uptop

Nancy Abrams

I first set foot on the farm in 1976. My memoir, The Climb from Salt Lick, tells that story and I don’t want to repeat it here. (Yes, this is a plug for the book.) But what bears repeating is my love of the landscape. Mountains and forests and fields that meet an ever-changing sky.

My memoir ends in 1988, the year I left Preston County. No longer Uptop’s neighbor I became a dues-paying member of the community. And lucky to live just an hour away. I can’t remember when I started writing the minutes of our meetings – some time in the 1980s – but my husband calls me “secretary for life.” (Note to the NextGen: Hooray for my successor.) At our shareholders’ meeting in 2012 I read out loud the minutes from 1992 and 2002 “just for fun” according to the record. For decades we dreamed of improving the place. We wanted a better kitchen, places to gather out of the sun or rain, attention to agriculture, etc., etc. In 2015 we built the Big Kitchen and renovated the farmhouse, noteworthy achievements made possible by a mortgage funded by large and small contributions. Our remarkable group continues to beautify and improve the place. We’re fueled by great meals and great friendships. Plus lively discussions. And the views. 

When someone asks me to describe Uptop, I say it’s like a family and homeplace I’ve chosen. A remarkable community of friends and families. We’ve grown up together, grown older together. We have produced second and third generation Uptoppers. Our reunions are joyous occasions. We have accomplished great things, on and off the farm. 

One cloudy winter afternoon many years ago, I watched Phil carry bales of hay to the livestock. We were in the field near the barns when a snow squall swooped in and erased the landscape. Lily the horse appeared before us like a vision and I shot a photo I knew I would love. Although I haven’t found that negative, the memory of that day is vivid. One moment the mountains were there, repeating like waves against the horizon. Then they were gone and we were shrouded by icy particles. The world fell away. It was a spiritual experience, ghostly and holy.   

Uptop is my spiritual home, my family. I am so grateful.

Phil schenk

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Dave Davis

President

I first visited Uptop in 1981 as a guest of Michael Patton.  At the time, Michael was an Artist in Residence at Allen Hall’s Unit One at the University of Illinois.  Here, Michael became friends with many current Uptoppers and through sharing Uptop, introduced many to the beauty of West Virginia. During the summer of 1981, Charlie Waters and Peter Rothblatt also came out.  I also met Phil, Frances and Nancy Abrams and her family.  We had some great and memorable times including hard work at the farm, and trips to regional national parks and the Maryland seashore. 

Since then, I have been visiting Uptop regularly and have come to realize how important the land and community are to me.  I have lived in eight states while in school and then for work in corporate roles.  When Laura and I realized that we could retire early, if we didn’t live in the high-cost areas of the US, it did not take long to decide that moving to West Virginia, close to Uptop, was a great way to ease into retirement while devoting ourselves more fully to the development of Uptop’s natural resources. 

As a long-time naturalist and entomologist, I am eager to develop Uptop’s gardens and plantings to benefit not only Uptop shareholders but also the birds, butterflies, amphibians, and all other manner of fauna and flora present on the mountain. I am acutely aware of and pained by the research demonstrating the dramatic declines in bird, insect, and amphibian species throughout the United States, and feel that, at Uptop, we can actually do something in our own little part of the world to nurture nature.