Gifts and Endowments

Margaret Finley Shackelford Charitable Trust

Mrs. Margaret Finley Shackelford was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi in 1915. She was the daughter of Thomas and Ruth Leach Finley, who were descended from two well-established families in Holly Springs. Ruth Finley was a birder and she maintained numerous bird feeders around her home to attract a wide variety of species. From her mother, young Margaret and her older sister, Ruth Anna, inherited an avid love for birds and nature.

Receiving a good education was important in the Finley household. Margaret attended Belhaven College, the University of Mississippi, and finished her undergraduate degree in sociology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She completed graduate work in public administration at Chapel Hill and then returned to Holly Springs to work in the Marshall County Health Department. After a year, she accepted a position with the Oklahoma State Department of Health and eventually became the state director of statistics.

In 1945, Margaret Finely married Dr. John W. Shackelford. Together they purchased an overgrown lot outside of the city, where they designed and built a house. In an interview with a local newspaper, they described their place as a refuge for bird species. Dr. Shackelford shared his wife’s interest in nature to the extent that his mother-in-law gifted him with an Audubon Society membership.

Mrs. Shackelford’s parents died in 1967 and their assets were left to their daughters, which included Strawberry Plains Plantation, north of Holly Springs. Dr. and Mrs. Shackelford were both facing retirement at that time and Mrs. Shackelford began to think about moving back to the Holly Springs area, specifically Strawberry Plains. The manor house at Strawberry Plains was in need of renovation at the time. The Shackelfords developed plans to alter the mansion in the Greek Revival style of other manor houses in the Holly Springs area. They moved from Oklahoma City in the early 1970s to the tenant house near the mansion and resided there until 1975.

In January 1983, after much consideration, Mrs. Shackelford, her husband, and her sister Ruth Finley, deeded all the land composing the Strawberry Plains Plantation to the National Audubon Society, reserving a life estate. Mrs. Shackelford died on October 9, 1998, and, with her husband and sister having predeceased her, the ownership of the land passed to the National Audubon Society to become the Strawberry Plains Audubon Center.

Under the terms of Mrs. Shackelford’s will, the Margaret Finley Shackelford Charitable Trust was created with the SunTrust Bank currently the successor trustee. Three trust advisors were named in Mrs. Shackelford’s will, with the exclusive authority to designate the charitable recipients of the annual distributions from the Margaret Finley Shackelford Charitable Trust. Development of the Margaret Finley Shackelford Seed Orchards at the Ames Plantation, near Grand Junction, Tennessee, is a direct result of Mrs. Shackelford’s interest in hardwood trees and the investment of the Shackelford Charitable Trust’s initial trust advisors, Mr. Paul Calame, Mr. Carlyle Blakeney, and Mrs. Nancy Smith. Support for the Shackelford Orchards from Mrs. Shackelford’s Trust continues today, as the orchards mature and begin to produce seed.

The book “Strawberry Plains Audubon Center” by Professor Hubert H. McAlexander was used in preparation of this document. Photographs are reproduced here with permission of the author.