Editor’s note: The Dart is a weekly feature in which a reporter and a photographer throw a dart at a map and find a story where it lands.

NATCHEZ — Working in plant nurseries his whole life, Steve McNerney is accustomed to working with his hands.

Now semi-retired, McNerney wanted a new challenge.

That turned out to be woodworking.

“I had no idea what I was doing,” he said, “I still have no idea what I’m doing; I learn as I go.”

When The Dart landed on Linton Avenue in Natchez Saturday, McNerney and his wife Mary Jo were sitting down for their helping of college football in a room that McNerney remodeled himself.

All the shelving units, the ceiling, the walls, the floors were all hand crafted by McNerney. The same work can be seen throughout the rest of the house.

McNerney’s latest project is re-doing the garage behind the house. The garage was built in the 1920s and had fallen into disrepair.

McNerney’s ultimate goal is for the space to double as a garage and a woodshop for himself.

Though McNerney is a hobbyist, he does not do the work merely to keep himself busy.

“It is something I believe in,” he said.

McNerney and Mary Jo helped found the Adams County Green Alliance, which promoted a curbside recycling program in Natchez.

“We don’t believe that functional things should be just thrown away,” McNerney said.

That’s the same logic McNerney is putting toward remodeling the garage.

“It is a beautiful, old 1,000-square-foot building that is perfectly salvageable,” he said. “So often these old buildings are destroyed and all the scrap is sent to further fill the landfill.”

To McNerney, there is immense value in that scrap. Throughout his house there are reused items from churches long gone and stores long out of business.

“We believe in salvaging as much as we can,” McNerney said. “It’s a nature thing. The reason I work with wood, the reason I work with plants and the reason I work with recycling.

“It’s all connected.”