www.glendalenaturepreserve.org.

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