Carrying On A Family Tradition

Danny and Carolyn Clark were both born into and raised by sawmill families. Each has worked in the lumber business for decades. Now, they’re carrying on the family tradition with Fitzgerald Mulch & More, a business they own and operate in Fairfield.

Fitzgerald Mulch & More opened in the former Walkers Esso Station at 5459 N. Lee Highway this past July. The business sells mulch, dyed mulch, fencing boards, fence post, gates and, interestingly enough, golf carts.

“We sell mulch by the bucket,” said Carolyn Clark. “We can also deliver dump truck and tractor-trailer loads.”

The Clarks purchased the business from Northwest Hardwoods, which had bought out Fitzgerald Lumber and Log, with locations in Fairfield and Buena Vista, eight years earlier.

Purchasing the business, said Carolyn Clark, “felt like a homecoming” because of the couple’s strong family ties to the logging industry.

Her father, Calvert Fitzgerald, owned and operated Fitzgerald Lumber and Log for many years, along with his brother, Wayne Fitzgerald. The brothers came from a sawmill family themselves as their father, Fulton Fitzgerald, ran a sawmill too.

The Fitzgerald brothers began their business in Buena Vista and added the second location in Fairfield when they purchased Manley Fitzgerald’s sawmill in 1978.

Danny Clark’s father, Bruce Clark, owned Clark’s sawmill in Raphine. Danny Clark has worked in the sawmill business for more than 30 years, having started in his father’s business before joining Fitzgerald Lumber and Log a few years later.

Carolyn Clark worked for Fitzgerald Lumber and Log for 28 years, from 1988 until it was purchased in 2016 by Northwest Hardwoods. Danny Clark remained with the company following the change in ownership, until Northwest Harwoods closed its Fairfield and Buena Vista businesses last June. The sawmill in Fairfield shut down in 2017 following a fire but the company continued to have a business there until last year.

“We thought it was only right to name our business Fitzgerald Mulch and More, to carry on the Fitzgerald name at this location,” said Carolyn Clark. They lease part of their yard to W.R. Deacon and Sons, a Rockbridge County sawmill that purchases logs at this location.

The Clarks have a daughter, Emma, who is a senior at Rockbridge County High School this year. She plans to attend Bridgewater College this fall.

Emma has played on a traveling basketball team – a connection that played a part in having the business add golf carts to its line of wares. A teammate’s parents have a golf cart business in Penn Laird, near Harrisonburg. That’s where Fitzgerald Mulch and More gets its golf carts.

In the future, the business plans to increase the inventory of products it sells.

The business retains an aura of family. Calvert Fitzgerald, who has a farm in Raphine, can be found at the business frequently. “Daddy comes to visit us quite often and sits around,” said Carolyn Clark. “This has always been a place to come and sit and talk. We have comfortable recliners and a sofa.”