Russell Ashmore, Sr. was a road builder and paving contractor, skills he learned from his father. Raised on a farm in upstate South Carolina, Russell loved children, nature, poetry, and the mountains. He and his brother bought a tract of land adjacent to Lake Wattacoo, in northern Greenville County, to encourage family members to spend time enjoying the beautiful surroundings. When a rare flower, the Mountain Sweet Pitcher Plant, was found growing there, the property was turned into the Ashmore Heritage Preserve, a 1,125 acre segment of the Mountain Bridge Wilderness off Scenic Highway 11 near Caesars Head State Park. This poem is inscribed on a bronze plaque placed by his children at one end of the lake.