My life in appalachia 3 rocks

As I walked through the silent woods I came upon a tree with three rocks leaned against its trunk. I was in need of rest, so I sat across the way and studied on the rocks. Were they left by someone who favored the number 3? Were they tilted in their spots to mark the location of a treasure left for another? Had I interrupted an unknown game played by fairies who live in the shady holler?

Deciding I needed to be on my way, I brushed off the seat of my pants, took one more gulp of water, and decided the larger of the three had been placed to watch over the two smaller ones and that was enough knowledge for me to know and I didn’t need to worry about the rest of the story.

Tipper

Appalachia Through My Eyes – A series of photographs from my life in Southern Appalachia.

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24 Comments

  1. Did anyone notice the small gnarled heart in the trunk of the tree above the two small rocks?
    God bless.
    RB
    <><

  2. Isn’t it interesting the stories our minds make up when we don’t know the real answer for some things. Such is imagination, and I thank God for it because it is through imagination humankind has grown.
    God bless.
    RB
    <><

  3. I ENJOYED THE STORIES ABOUT THE THREE ROCKS I HAVE A UNEEK ROCK
    SITTING IN MY COMPUTER ROOM THAT
    I FOUND ONE DAY WHILE I WAS OUT SELLING ISURANCE I ENJOY ROCKS
    I HAVE SEVERAL SMALL ONES.

  4. Don’t you just love a good mystery! Makes my imagination go crazy trying to figure out who put the stones there and why.

  5. That’s so cool.. You are a wonderful story teller.. It does make one wonder why they were put there. Thanks for the email and I sent you a reply..

  6. Looks like grave markers to me. I’ve seen headstones leaned against trees like that here in East Tennessee.

  7. wow tipper those three stones… doesent it put to mind.. the three crosses you see on the hillsides in certain places? you and your readers always inspire and awe me with their knowledge and stories.. hmm druids.. so much to ponder on.
    thanks for sharing and im glad we have you to find these treasures and share with us.. sending much love and hugs .. and hope you are getting some of this beautiful cool weather..
    big ladybug hugs
    xoxo
    lynn

  8. The stones look like they have fairly recently been leaned against the tree. If they had been there a long time, I think the tree would show some evidence of having grown around the tree a bit. There would at least be an indentation where they were touching, I think. So maybe modern-day Druids or fairies??

  9. Tipper,
    Only a secluded writer could have
    this imagination. But it gives us
    something to ponder on.
    The other night coming home from
    working late, I noticed a big pile
    of creek rocks piled beside the
    driveway. After throwing them all
    back in the branch, I knew the
    dope heads were at it again,
    stealing the flat rocks to sell.
    So far, the rocks have been left
    alone…Ken

  10. At least two of the three (not sure about the middle one) look like fieldstones that had been used for grave markers.

  11. I really like your story; I was thinking the same thing as you. I thought that maybe someone was protecting the two small children and the protector was helping them hide from harm. Could it have been a path marker, giving some sort of direction message -maybe that you are following in the right direction? Very interesting.

  12. Oops! – just re-read my post – my cousin brought back photos of the stone markers – definitely did not bring the markers~!!

  13. I enjoyed Ed Ammons’ version.
    My first thought is that they were headstones and the tree had been planted as a remembrance and a place for those who loved the deceases to sit in the shade with their family. In some of my old family cemeteries in Kansas the headstones are simply rocks on which the information about the deceased was scratched. Those marks have disappeared in the last 150 years but family knew who they were.
    A cousin who visited distant relatives still living in West Virginia brought back old stone markers alongside modern headstones in the old family cemeteries there. Those dated back to the 1700s.
    Some of the extended family in Kansas also put modern headstones alongside or near an original stone. Other gravesites will no longer be known after I pass – my children have no interest in visiting family cemeteries as I have always done with my parents.
    I wonder if a charcoal rubbing might reveal anything?
    Or maybe they are trail markers whose meanings were important to Indians or early settlers in those woods?
    Could the kind of stone be important? The middle one seems darker than the others.
    As always, your posts set my mind to meandering along pleasant trails.

  14. Ha! We have a large rock like that. One that is perched against a tree down behind our house. It’s been there a couple of years. When we cleared that area we thought it would make a nice driveway marker with the house number on it.
    . . . and it still is resting against that tree.

  15. Tipper,
    Do you carry a little sketch water color case with you and a very small journal sketch book? You should! While you were resting, you could have captured the tree, rocks and your thoughts of the leaning rocks!
    My thoughts are the rocks have not been there very long. The knarled tree has been. I notice a lot of brush in the background that is not natural. Not natural except that this scene could be near a once flooded creek or mountain stream that flooded during our very heavy rains. The rocks could have been actually lifted by the water and placed upright against the tree. Stranger things have happened during those sudden mountain floods and the water rushes down the mountains.
    However, I love Ed’s story. I know you are protected by the good fearies of Ireland and no Druid would dare bring disaster to the Angel of Brasstown.
    Thanks Tipper, wonderful post.
    PS…I am back home from the 127
    World’s Longest Yard Sale. I spread the word of your blog. We met some really nice folks from Western NC as well as folks from other parts of the states that visited our booth. We had a large circus type tent this year and filled it with our stuffings of glass, pottery and whatever collectibles…had fun but glad it is over for another year!
    Missed the Blind Pig like crazy!

  16. Life’s unknowns and unexplained often give us a time for idle reflection and pondering. Amazing how often that happens to us.

  17. Succinct and beautiful! I have so many rock walls in our landscape – which was a CORN FIELD when we bought the land 50 years ago. Now it is full of rock walls and ‘the Gardens of Eva’ which keep me engaged with Nature.
    Regards,
    Eva Nell

  18. I love rocks! I can’t believe we actually bought two one time to put in our yard. They were the kind people used to put under their houses for a foundation. That picture reminds me of our family cemetery. There are a few rocks there that lean against a tree and one is shoved between the lower fork of the old tree. But these rocks are actually head/and or foot stones from graves in the cemetery. They were apparently moved at one time from the ground. I sometimes wonder whose grave they came off of.

  19. This is further evidence of something I suggested some time ago. There are Druids in Brasstown. That gnarled old maple harbors the essence of a 900 year old spirit who’s misdeeds saw him banished to the mountains, forever to remain there as a tree. As you can see in his face, he is displeased with his lot in life and will do every thing in his considerable powers to share his misery with all who blunder near him.
    The three stones contain the souls of a mother and her two small children who, upon returning late in the evening from a visit with gravely ill grandmother, came within the range of his magic. As they knelt at his base, looking up and pleading for mercy, he turned them to stone.
    Look at the picture again. Its all there.
    I am so glad you sat “across the way.” Otherwise we might be reading a stranger describing four stones placed around the base of a tree.

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