'Forestry Sciences Lab in Mercer County' details center's local history

Mar. 1—PRINCETON — A book filled with photographs recording the people and the history behind a Mercer County forestry center that opened with help from President John F. Kennedy will soon be available for readers who have an interest in local, state and national history.

County Commissioner Bill Archer recently completed the book "Forestry Sciences Lab in Mercer County," his 10th book in the Images of America series of Arcadia Publishing and The History Press.

The book tells the history of the former Forestry Sciences Laboratory in Gardner off Interstate 77. The center came about when President Kennedy established the President's Appalachian Regional Commission with the governors of eight Appalachian Mountains states. On Oct. 12, 1961, the Mercer County Commission joined forces with the president and the U.S. Forest Service to donate part of the former Mercer County Poor Farm to establish the nation's first Forestry Sciences Laboratory. The president selected Frank Longwood, a well-known forester, to be the new center's director.

The U.S. Forest Service left the center in 2016, but the agency worked with the county commission, the U.S. General Services Administration and the National Park Service's History Surplus Properties program to establish a facility dedicated to history and public service, Archer said.

Archer initially didn't have plans to write a book about the former forestry laboratory, now known as the Gardner Center.

"The publisher had approached me early last year and asked me to do another, and I had told him that I didn't write anymore, which I don't. I don't really write anymore and I had a different kind of job," Archer recalled. "But they were persistent and said, 'please just give us a couple of ideas,' and I said no, I don't write anymore."

At that time, Mercer County had just received the Gardner Center facility and site, Archer said.

"I said OK, I will do it only if you can give all royalties and any proceeds from the book to the Mercer County Commission for the operation of this forestry center, which we now call the Gardner Center," Archer stated.

County Administrator Vicky Reed helped Archer with writing the book. Archer said he could never have completed the book without her help. His late wife, Evonda Louise Archer, helped him with his previous books. He dedicated "Forestry Sciences Lab in Mercer County" to his late wife.

Records left behind by the U.S. Forest Service provided a lot of material for the book.

"Many of the pictures are pictures we retrieved from the forest service when we were cleaning up," Archer said. "Stacks of photographs that were back there."

People who worked at the center and led its operations are featured throughout the book. Besides Frank Longwood, the book has a photograph and background on the late Don G. Cuppett, Sr. Cuppett was a World War II combat bomber pilot who joined the forestry service after the war and later coordinated the forestry lab's expansion project in 1975.

"He was the brains behind the real growth years of this facility," he said. "He died tragically in a car wreck on Brickyard Road."

Writing the book is a way to promote the Gardner Center. Several public entities are now occupying offices there.

"It's a center dedicated to three basic things: first history; two, community; and three, public service. So far, we're doing those kind of issues there. We have just a few entities there. There's the Princeton Rescue Squad. Our detective bureau with the sheriff's department is located there, the Governor's Highway Safety Program for this region is located there, our new Mercer County Public Service District, the Mercer County Economic Development Authority is located there; and we have an actual paying customer in Life Strategies, Inc. It's a Raleigh County business, but they have counseling services there. They're really good people. There's a couple of ladies there. They have three office spaces."

"Forestry Sciences Lab in Mercer County" is scheduled to be published on March 8.

— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com