The group convened some two years ago in an effort to build appreciation for Emory’s natural waterways–an important environmental resource, says committee chair Tim Bryson, librarian for South Asian and religious studies, that has been more or less overlooked by conservation efforts.

To bring the streams the attention they deserve, the Stream Naming Committee, a collaboration between the Ad Hoc Committee on Environmental Stewardship and the Friends of Emory Forest, called on the Emory community to name them. After collecting dozens of suggestions from alumni, students, faculty, and staff, the committee has selected names for the four most visible creeks, which were approved in March by the Board of Trustees.

The newly christened Anoinette Candler Creek or “Nettie’s Creek,” named for the wife of former Emory Chancellor Warren Candler, originates under Harris and Thomas residence halls, flows under the Woodruff Library, and surfaces to wind its way through Baker Woodlands. The name was resurrected thanks to A Legacy of Heart and Mind: Emory Since 1836 by Vice President Gary Hauk ’91PhD, who offers a brief history of Baker Woodlands: “For several years in the 1920s, Commencement was held in the ravine just across Kilgo Circle from the Law Building (now Carlos Hall). Though overgrown and heavily wooded now, the area had been cleared and named Antoinette Gardens in honor of Chancellor Warren Candler’s wife, who expended much energy and enthusiasm in beautifying the primitive campus in the late ’teens and early twenties. By the 1980s, the ‘beautiful little valley’ had grown thick with woods and become known by the more wild-sounding name of ‘The Ravine.’ Not incidentally, the tribute to Mrs. Candler had become lost in the equally wild thickets of institutional memory, and the area was renamed the Woolford B. Baker Woodlands, in honor of the longtime professor of biology who retired in 1961.”

George Cooper Creek, which originates under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and runs into Peavine Creek near Asbury House, was named for the longtime Emory coach and director of intramural sports. The name was submitted by John Ingersoll, senior associate vice president for major gifts, who wrote to the committee, “Might it be named Cooper Creek for George Cooper ’41C-’52G, an adored physical education teacher here in the ’40s, ’50s, and early ’60s. . . . there used to be a Cooper Field, which was superceded by Chappell Park. So it might be a way of keeping that name alive.”

Gerald B. Lowrey ’81PhD, senior director for the Association of Emory Alumni and a member of the Stream Naming Committee, agreed, adding, “[Cooper] taught backpacking, hiking, and other outdoor sports. Therefore it is even more appropriate to name the stream for him seeing that the Outdoor Emory Organization inhabits Asbury House.”

Most Emory folk will easily recognize the name of the stream that runs under the Cox Hall bridge: Henry Hornbostel Creek, so dubbed for the architect who designed the original buildings on the Atlanta campus. Naming a stream for Hornbostel was the suggestion of Jan Stevenson, a business manager at Grady Memorial Hospital, who quoted the U.S. Department of the Interior National Register of Historic Places nomination form in her submission:

“Hornbostel . . . did not plan any landscape architecture or formal gardens, but rather used the natural growth of dogwoods and pines to shape the campus surroundings. He designed a campus plan that not only allowed for the immediate construction of buildings but preserved the topography and natural appearance of the land donated by Asa Griggs Candler.”

Ernest Richardson Creek was named by JoAn Chace, wife of former Emory President William M. Chace, for the longtime caretaker of Lullwater, the presidential residence and park. The creek flows within the Lullwater preserve close to Clifton Road. Mrs. Chace learned that Richardson served as original owner Walter Candler’s “right-hand man” and was friendly to students, letting them fish for brim and bass in the lake using “summer lizards” as bait. He tended the sweeping grounds alone for the most part and was described as a distinguished and respected man who was never called “Ernie,” always Ernest or Mr. Ernest.

“His work and his character both seem worthy of this honor, and one would like to see the old estate continue to be, as he was, both superior and welcoming,” wrote Chace.

For those who submitted ideas that were not chosen, there is hope yet: This fall the Stream Naming Committee is up and running again, accepting suggestions for the remaining Emory streams. They hope to have them all christened sometime during the spring semester.

In the meantime, it must be assumed that all twelve streams–the named and the unnamed–will continue to flow.–P.P.P.

For more information about the stream naming project, visit www.environment.emory.edu/who/streams.shtml.