Longtime Girl Scout leads listeners along paths of Scull Shoals Village

Whitney Rice experienced Nov. 22, 1963, through her headset.

Reporter Pierce Allman, who broadcast from the Texas School Book Depository at Dealey Plaza, guided the Watkinsville teenager through what's known as the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas.

He narrated events commemorating the somber day a bullet that was fired from the building killed President John F. Kennedy. Police, witnesses and other news gatherers joined Allman in detailing the tragic events in real time.

"It kind of sparked my attention," Rice said. "I liked (the idea of an audio tour) because now we're going into this century where we're using more technology, and it's more convenient for someone to download a tour on their iPod."

When she returned to Watkinsville, Rice recalled the audio tour as she considered possible projects for the Girl Scouts' top Gold Award. She envisioned herself creating such a tour for a historic place with meaning to Georgia as well as to her family: Scull Shoals.

Described as a historic recreation area, the site is tucked inside the Oconee National Forest along the Oconee River. Its story stretches into centuries, with Native Americans, Hernando do Soto's 16th-century exploration parties, a revered doctor and medicine man, and physical ruins associated with a 19th-century mill booms composing some of the area's rich past.

Its out-of-the-way location made it the perfect setting for an audio tour that visitors simply could download to their iPod or MP3 players before their visits, Rice figured.

"Scull Shoals is in the Oconee National Forest, in the middle of nowhere," she said. "Brochures are available at a kiosk, but a lot of times there are not any available. It is not always attended."

Rice researched and planned the project with help from her troop leader Margaret Sommer, who's also the Friends of Scull Shoals' secretary. She introduced Rice and her parents, Len and Kellay Rice, to the location where they learned about a distant relative. Dr. Lindsey Durham operated a 600-bed hospital in the area and developed a 13-acre herb garden from which he developed medicines.

"I was taken by surprise that there were people who knew about it and I didn't and it was part of my heritage there," Kellay Rice said of the family's first visit. "The Durhams have a very rich heritage at the south end of the county, so it was really neat to me that we have made the connection."

The Girl Scout committee authorized Whitney Rice's plans. Months of study followed as the young woman gathered history. She read books, interviewed knowledgeable experts and networked with the Friends of Scull Shoals. Then Rice created her script, recorded and edited it with computer programs available at Oconee County High School, where she enrolled in b

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