The rebirth of Crooked Oaks

The first time N.L. Hart drove through the gate at Crooked Oaks, past stands of Japanese maples, a tranquil pond and a wide-open, big-sky horse pasture, her mind raced with ideas for the property’s future.

“I’d seen pictures, but getting into the building and looking around, I thought, ‘OK, this can be done. We can do this,” Hart recalled. “It was just creativity running wild. When it comes to the possibilities for Crooked Oaks, we and our guests are only limited by our imagination.”

Hart joined Auburn University’s College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment (CFWE) in September to manage the 415-acre site in ways that not only support hands-on learning experiences for students but also honor the legacy of the property’s former owner, late Auburn football coach Pat Dye.

As head coach from 1981-92, Dye led the Tigers to four Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships, won SEC Coach of the Year three times and was named National Coach of the Year in 1983.

The roots of Crooked Oaks

Dye began developing the property in Notasulga, Alabama, in 1998, and he lived there with his longtime partner and now retired Auburn nursing educator Nancy McDonald. 

Together, they offered the site as a venue for weddings, and they frequently hosted events that raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Auburn scholarships. 

Dye passed away in 2020, and the property was gifted to the CFWE in 2023. 

College leaders saw the gift as an occasion to provide expanded educational opportunities for students, especially those studying wildlife enterprise management, and a new development campaign is underway to support such opportunities.

What Crooked Oaks offers the community

Hart said that as more people in the community and at the university are imagining Crooked Oaks’ potential, demand for the site is increasing. 

“Since November, our calendar has been filling up with private events, including Auburn Panhellenic formals,” she said.

About 25 miles south of Auburn’s main campus, Crooked Oaks can host events ranging from board meetings and staff retreats to alumni get-togethers and weddings with up to 400 guests. 

Facilities include Dye’s main house, guest cabins and a lodge with a full-service kitchen. In all, there are enough beds for up to 28 adults. There’s also a 10,000-square-foot lighted pavilion, gazebo and a formal ceremonial garden and lawn. 

Nestled in a rolling, forested landscape, Crooked Oaks’ still, rustic environments make for relaxing, photo-worthy settings, Hart said. 

For wedding proposals, Hart recommends a dock at Dye’s former lake house as well as what she and her staff call “the secret spot” – a peaceful place along a creek with natural waterfalls. Another of her favorite places at Crooked Oaks is a clearing where deer run through.

There also are peaceful walking paths that lead visitors alongside the creek and through some of the hundreds of now-mature Japanese maples that Dye planted on the property.

Dye’s love of Japanese maples led him to create a nursery at Crooked Oaks, which the CFWE is using to propagate both maples and camellias. The maples include an array of cultivars with different light needs, growth habits and coloration.

“We are rebuilding the grafting side of that business, and we have cultivars on the property that Coach had planted that we’ll be selling as well,” Hart said.

Branching out

As Hart looks to the future, she sees lots of other opportunities for the site to benefit the college, its university partners and those they serve. 

While the college currently holds pistol and archery classes at the property, it also is exploring the possibility of working with the faculty of Auburn’s Parks and Recreation Management program to develop small-scale campsites, she said.

Meanwhile, Hart sees the potential for offering programs at Crooked Oaks that would allow members of the public to learn about land management. Such educational programs would not only further the college’s educational mission, Hart said, but they would also honor Dye’s legacy and his commitment to stewardship.

As Dye once wrote of Crooked Oaks, “The good Lord created it, and then I just put a few touches on it, so I can enjoy it and appreciate it. Because no one can paint a picture like Mother Nature.”