In the summer of 1971, a young college student attended an evening presentation offered by the National Park Service at a campground in the Badlands of South Dakota. She listened in rapt attention as a young female Park Ranger shared information about the park and answered the questions of visitors assembled from around the country and the world.

As fate would have it, that summer evening in a remote and wild part of the country, far removed from her family farm in Ohio, became one of the most pivotal moments in the young student’s life. Sitting there in the dark, she realized that she wanted to be a Park Ranger. And a dream was born.

Twenty-three years later, that student would follow her dream all the way to the job as the Park Superintendent of Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site in Flat Rock, North Carolina. It was a position that Connie Hudson Backlund would hold - and cherish - for the next 18 years.

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Connie Sue Hudson grew up as an only child on her family farm in St. Marys Township, Ohio. Her father and mother, Barney and Esther Hudson, owned a 100-acre parcel that Connie roamed with her dad during the late 1950s and 1960s. Connie describes her home as “the All-American farm” where the family raised chickens, pigs, Holstein dairy cows, and Black Angus cattle. They also grew corn, soybeans, wheat, and oats. And, despite being somewhat removed from her school friends who typically lived in town, Connie has only happy memories of growing up as a farm kid. “It never bothered me. I always knew that the farm was very special,” she says.

Barney Hudson and his brother Paul worked together and farmed a total of 400 acres. Connie remembers that the work kept her dad busy from sunup to sundown every day of the year and that she loved to be outdoors with her father around the farm.  “My dear mom thought she would teach me how to cook and bake,” Connie recalls with a laugh. “But I always told her I had to go help Daddy and I would zip outside!” The farm, as it turns out, nurtured more than animals and crops. It nurtured Connie’s life-long love of the natural world and being outdoors.

One annual event on the farm was particularly memorable for the young girl.  “My most joyful day was the day when 600 yellow fluff ball one-week-old baby chicks would arrive. I could not wait to get home from school.” Connie was put in charge of caring for the chicks and loved having that responsibility.

Farming, of course, is hard and unrelenting work that comes with many personal sacrifices. As a consequence, the Hudsons did not take summer vacations like Connie’s school friends. The dairy cows required milking in the morning and the evening throughout the year and Connie recalls only three family day trips “snuck in” during her childhood.

But far from feeling a sense of deprivation, Connie embraced and loved her life on the farm. “The farm was my park,” she says now. “I loved having the big playground of the farm and the woods.”

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Connie was the first in her family to go to college when she matriculated at Bowling Green State University. “It was a wonderful opportunity that my parents never had but they very much valued it for me.”  Although less than 100 miles from her home, college life was a new and exciting world for Connie. Initially declaring as a theater major, she eventually gravitated to biology and math and contemplated a career in teaching.

It was the summer between her sophomore and junior years that she participated in the five-week-long biology field trip with a small group of professors and students. The trip took them to over a dozen National Parks throughout the western United States and opened yet another new world to Connie. “I discovered we have National Parks!” The first stop of the trip was in the Badlands of South Dakota - the birthplace of her dream of being a Park Ranger.

Motivated by the experience of visiting so many parks, Connie applied for a summer position with the NPS in Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. Those positions were so competitive, however, that Connie was not offered a position. Undeterred, she took a job as a waitress and cabin maid in a small town at the east entrance to Yellowstone National Park.

On the edge of the park but with no transportation of her own, Connie had to be creative - and assertive - to arrange for visits to Yellowstone on her one day off each week.  She would ask her restaurant customers if they were heading into the park the next day. If they said yes, she was ready with a response. “Oh, you’re going to Yellowstone? Tomorrow is my day off. Can I help with gas and go with you?” Connie laughs at the memory. The families always said yes and her experiences were unfailingly positive. “I had the best visits. I still remember those families very distinctly.”

Following her college graduation in 1973, a friend who had worked for the Ohio State Parks as a summer naturalist encouraged Connie to apply to the state park system. Realizing that Yellowstone and Grand Tetons might be unrealistic, Connie agreed and landed a job as a Summer Naturalist at Rocky Fork State Park. She led nature walks, did educational programs for children, and conducted evening programs at the campground. She also did nighttime nature walks. “I would call to the Barred Owls and they would answer me.” 

In a very real sense, Connie had found her calling.

Following that summer, Connie spent two enjoyable years teaching math and life sciences at a junior high school. But her dream of working for the National Park Service was never far from her thoughts. Eventually, another friend recommended she apply for a job at Shenandoah National Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. She did and Connie officially launched her career with the NPS.

Initially, Connie worked as an interpretive naturalist and migrating seasonal employee. For four years, she rotated between summer positions at Shenandoah and Mt. Rainier National Park and a winter assignment at Everglades National Park in Florida. For a girl from down on the farm, the travel and variety of experiences were exciting and confirmed her love of working with the NPS. Eventually, however, she started to think that something less transitory might be in order. “I thought that not moving every six months might be nice. And it might be nice to have a pet.”

During the Winter of 1978-79, her fourth winter in the Everglades, Connie applied for a position at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. It was a year-round position that provided the opportunity to expand her park service experiences. The job alternated four months working underground in the caves with four months on the surface. In addition to interpretive tours, the rotating schedule allowed her to work in resources management, law enforcement/visitor protection, and campground management.  The breadth of her park service experience was growing and proved valuable in opening doors to her future career.

At Mammoth, Connie had a permanent job, her own little house for the first time in her life, and a pet cat. Best of all, she met her future husband, Gilbert “Gib” Backlund who was a fellow employee at Mammoth. They met in 1979 and were married in 1981.

Since both Connie and Gib were pursuing careers with the NPS, they agreed early on to take turns making decisions on their subsequent career moves. Over the next few years, Gib followed Connie to Cape Hatteras National Seashore. They adapted to a long-distance marriage when Connie took a position as a trainer at the NPS Training Center in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. Later, Connie followed Gib when he took a new job at Stones River National Battlefield in Tennessee.

At the time of the move to Tennessee, Connie was serving as the Acting Director at the Harpers Ferry Training Center and the NPS valued her contributions sufficiently that they allowed her to work remotely. Then in 1994, she saw that the position of Park Superintendent at Sandburg was open.

Connie and Gib had visited the Sandburg Home during their time at Mammoth and the visit made an impression “I remember thinking this is a little jewel of a National Park. I filed that away in my memory.”  Connie applied and was doing training at the Grand Canyon when she learned that she was one of three people being considered for the Sandburg job. “I couldn’t sleep that night,” she remembers. Soon, however, she received the good news that the job was hers and she and Gib prepared to make one last move with the NPS.

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Today, when you ask Connie about her 18 years as Park Superintendent at Sandburg, her eyes sparkle and the smile that seems a permanent fixture on her face grows even wider.  “I loved it all,” she says. When pressed for her favorite part of the job, she relents and admits, “The part that stays with me are the people. Our amazing staff. The wonderful park visitors.”

She also enjoyed the challenge of her job at Sandburg. “You are entrusted with forever protection of historic structures and artifacts - and that is against the natural course of nature. I found that challenge intriguing.”  Indeed, Sandburg has three dozen historic structures and over 300,000 objects in its museum. “For a small park, that is a huge collection,” says Connie.

Connie is justifiably proud of the many accomplishments during her tenure. New park offices were constructed. Permanent restrooms were added near the Sandburg home. Dedicated education and natural resource programs were implemented and a new preservation center was created. But her proudest achievement was  “being part of the team within the Park and with all employees within the NPS. I love participative processes that help everyone feel ownership.”

Connie also loved learning about Carl Sandburg. “He very quickly begins to speak to you,” she explains. “I was intrigued about how he advocated for individuals that didn’t have the capacity to speak for themselves.  I had been aware of his literary career. I was not aware of what a tremendous social advocate he was.”

As much as she loved her job, Connie also quickly grew to love her new home in Flat Rock. “I was not aware of what a tremendous community I was moving to.”  She also appreciated the smaller town feel that reminded her of her childhood home and the hardwood forests similar to those in Ohio. “I look around and I feel at home. The hardwood forest is my friend.”

Almost immediately, Connie very intentionally began to integrate herself into community life. During the course of her time at Sandburg and continuing into a very busy retirement, she has served as a volunteer, board member, and/or board officer for a number of local organizations including Historic Flat Rock, Inc., Conserving Carolina, Flat Rock Playhouse, Rotary Club Henderson County, Blue Ridge Literacy Council, and other organizations too numerous to list.

Connie was also a key member of the newly incorporated Flat Rock’s Planning Board in 1996.  The early days of the Village required a number of dedicated volunteers to establish the groundwork for the years to come and Connie is justifiably proud of the work in those early years. “I really credit the Village with recognizing community values and trying to put those values into our ordinances. The Village has done that really well.”

Connie served on the board and for two years as President of Conserving Carolina. “That organization really speaks to what I care about.” At Historic Flat Rock, Inc., past president Bill Humleker credits Connie with being a leading force in that organization’s 20-year effort to finish its update to the National Register Nomination for the Historic District. "Connie Backlund has been a wonderful godsend for us,” Bill said at the time. “She deserves more credit than anyone else.” Today, She continues to serve as a Board Member at HFR, Inc.

Connie is also serving a second stint on the board at Flat Rock Playhouse. She loves that two of her favorite organizations - Sandburg and the Playhouse enjoy such a close relationship. “There’s an amazing relationship between the playhouse and the park with the apprentices performing Sandburg’s works in the amphitheater. It is safe to say that many of the main stage performers we cherish came out of that apprentice program. That nurturing of young talent in our community is so important. It is just a joy.”

When asked why she stayed in Flat Rock after retiring, her reply is succinct and unequivocal.  “I love this community. It speaks to my soul.”

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In 2012, Connie decided it was time to move on after a long and very successful 18-year career as Park Superintendent.  Characteristically, she was thinking of others when she made the decision. “You can’t have such a wonderful job forever. You need to share! “

In addition to her work as a community activist and advocate in western North Carolina, Connie worked with her father to preserve and protect the original family farm in Ohio. As he aged and they discussed the future of the farm, Connie researched ways the farm could be protected. “I credit the NPS with teaching me the importance of protecting land. My dad didn’t want it to be subdivided. He wanted it to stay a farm and the two woods to be protected.”

The result of her research culminated in December 2000 when Barney Hudson became just the second farmer in the State of Ohio to ensure that his farm would remain a working farm, with protected areas of woods. He donated an agricultural easement to the Ohio Department of Agriculture, which will oversee the land and make sure that farming continues in perpetuity for all successive owners of the property.

These days, Connie tries to visit the farm at least once each season. “My husband reminds me that it is not a national historic site,” she says with a laugh.  “But I try to take care of it and keep it as it was. It’s just a joy for me.”

She is particularly proud of a recent project to reclaim a portion of the farm for the benefit of the natural world she loves so dearly. She worked out an agreement with the farmer renting the land and converted six acres into a prairie. The project is in year number six and the prairie is thriving.  “I walk in the prairie and I come out full of yellow pollen like a bumblebee.  I feel really good when I see the birds and the pollinators enjoying the prairie.”

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One of the last things Connie and her father discussed before his death at age 96 in 2011 was their shared love of the natural world. Recalling that conversation now, Connie’s gaze drops to her lap and her eyes brim with tears. “He said to me, ‘Be sure to leave the barn doors open for the Barn Swallows.’” After a few moments of silence, she looks up and the smile returns to her face. “That tells you a lot about my Dad and what he cared about. So those barn doors are always open. A little bit in the winter and more when the weather gets warmer.”

The Barn Swallows that Barney Hudson cared about now enjoy flying from their barn home to the small prairie his beloved daughter created. There they can feed on the abundant insects that inhabit the tall grasses and fields of wildflowers.

The image of open doors is an apt metaphor for the remarkable life lived by the diminutive woman with grand dreams.  Her life has been informed by an unfailingly generous desire to share with the world the lessons instilled in her by her parents.  In so many ways, Connie has lived a life of “leaving the barn door open” for future generations through her tireless work for education, preservation, conservation, and advocacy for a better world.

At the end of the interview for this story, Connie asked if she could share a favorite quote. I smiled at the thoughtfulness of someone showing up prepared with something particularly meaningful. She opened a book and read aloud:

"If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years."

Rachel Carson; The Sense of Wonder 

Closing the book, Connie concluded a remarkable conversation with a final thought.  “I’ve been blessed and I credit my parents. We all have a craving to figure out how we leave something behind. In the grand scheme of things, it is important to remember that we are part of something way bigger than us.”

In all those ways and more, Connie Hudson Backlund has led a remarkable and incredibly successful life.  A life that is much to the benefit of the residents and visitors to Flat Rock, North Carolina - and to a flock of Barn Swallows in St. Marys Township, Ohio.