Beautiful. Friends. Springtime. Fall. Relaxing. Inspiring. Unexpected.
Rocks. Rippling Water. Fun. Camping. Tanning. Tubing. Hiking.
Audra State Park is timeless. It seems as if it has been there forever, and yet it seems as if each person “discovers” it for themselves.
Generations of West Virginia Wesleyan students (and faculty) have made the 15 mile trip to get away from their daily routines, to hear themselves think, to be inspired, to be comforted by nature, to bond with friends, and to have fun. Many go to contemplate their place in the world.
This week I asked the Wesleyan Reconnections Facebook group what words came to mind (thanks to all who commented!), and combined their answers with words that are to be found in many articles in the Pharos and in the Murmurmontis. Here is the result of that experiment.
History of Audra
Since the beautiful river has been part of my own experience, I never stopped to wonder how long the park had been in operation until last week when I was once again sitting by the river bank. Upon investigation, I found the following (via the e-WV, the West Virginia Encyclopedia project of the West Virginia Humanities Council).
To read the entire article, click here.
So, Wesleyan folks from before 1950 had no access at all. From 1950-1961 there was not a campground, and it was a day-trip park for swimming. How interesting, then, that the 1959 Murmurmontis refers to Audra State Park as a Wesleyan tradition.
Audra and Wesleyan
In 1960, the A Capella Choir, under the direction of Erma Helen Hopkins, apparently “bonded and enhanced the spirit of the choir with an afternoon outing and picnic early in the school year”.
In the 1970s, Larry Parsons took the choirs out to have some publicity photos taken — in full dress on the rocks in the middle of the river! He tells me that he doesn’t remember anyone falling in.
Some find Audra to be a wonderful place to catch up on some reading (or knitting) and enjoy the chance to gather their thoughts.
As the water flows past – sometimes angry, sometimes muddy, sometimes clear, sometimes playful, it helps us to contemplate life in a way that we find difficult during our day-to-day busyness.
We discover that we are part of nature without being the center of it. We realize that these mountains and rivers have been here since before the pioneers settled this area. That we are part of a much larger story.
Refreshed, we return to our daily lives to do our part.
In 1981, the Murmurmontis Included This Introduction
The introduction included pictures of Audra along with pictures of mountains and other West Virginia outdoor treasures. I think it captures the spirit and the power of places like Audra.
Here…where the ageless hills reach upward to the ageless stars
Here…where a century is measured as a day
I hold these numbered years called life within my trembling hands
These fragile years touched with wonder and with mystery
There seems to be so little time in which to learn the purpose of our living and yet…
In the changeless pattern of things that are to be…
There must be both meaning and purpose or we would be insensitive to the healing power of beauty and the sustaining power of love.
Perhaps I am here to touch but a single heart or to fill a single need
Or to share my strength with one who needs a shield against a hostile world.
I do not know.
Perhaps it is destined that I should not know
But another may know and understand and be grateful.