‍An Open Letter from LMC’s Robyn Carlton 

(Originally published in Jan. 2025's Lookout Mountain Mirror)

‍

Several years ago, I was walking through the Young Life camp at Carolina Point. The camp is a gorgeous resort in the Carolina mountains, but it wasn’t the beauty I remember most from that trip. 

‍

It was a sign. As in: a literal sign on the wall. It said seven words. 

‍

We are all walking each other home. 

‍

The moment I spied it, I stopped in my tracks and just stared, as if frozen in time. At that moment, all our decades of work at Lookout Mountain Conservancy became abundantly clear. 

‍

We’re all walking each other home. 

‍

Here at Lookout Mountain Conservancy, we do a lot of walking. And stewarding, maintaining and heavy lifting. We manage 1500 acres of protected Lookout Mountain land. We also steward 19 acres of privately-held land that’s open for public use: the beloved Guild-Hardy Trail and Rockmont Park with its bouldering park, pollinator garden and trail access. 

‍

I signed on as president in 2008, but LMC’s existed for 35 years. In 2026, we’ll celebrate our 35th anniversary as your land trust. 

‍

Looking back at the road behind us, I see so many people. Yes, LMC impacts thousands of people each year. 

‍

Yet LMC is impacted by thousands more. 

‍

Our story began in 1991 in John Wilson’s living room. Soon, the tiniest of land trusts was formed as a way to protect Cummings Highway from ugly growth. (We’re one of the oldest accredited land trusts in Tennessee.) 

‍

Since then, we’ve been working on this mountain for 35 years. One way or another, if you’re new or an old friend, we’re connected. 

‍

We’ve had some strong and long-lasting relationships; we’ve walked many, many miles together. We’ve also had people who took only a few steps with us along the way. 

‍

Both matter. 

‍

Both have created our 35 years together. 

‍

We’re all walking each other home. 

‍

Those seven words come from spiritual teachers Ram Dass and Mirabai Bush. The older I get, the more the interconnectedness of life makes sense. Good, honest sense. 

‍

If we could somehow catalog all the moments of our daily lives, the big encounters matched alongside the small handshakes or even smaller hellos, you would realize deep in your bones a gorgeous truth:

‍

It is all one fabric. 

‍

In 2019, LMC was raising money to purchase property for conservation in St. Elmo. It was a whirlwind; we only had two weeks to raise nearly $300,000.

‍

There was a knock at the office door. It was a young mom who’d brought her three children. They each brought money to give. 

‍

One of her children handed me a single dollar bill.

‍

The other two handed me each $3. 

‍

Now, we still needed $299,996 to go, but somehow, those $4 felt like the entire world. It was a widow’s mite moment, the smallest gift somehow equivalent to the largest. I will never forget it as long as I live.

‍

On the LMC road, the mother and her three children are walking us home. 

‍

This winter, if I could bring together everyone who ever impacted or touched our work, even in the smallest ways. I would say one thing, over and over:

‍

Thank you.

‍

We are who we are because of you.

‍

We’re all headed home together. 

‍

This new year, LMC will celebrate 35 years; it’s a big milestone for our nonprofit, Lookout Mountain and all our friends and partners. 

‍

The Guild-Hardy Trail. The Howard School Intern Program. The engaged couple who put LMC donations on their wedding registry. The donation from Tennessee American Water that started the Howard School Intern Program. And the $4 St. Elmo donation. 

‍

We’ve got some big news coming in 2026, along with some parties, celebrations and commemorations. Through it all, we want you to know:

‍

We’re headed home together. 

‍

Thanks for walking with us all these years. For some of you, it’s been 35 years of footsteps. For others, maybe just an hour or a single day. 

‍

It all counts.

‍

With love to all my Lookout Mountain community,

‍

Robyn