After graduating from Harpeth Hall School in Nashville, Park Ranger Lisa Householder’s twin sister Lana decided to attend Vanderbilt University like her dad did. But Lisa thought Texas might be a fun place, so she enrolled at Baylor University in Waco, where she majored in Environmental Studies and Earth Science. Lisa envisioned a career as a private-sector environmentalist.
After receiving her degree, she moved to France and lived with Lana for a year, but she was homesick for her Nashville friends and family, so she moved back home and went to work at the Poison Center at Vanderbilt Medical Center. Still unsure of what she wanted to do, she enrolled in one of Baylor’s continuing education courses in Costa Rica. When she returned to Nashville a friend suggested that her degree in environmental studies and her love of the outdoors were the perfect combo for being a park ranger.
The friend also noted that the Tennessee Division of Parks was offering seven-month seasonal ranger positions that would allow her to see if she liked park work. Lisa was open to the idea and applied for a seasonal job. Her application was accepted, but the only seasonal opening was in public relations. It entailed traveling to baseball parks all across the state, setting up an exhibit about state parks, and mingling with baseball fans to inform them about what Tennessee Parks has to offer.
Lisa has always considered herself a “people person,” so she took the job as a seasonal marketing ranger. Occasionally, Rangers who worked at State Parks near local Baseball fields where Lisa set up her exhibits would drop by to help with her marketing. Getting to hang out with those full-time rangers stimulated Lisa’s interest in becoming a career park ranger. She applied for a ranger position and graduated from the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy, where she earned her certification as an Emergency Medical Responder and attended classes to become a Certified Heritage Interpreter.
Lisa admits that when she started her ranger job, she’d never driven a pick-up truck, never operated a chainsaw, and never even sat on a commercial grass mower. But today she’s adept at using all those Park Ranger tools. She’s become a seasoned Park Ranger whether she’s directing heavy holiday park traffic or guiding tours through Mound Bottom or grabbing a chainsaw to remove a tree that’s fallen across a Park roadway.
Lisa’s fascination with archeology and her training as a Heritage Interpreter allows her to guide groups through Harpeth River State Park’s eight-hundred-year-old Mound Bottom Archaeological Site, where visitors learn about the Indigenous Mississippian Culture that flourished in this area for three hundred years. She also enjoys touring park guests through remnants of the 1930’s Hidden Lake water park and spa, one of Harpeth River State Park’s seven historical sites.
Being assigned to Harpeth River State Park allows Lisa to live near old friends and her mom and dad. Twin sister Lana has a career with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC and
Lisa’s father, Attorney Alan Householder, is a founder and board member of Friends of the Harpeth River State Park.
Next time you see Ranger Lisa at the Park, be sure to say hello!
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