Interview with James T Powers

Introducing James T. Powers, Author of Saving the Farm; A Journey through Time, Place, and Redemtion

Posted by Homebound Publications on Jan 20, 2013 
 

On March 2nd we will release our first title of 2013, Saving the Farm: A Journey Through Time, Place, and Redemption by James T. Powers.  As an introduction to this wonderful work we present an interview with its creator.


In your book Saving the Farm, you chronicle two stories: The struggles to
preserve the Dudley Farm in North Guilford, Connecticut and the history of the
Dudley family who founded the farm in the 1800s. What made you take up the cause
of saving the farm?

        As I explain in the book, I had always been drawn to the farm from the first time I saw it. There is something magical about it, an aura like quality that is timeless, it calls to you. I was hooked at first sight.

         From the very beginning saving the Dudley Farm was always a  group and community effort. That’s the only way it could have happened. For me,  it was a request from the North Guilford Volunteer Fire Company, which had
received the farm as a gift from the last owner, David Dudley, for help to preserve the farm that brought me into that effort. During that first visit I knew that joining their effort to save it was something I had to do. As my friend and fellow teacher Tom Leddy and I toured the Dudley Farm, we were asked what might be done with regard to bringing high school students to help preserve it. We jumped in blindly and without hesitation. The Dudley Farm appealed to everything in me; the history teacher and archaeologist the restoration carpenter, the lover of old houses. Here was a unique opportunity to not just assist in saving an actual surviving 19th century farm, but a chance to make the past come alive for this and future generations.  


During  your research into the Dudley family, what was the favorite fact you
discovered?


         Interestingly, Guilford still has many surviving branches of the original 1639 settler families in town, the Dudley’s among them though the direct line from the farm ended with David. There was thus a great amount of
material to work with. For me, as I researched each generation, I really came to admire the tenacity, creativity, and determination of each but especially that of Erastus Dudley who built the present house and established the farm as his homestead. He took a family whose fortunes were in shambles with poor future prospects and was able to not only become one of Guilford’s most successful citizens by the time of his death, but create an amazingly successful family enterprise despite great odds. The Dudley Farm today is his legacy.

         On a more personal side however, I became very touched by the genuine humanity of each generation of the family as I came to understand their joys and sorrows, their dreams and calamities, and that their struggles and
triumphs in life were so similar to ours. Each succeeding generation since the early 1700’s had to constantly re-invent itself in order to survive and I found that fascinating. This is something I try to convey in the book.


It seemed that, in telling the story of saving this small farm in Connecticut, you  are trying to impart a wider-truth regarding the need to save our rural roots and untouched places. Do you agree? What is the larger message you intended to impart by sharing your story?


         Most definitely. I was born in the early 1950’s and have fond memories of spending hour upon hour in the farm fields, mill ponds, and woodlands that surrounded the post-war development I grew up in, not knowing that where we lived was the edge of the trend the was sweeping it all away. It was those fields and woods, the old roads, streams, and stone walls that gave me a sense of place. They taught me who I was and where I was from.

         As I grew older and worked building houses to finance my education that awareness became deeper as I watched neighborhood after neighborhood gobble up what were the last of the farms and open spaces in their
communities. I lamented the loss and my role in it. As a teacher I have long dealt with a dramatic disconnect between where my students live and who they are. For many, there is little difference to them whether they live in Guilford or California. They have no sense of place and are rootless, almost like orphans in that sense. It’s not their fault, but that of our society. If we do not value the past then why preserve it?

         I am not against development, everything in life evolves and growth in that regard is important in meeting people’s needs. But growth needs to be done in a way that preserves and recognizes the fabric and very elements  that make each community unique. That uniqueness is built upon the natural environment and the historic and cultural heritage that has descended down through generations. To lose our connection to it all dishonors who we were and what we are.

         In saving the Dudley Farm, all of us involved, even in small ways, were able to protect a little pocket of the natural, historic, and cultural heritage that shaped North Guilford for 300 years. We didn’t just save some old
buildings by preserving the Dudley Farm, we saved a vital connection to the very essence of what the community was and still is today. 


What  do you hope the reader will walk away from when they finish?


         First of all, I’d like the reader to take away an understanding that the past is all around us just waiting to be discovered. It can be discovered in simple ways such as taking a walk and noticing an old stone wall, looking at the buildings in a neighborhood or street for clues to the past, finding out why a local road or place is named as it is, or doing research on a topic of interest. Joining an organization dedicated to preserving the past is a wonderful way to learn and together affect a sense of place and change in your community.

         Let’s face it, the past and knowledge of it disappears every day before our very eyes and once it’s gone, it is often gone forever. The story of the Dudley Farm is unique in many ways on the surface, but the reality of preserving the past can only take place if people care. That is the soul of the process. Those of us, who were involved in saving the Farm, starting with the members of the Fire Company, made many mistakes yet inspired by the treasure put in our hands, were determined to succeed. In that journey, we all learned that as individuals we might effect some change, but together we could make a difference—we could and did save a farm and thus a piece of our collective past.


         Look for Saving the Farm on March 2nd. The book will be available worldwide in paperback, kindle, kobo and Nook formats. You can order a copy of the book by going to the Homebound Publications bookstore at www.homeboundpublications.com or on Barnes and Noble or Amazon.