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After retiring from their careers in the Army and...
in education, Colonel and Mrs. (Dr. Frances Ratchford) Corbett designed and built their home, the Corbett House, on a farm that had belonged to her father. It was planned to recall their experiences in living and traveling through several of the United States and three continents. It was also intended to provide modern amenities while minimizing dependence upon outside resources and damage to the environment. The Ratchford Field Station and Corbett House...
combine to form Wilkes University's premier off-campus facility. The mission of the facility is to provide support for undergraduate education and research in the natural and pharmacological sciences and in engineering. It also serves as a retreat and conference center for a broad range of non-credit educational activities, including professional development, personal enrichment, training and recreational programs, and as guest quarters for authorized University visitors. The Ratchford Field Station consists of nearly 150...
acres of hills covered with forests and meadows. It is a "natural laboratory," dedicated to undergraduate field-based education and research. Students and faculty in the Department of GeoEnvironmental Sciences and Engineering use the facility in conjunction with a wide variety of courses including geology, ecology, limnology, hydrology, environmental science and advanced field studies. The Field Station offers a secure, permanent site...
in which long-term monitoring of natural processes can be performed and evaluated. Students gain valuable field experience and learn modern practices for collecting, handling and field-analyzing samples of rock, soils, sediment, ground water, surface water and vegetation. The Field Station includes a large, wooden pavilion...
located near a four-acre pond, which provides a sheltered area for outdoor instruction and workspace for cataloguing and compiling field data. It is also used for picnics and as a staging area for educational outreach. The creation of a network of trails is underway to provide access to the wide range of landscape features found at the Ratchford Field Station. The Corbett House was constructed because...
when the Corbetts inherited the Ratchford family farm they decided "it was foolish to own a farm and not live on it." They built a home that expressed their personalities. Chrome and Plexiglas were rejected in favor of wood and stone whenever possible. Native materials and the talents of local artisans were also used. Vegetable and herb gardens, as well as fruit trees, provided, on a year-round basis, a substantial portion of the Corbett's food requirements. Making only a small footprint on the land, the house...
places limited demands on external energy sources by using solar heating and wood stoves to heat 3,500 square feet of living space. Furnished with family treasures, the home has oak floors and eight-and-a-half-foot ceilings. There is a guest wing, double-sided stone fireplace, indoor pool and hot tub. The two slate-floored galleria, which also serves as the solar furnace, are filled with plants and looks out to the four-acre pond. A circular wooden staircase leads visitors to a cupola perched upon the earthen roof. This "front door" leads to the Friendship Garden and forest paths. The house on a hill (indeed, a house built into a hill) was completed in 1982 and is a moral example to all by serving as an inspiration to live in harmony with nature. Located on the roof of the Corbett House...
the Friendship Garden is dedicated to the memory of Frances Ratchford Corbett by her husband William. Enlisting the aid of Walter Chamberlain, a landscape architect, Col. Corbett began to contour the land designated for the garden shortly after Frances' death in 1995. Frances was interested in indigenous perennials not typically found in local gardens. To that end, Col. Corbett and Mr. Chamberlain have created a master plan featuring color-, scent- and edible-themed beds. The beautifully landscaped Garden is maintained entirely by volunteers. Planting and weeding days are planned each season. Donations to the Frances Corbett Friendship Garden are accepted through the University. Please contact Dr. Sid Halsor via if you would like to see the garden's master plan and/or the Garden Wish List album. |
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