As we wind through row after row of flowering trees in a pecan orchard just south of Albany, Georgia, Francis Putney “Putt” Wetherbee III—whose namesake is philanthropist and planter Francis Flagg Putney—proceeds to shimmy his truck up next to a branch that’s extending just shy of the dirt road. A fifth-generation grower, second-generation owner, and the president of Georgia-based Schermer Pecans, Putt shows me the “flowers” or “nutlets” starting to open on the pecan tree, a marker for a full-fledged pecan come fall.
As we make our way through the 3,600-acre property, we take in the solitude the orchard provides on a balmy day in late spring. Arriving at a small fishpond scattered with bass and speckled perch, Putt recalls the fond memories it holds, from his own childhood as well as for his daughters, Frannie, Berkeley, and Sims, with wife Margaret, and to present day. Putt notices a bass spawning toward the bank, and I can sense his excitement as he daydreams about afternoons to come by the water.
We continue to tour the seemingly never-ending property when we spot an old well nearby. “I remember when we put the well over here,” Putt says. “I was little, and, of course, if there was water anywhere, I was in it. When they were pumping it off to make sure it was in good shape, I kept getting stuck in the mud, and the farm manager had to pull me out of the mud—I lost my boots.”
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