Of daffodils and trails — Big Canoe Trails

The daffodils at Choctaw. Photos by Liz Scherer.

A young bride and her newly wedded husband, a pioneering sparkle in their eyes, a young nation. They settled in a beautiful area called Wolfscratch, by a flowing stream of pristine waters. A perfect place to start their new lives. An incredibly talented engineer, the young man built not only their cabin but a two-story building that housed a grist mill and a saw mill powered by a water wheel by the stream. His young wife embellished the surroundings with daffodils. This is 1839. Their names were Samuel and Harriet Weaver.

Samuel and Harriet lived their whole lives on their land by the flowing stream. Their children continued to operate the mill into the new century. All that’s left of the Weaver’s enterprise are the stone pillars that supported the structure. And the daffodils. Thousands of them. The stories those hardy little gems could tell!

The newly built trail to the mill ruins.

When we found the mill ruins we thought they needed to be showcased and we created a trail down to the stream. This was fall of 2021. As we were digging the trail we kept digging up large clumps of bulbs. At first we thought they were wild onions. Then we noticed they didn’t smell like onion, and that they were, in fact, daffodils. So we planted the bulbs on the outside of the trail to protect them. We were quite proud of our efforts and admired our beautiful trail.

When we heard about the story of the Weavers and their daffodils, we realized these bulbs were from the original plants placed in the ground by Harriet some 180 years ago.

The trail after digging up the daffodils from the middle.

Then March 2022 came along. A sea of daffodils emerged, covering the entire area where the mill and cabin originally were. Very beautiful. But there were daffodils coming up all over the new trail! How could that be? Evidently we missed not only a few, but hundreds!

They were being stepped on, so we decided to transplant the ones in the middle 12 inches of the trail so people can walk and give these plants a chance. We dug them up and planted them around the historical cabins at the Jeep Trail and at the Nature Trail in Meditation Park. We also placed some by the chimney ruins at the Meadows. It seemed appropriate. The cabin at the Jeep trail was part of Peter Weaver’s home, son of Harriet and Samuel. The people who lived in the other cabins likely knew Harriet and her beautiful flowers. Happily, the transplanted bulbs are growing beautifully. Those daffodils are certainly hardy.

When the foliage of the remaining daffodils on the trail dies back, the bulbs will be dug up and replanted in the fall at new locations.

Meanwhile, the trail is still lined along its edges with solid bands of plants. The next step is to wait for the foliage do die back, and dig up the bulbs. That will certainly tear up our trail, but we happen to know a thing or two about building and repairing trails. In the fall we will plant the bulbs on select green space areas.

Every March you can see the daffodils at their location, what is now Choctaw, on the banks of the stream near the big bridge.

If Harriet could only see the glorious display that has become of her original flower garden.

Update May 18: The daffodils were dying back, so a team of BCTC members went to dig them up before the foliage disappeared. They now are packed in newspaper awaiting the fall planting.