Repurposing A Camp Keyauwee Wooden Rowboat
I was lucky it was Fall or I would probably have never noticed her. She was turned over and the leaves had started covering her bottom. I was working at Camp Keyauwee's equestrian center and was walking along one of the riding trails. Summer's  green foliage had kept her hidden from me until now. I walked into the woods and carefully turned her over. She wasn't in the best of shape but I knew my Mom would love having her in her flower garden if the camp was willing to let her go.  Once Mom saw her we headed straight to the person we needed to ask and we were allowed to take her home! Mom never did get around to doing anything with her but had kept her covered from the weather. When I chose to create and plant a pollinator garden at Camp Keyauwee for my Gold Award project I knew what had to be the focal point of it. I pitched the idea to my parents and it has been a labor of love restoring and repurposing her. Scraping off peeling white paint, replacing rotten trim work, and giving her a new coat of paint has been fun! Three gallons of paint was donated to me by Oak Ridge Painting! When we finally delivered her from my backyard to her spot in my Gold Award pollinator garden I thought to myself, "You are finally back home right where you were suppose to be all along!" She is an old wooden rowboat that Girl Scouts who attended Summer camps at Camp Keyauwee many years ago had rowed in! The years brought progress and newer boats and she had been set aside and forgotten. It really makes me happy to know that she could be repurposed and is now near the lake where she spent so many summers providing fun for Girl Scouts at Camp Keyauwee!