COASTLINES VOLUME 21 // ISSUE 2 // Summer 2021
Meet the Coastal Land Trust’s
New Executive Director
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veteran wildlife photographer and a seasoned professional with the National Audubon Society has been named the new executive director of the Coastal Land Trust. Walker Golder succeeds founding executive director Camilla Herlevich. He assumed his duties on March 29, 2021. A Wilmington native, who grew up at Wrightsville Beach, Walker has a deep affinity for the southeastern coast. “The North Carolina coast is my home. It’s where I learned the lasting value of protecting the places that make our coast so special, and the importance of land trusts,” he said. “I believe that conserving natural and working landscapes and investing in land stewardship is one of the best ways
to have a lasting impact on natural and cultural resources that are so important to the North Carolina coast.” Walker attended the University of North Carolina Wilmington for graduate school, where he earned a Master of Science Degree in marine biology. He immediately began a long and successful career at the National Audubon Society. He held many roles at Audubon, notably as the deputy state director of Audubon’s North Carolina state office and most recently as the program director of the Atlantic Flyway Coast Strategy. “We met good candidates from across the state during our search and are extremely pleased to have found Walker, who brings Director, continued on page 3
Walker Golder, Coastal Land Trust Executive Director
conserved lands we love and why Reflections on Reaves Chapel
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here did I come from? Who were my ancestors? What were they like? What did they look like? Do I have any of their physical features? What was our family name? Unfortunately, for many descendants of enslaved people the answers to these questions are challenging and sometimes impossible to find. The dehumanizing practices of tearing families apart and listing them by age and gender on a bill of sale are a few factors that make researching our history difficult. Several times I have passed a cotton field and experienced a range of emotions, from anger to sadness to feeling connected. While I may not know my ancestors, I know they are a part of me. The connection that I feel to certain lands, plantations, cotton fields, churches, etc. are my ancestors speaking to me. It is hard to put into words the emotions that I felt at Reaves Chapel. It felt like my ancestors were standing there with their arms wide open to give me a hug. It felt like home.
Sandy Marshall with her niece Ava at Reaves Chapel.
CoastalLandTrust.org
Reaves chapel, continued on page 4
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