What began as one woman's vision and became a six-year effort to make that vision a reality culminated Sunday with the grand opening of the Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve at St. Vincent College in Unity.
Under hazy skies, several hundred people flocked yesterday to the rustic, red barn tucked in the middle of the 50-acre woodland haven, established in honor of the late wife of golfing legend Arnold Palmer.
Winnie Palmer, who died in 1999, often mentioned protecting the land from overdevelopment and preserving the view of the college from nearby Route 30.
"It's a true blessing that this project has been completed, but with the amount of time and effort invested by all those involved in completing it, it already was blessed," said Brother Norman Hipps, dean of St. Vincent's Herbert W. Boyer School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Computing, before he led a group prayer to bless the facility.
Participants both young and old became enraptured students of myriad nature lessons yesterday, courtesy of dozens of volunteers on hand to discuss the plants, wildlife and research at the center.
"It's really nice to see so many opportunities for people to get closer to the nature that's right around them in this area," said Tom Guiher, 50, director of Living Treasures Animal Park in Jones Mills, Donegal Township.
The barn's entry level bustled with foot traffic yesterday.
Jesse Frey, a 20-year-old St. Vincent student in environmental sciences, helped children construct toy bats out of paper and clothes pins.
St. Vincent philosophy professor Michael Krom, 30, of Latrobe, smiled broadly as his wide-eyed sons, James, 5, and Isaac, 3, ran their fingers through the pelts of ermine, fisher, fox, muskrat, opossum, coyote, bobcat and deer in the "Mammals of Pennsylvania" exhibit.
State Game Commission officials Joe Stefko and P.J. Sleber offered information about the living habits of each animal in the barn's basement as pelts were passed around the hushed audience.
Other exhibits included the Pennsylvania Reptiles and Amphibian Show, in which environmental educator April Claus passed around snakes, turtles and toads in terrarium containers for up-close viewing.
Outside the barn, Greensburg tyke Noah Babb, 4, craned his neck to see Stefko and Sleber pull a tooth from a sedated, 170-pound black bear. The tooth will be sent to an Oregon laboratory to determine the age of the bear, which was recently trapped, Sleber said.
St. Vincent President Jim Towey said he is proud that the reserve has come such a long way since the initiative first began.
During the "Late Bloomers Wildflower Walk," trail guide Bill Paxton led groups of visitors on the Cattail Trail, where he described the characteristics of plants ranging from wild lettuce, to grape trees, to sumac.
In the background, people filed in and out of the Lochry Blockhouse, an American Revolutionary War-era building preserved on reserve grounds.
Angela Belli, director of the reserve and the college's Environmental Education Center, said the next step will be to connect the two by a trail network.
"I would hope that, by this time next year, all the trails will be even more functional for visitors," Belli said. "We'll actually have a trail directly from campus to the reserve by then."
Staring up at the barn's massive, tan-and-brown wood canopy interior, Arnold Palmer judged the day, the dedication and the reserve to be a success in a way that his wife would have found fulfilling.
"It's so nice to see that her thoughts were carried forth, and I think (the center is) going to just get bigger and bigger," Palmer said.
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