By Warren Steury
If I were to have a friend visit from some distant country, or even another state, and ask for me to give them a real “Tennessee experience” I would take them out in a canoe overnight on the river. There is something so serene and simple about it, but profound and thought-provoking at the same time. We no longer use our rivers for transporting goods like we did before trains and trucks, but at one point these meandering waterways were our nation’s highways. This past weekend I got to enjoy the beautiful scenery, the wildlife, and the camaraderie of floating down the Buffalo on our Spring Overnight Canoe Voyage with Meriwether.
The Academy has hosted two of these overnight canoe journeys. One last August and the most recent being this past weekend. What I tell our attendees is simple; “comfort is not guaranteed, but memories are!” And so it was. We got ourselves caught in a few downpours, cooked some fresh venison stew over the fire at night, and had the chance to reconnect with the deepest parts of our hearts and minds in the awe-inspiring scenery of the natural world.
We did 16 miles on the Buffalo River in Waynesboro, TN, which is a beautiful slow-moving river adjacent to gorgeous rolling farmland and featuring awe-inspiring 200ft bluffs, springs, coves, and more. Charming wildlife is abundant. We must’ve seen over 100 turtles, all lazily lounging in the sun on their logs. A Blue Heron decided to guide us down the river too, waiting for us around every bend before taking off to rest at his next checkpoint.
It is these quiet and idyllic scenes in nature that give one’s mind a rest from the ever-present nerve of modernity. Yet even on the Buffalo there is no total escape from the machine. We’d periodically encounter groups, boomboxes cranked proudly to the max, that seemed more like strange aliens than the nature-tempered souls you’d expect to encounter out in the countryside. As we passed on their music droned in the distance, reminding us that the modern world is an encroaching mass of noise, and it is going to take a lot for us to truly set ourselves apart from it.
Nick and I had an interesting conversation on the drive down to Waynesboro, TN from from Nashville. We talked about how there is really nowhere you can go anymore where silence prevails. Every restaurant, coffeeshop, and store has a soundtrack. And when you least expect it, in the quiet moments of contemplation on a park bench, someone will come around the corner face-timing their auntie on max-volume. Even libraries, the once sacred sanctuaries of thought and study, are oftentimes not safe from the babbling of uncourteous tongues.
It is odd to think about how recent of a phenomena this is, and that not long ago daily life was a pretty quiet thing.
At night sat around the fire and cooked some fresh venison for a stew, which was a wonderful treat after a day of constant paddling. Not long after setting up our camp we were caught in our second downpour, the first of which hit us for around 30 minutes while we were paddling earlier in the day and soaked us to the bone. The rain huddled us all together around the fire, which was protected by a tarp suspended above our communal area. We shared some wine, talked about our views on American culture, and chatted late into the night about our livers and what we love most.
These times out in nature are nights I cherish deeply. I place a heavy value on them in regards to our programming at this academy. You may be familiar with many of the philosophical and literary events that we host on a regular basis, but without the grit and grind of natural living and outdoor adventure, we become trapped in our heads and forget that we have a body as well. More importantly, without time outside we miss the pages of the greatest book ever written, penned long before the papyrus scrolls of the Illiad reached the minds of a zelous student. That book is the book of nature, and it has more to teach us than we can ever know in a single lifetime.
At our boys school, this relationship with nature will be of the utmost importance. It is good and wise to throw a boy into the woods and let him figure things out. It teaches resilience, fortitude, resourcefulness, and every other virtue that translates into a character of a real man. That is what Meriwether is here to do, to help us rediscover and reinvigorate that true manhood, which is necessary during trying times like these to protect our culture and country.
I hope you join us for an event soon if you are reading this. Regardless of your interests and hobbies, there is something at Meriwether for you. The experiences, the adventures, and most important the quality of men who have been consistently gathering at this Academy, have all impressed me beyond words.
You can visit our events page to learn more about our calendar, I hope to see you soon.
