Talking Leaves

Talking Leaves

It is the Land of Gichi-Gami, the Great Sea. It is sacred to the Anishinaabe People. In autumn the maples (Acer) put on a display of color. They are joined by others – from the cinnamon ferns (Osmunda cinnamomea) to the hickories (Carya) and every imaginable...
Ballot Box Gone Missing

Ballot Box Gone Missing

The Noah Waldroup farm is nestled a scant half-mile below where the Appalachian Trail passes through Taylor Hollow Gap on its way to Hot Springs (Madison County), North Carolina. The 4686′ majesty of Bluff Mountain rises to the west. Noah’s descendant,...
A Reflection for the Sake of Time

A Reflection for the Sake of Time

The remains of the Ramsey-Chandler Barn in the Madison County township of Revere, known far and wide as Sodom Laurel, once belonged a Roman Catholic Mission that served the isolated mountain community for many years. Today it belongs to Terry Vanderman, who retired to...
Still Life with Barnloft

Still Life with Barnloft

Over the past seven years Bonnie and I have had the great privilege of visiting well over a hundred of the beautiful Appalachian barns of Madison County, North Carolina. Most of them, we have come to know intimately for their charm, beauty, and history, on the...