Rooted in service: Cornelia Campbell’s legacy

“A garden is always reflective of what life looks like: waiting in darkness reminds you that growth takes time.”

Morgan Pajak (’17, ’21), associate campus minister and community garden coordinator, articulates this connection from experience. 

The office of Spiritual Life’s Mustard Seed Community Garden, a sustainable, growing and vital bridge between the University and the community, began as a 100 x 100 ft. plot of land on Highway 421. Inasmuch Day of Service volunteers prepared the plot and planted seeds in 2010. The first summer yielded 2,000 pounds of harvest that was shared with Recruiters for Christ food bank in Erwin, NC. 

Campbell’s community garden has a three-fold function: the initiative is missional, educational and communal. According to Pajak, the garden’s purpose reflects the university’s mission to graduate students who are prepared for purposeful lives and meaningful service. “[In the garden,] students can develop a better understanding of what it means to serve others. Cultivating life from a seed requires patience and commitment to a journey, much like the collegiate journey.” 

“Waiting in darkness reminds you that growth takes time.”

Cornelia Campbell, a key figure in Campbell’s history, likely understood this sentiment. 

On the first day of class in January of 1887, an 18-year-old Cornelia Pearson entered Buies Creek Academy as a student, and was immediately put to work as a teacher.  

She was asked to take charge of the youngest students, teaching them alongside J.A. Campbell, the academy’s founder and Cornelia’s soon-to-be husband. From then until the day he died in 1934, they worked together, teaching, praying, planning and directing. Cornelia quickly rose from teacher to assistant principal and business manager.

Cornelia Campbell spent the next few decades of her life supporting the Buies Creek community through the uncertainty of the academy’s early days. With a calm and reserved disposition, she faced crises in the early years, including a fire that decimated campus in 1900, a food shortage and financial insecurities.

She labored daily behind the scenes, working night and day to provide vegetables and fruits from her garden for the meals served in the dining room.  

Cornelia Campbell’s legacy of service lives on through the Mustard Seed Community Garden. Pajak finds deep meaning in the lessons learned from the garden:

“Plant yourself where you are and take the risk to deepen your roots with your community, recognizing God’s presence in the midst of everything, knowing that there are people who have gone before you to help you along the way.”  

Cornelia Campbell and many others planted seeds of service, mission and community in the soil of Buies Creek. Faculty, staff, students and alumni continue to cultivate and harvest the fruits of our founders’ labor. 

 “And of course,” Pajak reminds us, “food makes everything better.” 

The garden relocated to Kivett Road to make way for the medical school in 2012; additions to the new space included a large shed, new equipment and a compost structure. Pajak and the office of spiritual life are hopeful that the garden will continue to flourish and develop into a sustainable and viable resource for the surrounding Harnett County communities. 

To learn more about the Mustard Seed Community Garden, visit their website, and follow @cu_nourish on Instagram.