The simple white farm house
Set back from the main road
Behind a narrow lane
Curving with the land
What makes an icon?
Embodying significant qualities
Would this be one for me
An old sweater
A comfortable pair of shoes
Always on my mind
© d080530-027 Farm House
Happy Hollow Road
Craig County, Virginia
Friday 30 May 2008
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I pull over in Burrville without thinking. It's second nature. Instinctive. Early morning light engulfs the white house across the road and highlights the water tank on the hill. Chilly air nips at my cheeks. I stand for a spell and gaze, empty headed. The connection here is intangible, but powerful.
Is this a village? A hamlet? A crossroads? Where's the general store? The garage? The post office? The grade school echoing vitality of kids at play? Then I realize they're always here. I bring them along everywhere I go. They revive in my sentiments, and the flood of warm and wonderful memories - 7 a.m. in Burrville.
Burrville, Tennessee
Morgan County
Tuesday 22 April 2008
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Cautiously I pick my way thru the wet brush anxious to avoid cat briars, stickers, ticks and who knows what else might be waiting to inflict discomfort on an uneasy trespasser. Edging closer, watching each step, my breath quickens. A spider web snags my cap as I peek thru the front window. Across the living room a closet door stands open inviting my winter coat, or muddy boots or mop and broom. From the side I see a cold brick fireplace with faded green mantle, hearth heaped with ashes from the very last fire and layered with leaves swept thru the gaping roof. Then the voices. I always hear the voices and sounds of home. From the next room, or maybe from upstairs. Everyday voices each of us would recognize, and gladly remember.
© d071022-016 Old House
Edgefield County, South Carolina
Monday 22 October 2007
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Four posts and a rusty tin roof
With flowers by the step,
A patch of woods on the fence outback
And a nail to hang my cap.
© r1427-35 Old House with Flag
Hall County, Georgia
Saturday 21 October 2006
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Old stories
Fresh memories
White picket fence
© r1179-15 House with Fence
New Hope, Virginia
Augusta County
Sunday 3 June 2001
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Sightseeing in the rain
An unforgettable porch
Feels like yesterday
Beverly, West Virginia
Randolph County
Saturday 28 June 1986
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Art Deco,
A celebration of modernity
Sleek forms, rounded corners
The old 50's juke box
Extravagant, unashamed decoration
Hollywood starlets, white furs, long cigarette holders
Tiffany glass
The Jazz Age,
May yet have a ways to go in coal country.
Charleston, West Virginia
Kanawha County
Monday 5 June 2006
Oh I want to wander back
(…Oh I want to wander back)
To the cabin on the hill
(…To the cabin on the hill)
'Neath the shadow of the tree
(…'Neath the shadow of the tree)
I would like to linger still
(…I would like to linger still)
Just to be with those I love
(…Just to be with those I love)
Joy my heart would over fill
(…Joy my heart would over fill)
And I want to wander back
(…And I want to wander back)
To the cabin on the hill
(…To the cabin on the hill)
Vocals - Lester Flatt
Lined responses - Foggy Mountain Boys
Columbia Records, 1959
Title: © Winter Cabin. r0320-10
Series: Houses
Location: Old Bucktown Road
Gilmer County, Georgia
Date: Saturday 24 March 1990
When I first visited this old house, several years back, I wanted to win the lottery and call Norm Abrams with an offer he could not refuse to restore this beauty to its original condition. To recreate a vestige of the world of my childhood. Tinctured with nostalgia.
This year… Well…, it was a lot different. There was no impulse to meddle or interfere, to injure the marvel created here by the processes of time. In my log book I scribbled, "even the lowly mushroom puffs up its bolus only to wither for the quiet return to its beginnings." I may have missed the bolus at this homestead, puffed full of country life, but what a wonderful moment to witness instead. The grateful spirits of impermanence and decline, the shell of what once was still absorbing and casting off.
Title: © Bent House. r1390-22
Series: Windows and Doors
Location: Cr 18/3, Webster County, WVa.
Date: Monday 30 May 2005
"Man who live on hill not on
level."
Title: © House on
Hill. R0614-14
Series: Farmscape
Location: Sr 72, Tucker County, Wva.
Date: Saturday 5 June 1993
