ES - New Site : Tanglewood Forest

[Timothy Rayburn]

Greetings Elfsea,

This weekend several members of the populace had a chance to go and
view the site that is used by the local Amtgard kingdom called
Tanglewood Forest.  I believe that I can speak for everyone who went in
saying that we see incredible potential for this site.  There are
differing opinions as to it's current suitability, as you can tell from
Lady Innes' posting about her impression.  I would like to share my
impression with you.

Tanglewood Forest is privately owned land by David Hall.  David Hall is
a well to do computer programmer working in the Dallas area and living
in Rowlett.  Within Amtguard he holds their peerage for Service (the
equivalent to our Pelican) called the Knight of the Flame.  He is a
very down to earth individual who has developed Tanglewood Forest as a
home for recreator groups, originally for Amtgard.  David is very
excited about the possibility of having the SCA use this site.  He does
not operate the site for profit, he is otherwise employed as I noted. 
Instead every dollar the site earns is put back into improvements on
the site.  Currently that bank account is over $8,000, as they have
been saving up for a large covered pavilion on the site.

Let me start by agreeing with Lady Innes, we could not hold Springfaire
at Tanglewood Forest right now.  The site needs to have the larger list
field cleared, and camping space increased to accomidate the potential
maximum of Springfaire.  The site is capable of this easily, it is
highly under utilized right now, and will easily hold 800 or more
whenever they 'complete' the project (which may be some time indeed).

Where Lady Innes and I differ is in the belief that by Springfaire this
site could be ready for us.  David Hall has promised to prioritize
anything we deem necessary to hold Springfaire there.  And, in my
estimation that means two things : 1) Complete the larger of the two
list fields on the site, and 2) Clear roughly a dozen new camping
circles.

General Information
-------------------
Existing Facilities :
* Small List Field lit by overhead lights. Roughly the size of the 
  Defender list fields, but without area for Pavilions around them.
* Feast area with electricity.  The area is roughly the size of the
hall 
  used for Dragon's Fire Tor Yule Revel for the last several years.  It
is
  uncovered at the moment.  This area is the location for the planned 
  covered pavilion.
* Bardic area cleared, with cement fire pit and tikis.
* Many cleared campsites.  Enough for 300 folks who were neighborly.
* Moderate sized parking area, packed gravel, no grass. Small amounts
of 
  possible other parking on grassed areas.

The site :
* has excellent tree coverage, as Innes reported mostly Oak some Cedar.
* is in Corsicana, south of Ennis, reachable from 45 and 35.
* All roads on site as *packed* gravel.  The roads are not quite as
nice 
  as Canton, but much better than Gulf Wars or Country Junktion.
* Electricity is on site, to the small list field & feast area.  Not
far 
  from some camping areas.
* Water will be on site shortly (they are waiting for the meter, the
pipes 
  are run).  Water is currently only planned to come to the main gate, 
  some distance from camping.

Camping
-------
Let me tell you a bit about the camping areas on this site.  Camping is
organized in small cleared areas throughout the forest.  They are tied
together via a series of roads (one way, one lane) which run throughout
the land.  This gives great seperation of camp areas, and excellent
privacy.  Further, the current camping areas are widely spread, with
several deep into the site.  This will provide excellent noise
isolation, allowing the more distant camps to be used by those who wish
to drum long into the night, while leaving quieter camps closer to the
fields for those who want them.

Clearing more campsites is fairly easy for David.  It is mostly the
process of clearing the underbrush from the area and he has a tractor
on site which can do most of that (even in the forest).  That same
tractor is capable of pulling cars out if people are stupid enough to
park in their campsites rather than on the gravel parking lot.

List Fields
-----------
Currently there is one cleared listfield area at Tanglewood.  This area
which they call the 'list field' could hold one of our tourney fields
with pavilions around it.  Obviously not big enough for Springfaire. 
They are in the process of clearing their 'battle field' which will be
big enough for even a Defender list, or possibly melee scenarios when
they are done.  A portion of this area was about half cleared when we
visited.  There were stumps that needed pulling, and a tree or three
left to cut down.  After that it would need to be cast with some sort
of grass.  This is some substantial amount of work, but not more than
can be accomplished in the 7 months until the event.

Drainage
--------
Like all of North Texas, without exception, the site is top soil
covering clay deeper.  This is the geologic nature of this area and the
best you can do is find areas that are better than others.  The various
roads on the site are crowned to provide a wash between the campsites
and the roads.  All of the roads are gravel packed.  Ruts from cars
getting stuf do exist, but only off the roaded area.  The county has
recently redone the drainage on the road to the site (because of a
problem where Tanglewood was fine, but the main road was washed away). 
This has completely solved that problem as there are several foot deep
gullies along the main road for water to move along.

Stores
------
I did not pay as much attention on the way in to stores as I did on the
way.  Within 15 minutes of site (back to Corsicana) there are two or
three supermarkets and a Walmart.  Some are on the main drag, some are
off it (and I called friends who've lived in Corsicana).

Summary
-------
I will be speaking in depth about the site and answering questions at
Business Meeting and Moot.  I believe this site has potential and long
term could be an excellent home for Elfsea events as it grows to handle
our numbers.  What is needed for Springfaire is the list field
complete, and the extra campsites cleared.  If David can agree to have
these items completed in a few months, then we could use this site.

We currently have reservations for Canton on the date for Springfaire. 
What I would like to do is revisit this site in a few months and see
where he is.  David has said he will prioritize what we need completed,
let's see if he can do it.  If he can, then we can try a new, more
rural and less mundane site in a beautiful forest setting.  If not,
then we still have the Canton site reserved, we are out no money, and
the event is held at Canton.

The break point for us is no later than February 1st.  This is the
submission deadline for the March BlackStar.  Since the event is in
late April this would give us March and April to have Springfaire ads
which include the site information.  I feel the possibility of a new
site is worth exploring, and the site definitely deserves a second look
in a few months.

If you have ANY questions about the site, please feel free to ask
openly on the list.  I want to hear your opinions.

Timothy of Glastonbury
Autocrat for Elfsea Springfaire


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