The Chiefland Experiment Part II
2008
Introduction.
If you were to take a moment to try to form an image in your mind of a really good astronomy club observing site, what would it look like to you? What features would you add to make the best observing site you can think of? What changes would you make to the place your club uses now to make it better? Of course we all can envision a mountain top similar to Mona Kea, above most of the Earth's water vapor, superb transparency and seeing, a place where you could experience the finest observing on the planet. OK, now back to Earth, bub! I've been to Mona Kea. It is the top of a volcano. It's only hilly rough lava laying around, not a nice smooth flat grassy field. The roads to get there are rough and dangerous. There are no big flat spaces to set up your scope, other than the small parking lots near the observatories, and there are no facilities open to the public. The observatories don't tolerate the public near them…
I never used to spend so much time thinking about the observing sites we went to, we just went, and tolerated whatever the conditions were, until a major turn of events entered our lives. In 1997 we sold our business, and suddenly were faced with the reality that we were free to live any place we wanted to.
After 24 years of living in Sarasota, we were ready for a change! For many years, every time a piece of property came up for sale at Chiefland, our favorite Florida observing site, my phone would ring, and before long I found myself explaining again to Billy Dodd, the founder of The Chiefland Astronomy Village, why we were just not willing to own and maintain two homes, plus a motorhome. But now that we were retired, new possibilties were opening up. We had built our dream house and lived in it for 14 years, and were ready for a change. Wanting a nice large home is always a nice goal, but after awhile you begin to wonder if you own the house, or the house owns you. A change to a more maintenance free lifestyle begins to be very attractive.
Astronomy is a super hobby, but we all have to admit that it does take a lot of effort to pack up the van or trailer with your telescope and associated gear and travel to your favorite dark sky site for just one night. If you are heading to an multi-day event such as a star party, the amount of gear is then multiplied by 10 times. Visions of living in the quiet countryside, at a dark sky site, with the possibility of our own observatory sounded pretty good. I called Billy Dodd…
The Astronomy Gods choose that moment in time to be kind to us. Billy's son owned the club property and wanted to unload it to prepare for a move, and Billy had been very concerned about the future of the astronomy club observing field.
Billy and Alice, and Jeannie and I discussed the matter at length, and determined that if we put our home in the back of the field, we would have all the room we wanted for a new home, 
workshop, and observatory. As an added bonus, the club would not lose its very nice observing field.
We moved into our new home in Chiefland in October of 1998 - Three days after our friends Jack and Alice Newton moved into their new home right down the street from us.
Site Improvements.
Ever notice how when someone buys the house next door to you, they spend a lot of time making changes and additions until they get it just the way they want it? Same thing here. I could think of many ways to improve both my own house and the club observing field. First and foremost, the club is not a money making project. Every time the club had a few extra dollars on hand, it was put back into the property. When we moved in, the club had 18 members, 16 property owners, $300 in the bank, and a lot of work that needed to be done.
The biggest club activity has always been the regular monthly observing sessions, and two small star parties - a spring picnic, and a fall star party. Both events usually attracted 30-40 attendees.
Then the 1999 Winter Star Party had to be canceled due to a hurricane wiping out the girl scout camp, with not enough time to rebuild before the February new moon. I called Tippy D'Auria, the WSP founder, and offered them the Chiefland site as a stand in. Of course Chiefland is not the Florida Keys in the middle of the winter, but our weather does beat all points north, We had 250-300 people at the star party, the club ended up with $6000 in the bank.
The next project was to double the size of the shade pavilion, and then started taking a long look at the old, unused club observatory: It had deteriorated and needed repair. The 10x10' roll-off roof building had a small rooms under the beams where the roof rolled off, and they contained a tiny room with a refrigerator and microwave, and a very
small bathroom. The bathroom was so tiny that you could actually sit down on the toilet and brush your teeth in the sink at the same time! Of course any bathroom was better than none, but this one was tiny. The observatory, and its very old C-14, had been donated to the club long ago and had been unused for years. The building was falling down.
The C-14 was sold on Astromart, and soon the old observatory was demolished. A new 10x20 shed was bolted down to the same slab, and soon two new restrooms were built, along with a nice clubhouse, all for or only $900 out of pocket. Not bad!
The last big change to take place a couple of years later was our one-half-mile long road was paved, with the club 
funds and property owners paying the bill. At last, the big dust bowl turned into a place where your telescope and optics didn't suffer every time someone drove in to the site.
Tom Crowley moved into a property west of the site, and arranged for his wi-fi system to cover the club field. Now members can check their email while they are up for the weekend.
Star Parties.
Once we had a big star party the year we moved in, and a few hundred new people saw the site, word quickly
spread. Chiefland had excellent facilities and very good skies. In the next few years, our two small star parties grew to where the attendance was overwhelming - 100+ for the picnic, and 250+ for the fall event. Cub membership quickly grew to over a hundred, and today passes 200.
As in most organizations, the majority of the work is always done by a small handful of people. The amount of work grew but the number of workers didn't. It was always the same few neighbors who took an interest in the club and were always there to help out. Chiefland suffers from the fact that club members live all over Florida, and not all in or near the same city, such as the members of the Southern Cross Astronomical Society, the Miami club that puts on the Winter Star Party. When Jeannie and I attend the WSP we always volunteer to be on the work crew that shows up early to get the girl scout camp ready for the star party. Over 50 people show up to share the work! That's a bit different from the four or five that help with our group. However, we do have some good guys who are always there to do whatever needs done - but it's just not the same.
But it seems that the star parties are coming back. Some of the people were missing the large gatherings, and were discussing the idea of bringing them back. I mentioned that there were now 24 property owners in the Village, and lots of larger places to hold star parties, so that is what is happening. Others are involved with all the fun of running the large events. We are going to just keep the smaller club observing field going and trying to relax a bit for the rest of our retirement.
Astronomy villages -
the good, the bad, and the ugly.
A good guess would be that somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000 nights have been enjoyed by visiting astronomers in our front yard since we have lived in Chiefland. For the most part, it has been an absolutely wonderful experience for us! I think that a big part of the reason that it has gone so well is that since 1985 until October of 1998, we spent around 500 nights camping in that same yard, as just a couple more club members. We were very familiar with the club, the area, the neighbors, and the whole experience before we ended up owning the property and living here.
Things never would have been as successful without the advice Billy gave us when he turned the property over to us. Billy lived right next to the club field, and ran things from 85-98. After 13 years in the hot seat, he was ready to step down and take it easy. As a matter of fact, every time I talked to him about a problem, his first answer was always, "Whatever you think is fine with me." Basically, only a few minor changes were made from the way Chiefland had always been run before we moved there.
The biggest piece of advice received was to fully understand and expect the fact that no matter what I did, there was no way that everyone would be happy. There would always be a few that just wanted to complain no matter what went on.
OK, so I was warned. It still was not easy when you heard later through the grapevine that so-and-so was upset that his suggestion was turned down to build a big bunk house so he would have a place to sleep. (I imagined a butler outfit for me and a maid's outfit for Jeannie, and we would be spending the rest of our lives cleaning up after everyone. No thanks!) Another suggestion was to build a new club observatory, with the latest and greatest equipment so they would have top-of-the-line equipment to view or image with. Who would be spending most of his time maintaining the equipment for everyone?
I have to admit that The Local Group, my old club in the Sarasota/Bradenton area, had a plan that worked really well for years: The club didn't own anything, or have any money, so there was not much to argue about. Another direction the LG took was to eliminate politics as much as possible. No officers, directors, or members of the board. The Local Group's main function was to go observing. Hence, the Chiefland club is far more of an excellent observing site than a real astronomy club. In many ways this approach worked out very well, as the members were spread out all over the state, so there was no real opportunity for regular club meetings. The focus is kept on observing and having fun.
One of my favorite things about having astronomy for a hobby was the saying that "stupid people don't take up astronomy for a hobby." I always thought the dumb ones were too busy watching TV. After donating my front yard to use as the club observing field, I found that the saying is not always true! Here are some of the few bad experiences we had.
Every group has a few free loaders who didn't want to pay their club dues (only $20 per year) or drop the requested $5 per night for members and guests into the donation box. I did let a few know that they were welcome to go observing elsewhere. When we moved here there were 18 paid up members. The last year we still had dues the membership was over 200!
Our very simple field rules are posted in the club house. And you guessed it, there are always a few that just don't believe that the rules apply to them. I lost a few more friends when their RV was unplugged from areas where they were not allowed to be plugged in. And then there are the brilliant ones who just don't want to believe that they cannot have an electric refrigerator, microwave, electric heater, and coffee pot in their tent, 800 feet away from the breakers! In all fairness it has to be said that most of the rule violations were from star party attendees, and not club members. There were actually some astronomers who think that it is ok to set up their unshielded laptop right among a dozen visual observers! Sometimes dealing with the public can be a little trying on the nerves. Oh well…
The Observatories.
I don't believe there is an astronomer alive who has not day-dreamed about having his own 
observatory right out in his side yard, myself included. When we moved to the area, there were two observatories, and as the years went by it seemed like every year one or two new ones went up. The first thing I did was to build another 36" Dob, The Yard Scope II. Now that we didn't have to transport it all over the country, it was kept assembled in my workshop, and simply rolled out the door on good nights. Observatory dreams took place almost nightly, but we cooled our jets and took time to study home-made observatories. We still traveled a few months every summer writing articles for Amateur Astronomy Magazine, visited 
observatories all over the country, and took our time planning what we wanted. Telescopes come and go, but once you build something in your side yard, you will have to live with it for a long time!
Construction on our 24" dome started in 2002 and was completed in five months. The 42" telescope was finished the following year when the mirror finally arrived. All I can tell you about your observatory dreams is that the reality is even better! Especially if you take your time planning what you want, and then finally have a good place to put it. Being inside a dome is much warmer than being outside, and there is no dew in a dome, so the 
observers stay far drier.
Jack Newton built his 20x24 roll-off roof observatory, complete with a large warm room. You have to admit that a warm room is a nice touch in the middle of winter. Unfortunately, warm rooms are for imagers.
Originally there were sixteen five-acre lots on our street. Today there are 24 property owners who live in the village. There are now 16 observatories finished and operating, and it seems like every year a couple of more are finished.
The Future.
The future looks dark. And when you are talking about astronomy villages that is good! Every new moon week there is a small star party right outside our door. Now, after living here for 11 years, would we do it again? Absolutely! We did have some reservations at first, but living at the astronomy village really grows on you.
If you are thinking about starting an astronomy village some day, come for a visit and see what we have done. We always enjoy guests for a night or two. If you would like to come to Chiefland for a week long observing vacations, come on. You will have to first join our chat group to let us know you are coming, but you will be in good company. Who knows, maybe you will live here by the time part III of the Chiefland Experiment is written! Consider that to be an invitation to come join us. Now that the big star parties are held at another site by another group, The Chiefland Observers is back to being a happy place for wonderful observing and imaging, without the crowding and straining of the facilities that goes along with large star parties!
When I wrote The Chiefland Experiment in the summer of '95, I never dreamed that three years later we would be living on the edge of the observing field!
Part of the club observing field 11/05
The old club observatory
Joe Mize repainting the stars on our paved road
Chiefland has
100 electrical outlets
all around the
observing field.
The observing field on 10/18/09
The Chiefland Observers fully supports the efforts of the Star Party Group that now hold the big fall star party on their 30 acres. As a matter of fact, our group helped them get started by paying for the installation of the electrical outlets on their field, and by financing the CAV bank account that they used to fund their first year's event.
Anyone attending their star parties is more than welcome to visit friends on our field during their big events.
