Randy Wolcott: Passionate supporter, protector of Hitchcock Woods

Nov. 28—Hitchcock Woods is a sacred place for Randy Wolcott, who enjoys taking morning strolls beneath the tall longleaf pines several days a week with his wife, mother-in-law and the family dogs.

"I believe in God and go to church, but not as often as I should, so it's my cathedral," he said. "You see nature, and there is peace and tranquility. When you're down and you walk through there, you can think things through and come out refreshed. I just love it."

And Wolcott wants to make sure that Hitchcock Woods, which is one of the nation's largest urban forests, is protected and cared for properly.

"That's a passion of mine, absolutely," he said.

Wolcott, 62, is a longtime member of the Hitchcock Woods Foundation's board of trustees.

"I was the chairman for five years, and one of the things that I'm really proud of is that I established the very first endowment for the Hitchcock Woods Foundation," he said. "There were a lot of major families that didn't have a vehicle to donate to us, and we probably lost a lot of opportunities there. But since I started it (the endowment), there have been some great bequests by people in their wills, and we are probably halfway to our goal."

In addition, in his work with the foundation, "I've served on every committee there is," Wolcott said. "I am currently the chairman of the Forestry Committee and the Infrastructure Committee. "

He also is a member of the team that is in charge of the prescribed burning program, which is needed to keep Hitchcock Woods' original longleaf pine habitat healthy.

"We have been doing it for a long time, and we do it very carefully," Wolcott said. "Being on the burn squad is fun. There is a great camaraderie."

To his fellow team members, Wolcott is known as "Big Smoke."

During the Aiken Hounds' hunting season, which begins Thanksgiving Day and continues until around March, Wolcott helps out on Saturdays by using fox scent to create a trail for the foxhounds to follow.

"When I'm laying the drag, I have a bottle of scent and I walk through the woods, dropping it probably every couple of yards," Wolcott said. "I love dogs, and I love the hounds, so I like to play with them and test them. I act like a fox and try to make it very hard for them so they really have to work. It keeps them keen because it makes it into a game. They don't just run in a straight line."

Endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers, or RCWs, are thriving again in Hitchcock Woods because Wolcott spearheaded an effort to bring them back.

According to some local birding enthusiasts, RCWs disappeared from the forest in the late 1960s and the early 1970s. It was because of the lack of forest management, which the Hitchcock Woods Foundation later rectified.

Wolcott became interested in RCWs about 20 years ago after spotting a hole in a tree one day, asking what it was and learning that it was an abandoned nesting location for a type of bird that no longer lived in Hitchcock Woods.

Because of prescribed burning, Wolcott knew that large areas of the longleaf pine habitat that RCWs love had been restored and were being maintained, so he started thinking about what could be done to get them to return.

"I just kept gnawing at it and gnawing at it in the back of mind," Wolcott said. "It's amazing how long it took, but I finally came up with a plan."

Wildlife biologists were consulted, and helped carry it out.

Each fall from 2016 to 2020, young male and female RCWS were captured in Francis Marion National Forest and then transported to Hitchcock Woods and set free.

There now is an established population of the birds.

"They've been doing beautifully and reproducing," Wolcott said. "It has been a very successful project."

He also has made a difference in Hitchcock Woods in numerous other ways.

Because of Wolcott's passion for Hitchcock Woods, some people might assume that he is an Aiken native, but that is not the case.

He was born and raised in Massachusetts.

"I grew up in a small town similar to Aiken with horses, nice farms and lots of woods and fields," Wolcott said.

He began working on one of those farms when he was 14. Later, Wolcott started a house painting business.

For two years, he attended Franklin University Switzerland.

"I traveled all over Europe," Wolcott said.

Then he transferred to Boston University, where he finished his studies and graduated.

Wolcott explored several career opportunities afterward, including advertising, banking and construction.

In addition, "I worked for a guy who was trying to set up a barter network," he said.

Wolcott wound up in Charlotte, North Carolina, and from there, he traveled to Aiken in 1989 to visit Iris Freeman, who was a good friend of his parents and the wife of thoroughbred trainer Mike Freeman.

It was the day before the Aiken Trials when Wolcott arrived. There was a big cocktail party to attend, and then Iris took Wolcott to Up Your Alley, a restaurant that used to be in the building where Fuse, another eatery, is now.

"That's where I met my wife," Wolcott said. "She told me I had to come back the next weekend for the Steeplechase (Aiken Spring Steeplechase)."

Their initial attraction to each other blossomed into a romance.

Wolcott eventually moved to Aiken and got a landscaping job. In 1991, Wolcott married Georgianna "Girl" Conger.

Through his mother-in-law, Courtney Conger, he found a profession for himself that has endured.

She said, 'Why don't you get out of the ditches and work in real estate?" Wolcott remembered.

Courtney is the president of the Carolina Real Estate Company, and Wolcott is a Realtor there, selling primarily residential properties and land.

Currently the president-elect of the Aiken Association of Realtors, Wolcott will become the organization's president in 2022.

The Conger family's influence also led to Wolcott's involvement in steeplechasing. Ford, Courtney's husband who died in 1993, was for many years the chairman of the Aiken Steeplechase Association. Under his leadership, the Aiken Spring Steeplechase experienced dramatic growth and the Aiken Fall Steeplechase was launched.

Not long after they met, Ford urged Wolcott to become a racing official for the Steeplechase Association. He started as an assistant paddock judge and then held several other positions. Most recently, he has been a patrol judge.

Following Ford's death, Wolcott's wife joined the Steeplechase Association's board and later became an officer. She also was the group's party planner before her time there ended.

Georgianna, who is an artist, fosters dogs for the Aiken County Animal Shelter.

"She started fostering the dogs about 10 years ago with our daughter, Caroline, and we're continuing to foster," Wolcott said. "I help out as much as I can. I do the morning feedings. And I help out when we have to move them back and forth to the shelter. You need many hands on deck."

Caroline, who is interested in environmental sciences, is pursuing a master's degree at Virginia Tech.

As someone who has made it his mission to ensure that Hitchcock Woods is preserved for future generations, Wolcott is happy about the focus of her studies.

"She is going into the natural world also," Wolcott said.