User:Yaurapalooza/sandbox

Carolista Cabell "Tootsie" Fletcher Baum was born August 30, 1940 in Washington, D.C. and died in Nags Head, North Carolina, on January 24th, 1991.

On August 15, 1973, Carolista Fletcher Baum placed herself in the path of a bulldozer removing sand from Jockey’s Ridge and refused to move. The driver cut off the engine and talked with Baum, who, after some time, left the dune unscathed. When the operator left, Baum took the distributor cap so the machine would not start.

Baum received word of the bulldozer from her three children who long had climbed the dune for the spectacular views it offered.

Though local groups had talked about protecting the large dune from encroaching development for years, Baum was the driving force that made the idea a reality. She helped form the People to People to Preserve Jockey’s Ridge after her dramatic protest, raising money and organizing petition drives to capture the attention of state and local lawmakers.

She even drove to Raleigh every day for three weeks to keep the dune in the minds of legislators.

In 1973, the Division of Parks and Recreation issued a report in favor of preserving Jockey’s Ridge as a state park, and a year later the dune was declared a National Natural Landmark. When the General Assembly appropriated funds to create the park, the preservation of the dune was secured for generations to come.

The state later obtained 426 acres through purchase and land donations and established Jockey's Ridge State Park in 1975. Carolista is the Patron Saint of Jockey's Ridge and her painting hangs today in the NC State Park Museum located on her titular street at Carolista Drive, Nags Head, NC 27959.

She was a member of St. Andrew's-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, North Carolina Preservation Foundation and Preservation Societies for Nags Head Woods, Jockey's Ridge and Chicamacomico Lifesaving Station, Friends of Eno River Association and Daughters of the American Revolution. She was the official jeweler for North Carolina's 400th anniversary and designed the Virginia Dare medallion.

She has two daughters, Ann C. Baum of Raleigh and Inglis Baum of Chapel Hill, a son, Gibbs Baum of Raleigh, and a stepson, Justin B. Golden her mother and stepfather, Cabell F. and William D. Pruden Jr. of Edenton; five brothers, John S. Fletcher Jr. of Swan Quarter, David B. Fletcher of Ocracoke, James C. Fletcher of Manns Harbor, W. Dossey Pruden III of Nags Head and Mark D. Pruden of Edenton.