Appalachia
View from Round Bald, Roan Mountain, TN
“Mountain country places its mark on those who
dwell within its shadows…And thus it is with those
nurtured in Appalachia —they leave, but they look back,
remembering pleasant things. The land has claimed them,
and its ties will not be severed.”
The Appalachians (1965)
Maurice Brooks, 1900-1993
American educator and naturalist whose name became
synonymous with the natural history of Appalachia
At my parents’ farm after my father’s death:
“As we walk up the hill with my sister, I show my husband where all my childhood play areas had been. I tell him how I scarred my knees tripping over exposed roots on the rain-washed path under the cedar trees by the worn wagon road that runs over the hill, by the pond, and into the woods out back.
At the site of the old log house we examine the rusted hay rake now pinned to the ground by saplings growing through its spoke wheels. Beside that lies the pile of rocks and handmade bricks from the fireplace Daddy tore out to make an entrance for storing his tractor. I close my eyes. I can still hear the scrape and shudder of the large plank door as it was pulled back across the ground to open. The scent of ancient dust and powdery soil finely sifted between the boards of the floor, long gone.
I look across the honeysuckle-covered fenceline into what we called the orchard, and I want to get down on my knees and caress the ground.
‘How can anyone be so in love with DIRT?’ I tearfully ask my sister in anguish.
‘I don’t know,’ she replies with a similar note of self-loathing, ‘but it’s in our blood. We were born with it.’”
Jan said this on December 27, 2007 at 12:33 am |
This may be the most beautiful photo of the mountains that you’ve taken! It captures the essence of the Smokies. The quote is also so true. Even way down here they call to me.
Stephen said this on December 29, 2007 at 11:02 am |