|
Secure, convenient observing has been done from this privately-owned site since 1985. Because all the land on NW 52nd Court (and even many of the lots on the adjacent roads that back up to the property) has been purchased by amateur astronomers, we enjoy enviable success in holding light pollution at bay. The Village presently includes nine private observatories, with more planned in the near future. Many other astronomers simply roll their telescopes out under our remarkable skies and observe from their yards! In the early days, most members spent new-moon weekends camping on the club field, but as time passed, many have built homes and either return for weekend get-a-ways or have retired to the area as full-time residents.
Step back in time with this article by Tom Clark, then publisher of Amateur Astronomy Magazine. This article appeared in issue #8, Winter 1995.
This is the story of a most unusual experiment: the building of an astronomy commune in north Florida. To make up for the lack of desert transparency, the seeing is always much better than in the desert, and frequently sub-arc-second. The galaxies are easy to cruise at high power, and you will find astronomers inspecting planetary nebulae at powers often in excess of 500x. The nebula observing is as good as you can only imagine, with tiny pinpoint stars across the eyepiece field, even in the largest telescopes. In every direction but due north there is only darkness, with no light domes to affect the observing. Seven miles north of the site is the small town of Chiefland. The site consists of 80 acres, all owned by astronomers. There are three roll-off-roof observatories built on the land, and several places where their owners simply roll the entire telescope outside for observing. At least eight different families own land, in five and ten acre parcels. There is a loosely formed club, consisting of members who live all over Florida, some a couple of hundred miles away. The club, lightheartedly called the "Astro-Scopers" has a regularly mowed three acre field where you will find electrical power, a rest room, an outdoor shower with hot water, and a large covered pavilion to get out of the sun on those hot summer days. There is plenty of room to pitch your tent and set up your telescope right next to it, and even a few power outlets for Winnebago campers. Most importantly, every new moon weekend you will find yourself in the company of other amateur astronomers, to share the thrill of observing with. There are large scope visual observers as well as astrophotographers sharing the same site. The only road leading to the site is private, so that there are no car lights to ruin a photograph. Those who arrive after dark drive in with parking lights only, and are guided to a parking place by other helpful astronomers who arrived earlier. How did this beautiful observing facility come to be? In 1985 Billy Dodd traveled thousands of miles all over Florida, from the Everglades to the Georgia boarder, searching to find the darkest skies he could find. He was planning an early retirement and to move to the boonies in order to build an observatory for his C-14, to pursue his astrophotography hobby. Every weekend he left his St.Petersburg, Florida home and checked out different areas, looking for a combination of dark skies, good seeing, and a place that wasn’t too inaccessible to the rest of the world. His criterion for a good astrophotography site was simple. He would find a place that interested him, and then pull out the leader in an unexposed roll of film, hold it to the sky for a few moments, and then rewind the film, put it into his camera, and shoot and develop the roll later. After a year of searching, he settled on an 80 acre plot of land seven miles south of Chiefland. One of the prime attractions of this property was that it harbors no squadrons of mosquitoes - a rarity in any part of the US - let alone Florida. The land had been cleared for pastures, so the horizons were clear in every direction. The local real estate agent who had the property listed was agreeable to a proposal Billy made to him - to not offer the property to anyone else for a six month period so Billy could try to get some other astronomers interested in his plans. The lots were available in five acre parcels for $9600, and it would help from a lighting standpoint to only have astronomers in the area. Billy bought 20 acres for himself and his family, and offered the rest to other amateur astronomers as a weekend getaway. Within a short time several more members of Billy's club in St. Petersburg purchased land, and within the first year all of the lots had been sold to astronomers. Billy retired and moved into a new double-wide mobile home at the site about a year later, and soon built his roll-off roof observatory, complete with an air-conditioned darkroom. Over the years his land took on the look of a nice farm, with pole barns, livestock, horses, and recently a very large ham radio antenna to accommodate his other hobby. Jeannie and I have been going to Chiefland on an average of four times a year for the last ten years, enjoying the finest dark skies Florida has to offer. The town of Chiefland has grown some, but luckily most of the growth has been towards the north - away from the site. The light glow of town recently got a little larger when Wal Mart put in one of its new Super Stores, but on clear nights the light glow remains below the 28° height of Polaris. Only when we are hole-shooting on cloudy nights does the lights become a problem in the north. On those nights we simply appreciate the still superbly dark east, south and west skies. I guess if you have to have light pollution, under Polaris is the place to have it. Today there are five modular homes on the property, and more planned for the future. Our good friends Jack and Alice Newton purchased a five acre lot that came up for sale from its original owner, and plan to spend their winters with us after he is able to retire in a few more years. Jack is even talking about putting in an observatory that he can operate by remote. Today software is available to operate telescopes and CCD cameras entirely by telephone. So if it is cloudy at home, he can ring up his southern observatory to snap off a few CCD images. In the early days there was another club whose members used the site. This club was a regular astronomy club, complete with officers, directors, a fancy newsletter, committees, and all the usual club things. There were also power plays, ego clashes, arguments over how to do this or that, etc. etc., and who was to be the "big boss". Eventually everyone got tired of arguing and the club was disbanded, and the loosely knit organization "The Astro-Scopers" that has been in place for the past five years was formed. No more officers, directors, committees or chairmen. Jo Ann Klein of St. Pete volunteers to take care of the check book to pay expenses, and Tim Printy of Orlando puts out a short one page newsletter to pass news around the state. It serves to announce coming events, and to make any announcements necessary. That is about as formal as this club gets. Once a year in the spring a club picnic is held, and anyone can bring up any questions or suggestions to the group if they want to. Everything else is done by anyone who wants to volunteer to do whatever needs to be done. Occasionally the newsletter announces a work party for a Saturday new-moon weekend if there is a new project, such as building the shelter last year. Dues are $35 per year, and that covers the commercial mowing of the observing field and also pays for liability insurance to protect Billy if anyone should be hurt on his property. Any money that is left over goes for improvements to the property. There is a donations box at the site that brings in enough money from visitors to help cover expenses, and those of who use electricity don't mind donating extra to more than cover the small amount of juice RV's use. This is not meant to "put down" regular astronomy clubs, but to inform you of what has been successful at this site. Since the members are spread over hundred of miles, an unusual format had to be invented to take care of this special situation. The club holds a regular informal star party once a year in the fall that usually plays hosts to 50 or so astronomers, but once again, since the membership is spread all over the state, it is not possible to go through all the necessary steps to hold the major star party that this site could be capable of. There is enough room to have thousands of astronomers in for a week long event, but not the support facilities, such as those of the Texas Star Party, to handle the water and sanitation requirements for such a large crowd. Ten years ago Billy Dodd had a dream of establishing a dark sky site where he could do all the astrophotography he wanted, and to provide a dark sky observing place where his friends could come to visit and enjoy some of the last of the truly dark skies - while there are still some left. I would say that Billy made his dream a reality much more than any of us have the right to hope for. For the thirty Astro-Scopers and all the other thousands of amateur astronomers who have spent star-studded nights gazing at the Universe in Billy Dodd's front yard, I would like to thank him with all my heart. Thank you, Billy Dodd!! May you live long and prosper!
|