By Lisa Orton

I don't live on Markham Hill, but I see it from my house. My mother and I used to ride our horses up there when I was growing up. When I was a child I knew the Pratt sisters, Joy Markham and Evangeline Archer. My parents knew them better. As a teenager suffering from depression, praying to God in the woods was my comfort. After my father's sudden death in 1990, my mother and her neighbor Joe Guinn walked the dogs up there almost every day for the next 20 years. A healing place, being in the woods and surrounded by nature. A big reason for me personally of the importance of intact urban forests within a city.

Photo 'Ozark Spring' by Ken Smith, local conservationist and author of several books about the Buffalo River

#SaveMarkhamHill #KeepFayettevilleForested #PreserveFayetteville #PreserveFayettevilleHistory #MarkhamHillHistory #MarkhamHillWildlife #MarkhamHillInspiredArt #MarkhamHillNativeAmericans