Friday found me and the girls high on a mountain slope in Haywood County, NC-near Jonathan Creek. The girl’s class had a field trip to the Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center and I decided to tag along-boy am I glad I did.
The trip would have been fantastic if all we did was look at the views. I’ve never seen the leaves as pretty as they are this year. Maybe it’s the wet weather we’ve had this summer-whatever it is-the trees have put on their most vibrant attire for us to enjoy.
In addition to the beautiful landscape we got to learn about:
The ph level of the creek, how alkaline it is-and exactly what that means to the health of the water and its inhabitants.
The conductivity of the creek.
The kids even got to help take inventory of the creek-by catching salamanders.
The highlight of the day came as we were hiking down to the creek. On the way our guide, Miss Emily, explained to us the park is having trouble with wild hogs tearing up the landscape and wooly adelgids attacking the Hemlock and Balsam trees. As we moved farther down the trail she told us there was an apple tree coming up on the right and we could help ourselves to an apple.
The girls and I had already spotted a little cabin off in the distance-my mind quickly put 2 and 2 together. I ask Miss Emily-did the folks who lived in the cabin plant the apple trees? She said “yes they did about 1900 or so.” The apples were yummy and we enjoyed them as we continued on toward the cabin.
You know-me I got to thinking about those apple trees and how someone planted them a 100 years ago-and how amazing it was that I was eating an apple from one of those trees. As the trail curved closer to the cabin-I yelled at Chitter “hey we’re walking in history.” She stopped and looked at me like I was crazy for a moment-then she too realized we were. The folks who planted the trees and lived in the cabin-surely walked where we were walking on a daily basis. Neat.
Turns out-the John Love Ferguson cabin is the highest elevation historical cabin in all the smokies. Originally there were 2 small cabins on the site with a dog trot between them. Both were in disrepair-the best wood was salvaged from each-and this single cabin was built.
It wasn’t typical for farmers to build at this elevation-nearby Purchase Knob tops out at 5,086ft. But the Ferguson’s had a spring for water, the apple trees, their main crop of corn, and grassy areas for cattle to graze-so they were able to be self sufficient as most folks were in those days.
I’m such a history buff, that whenever I visit a place where I know folks-laughed, worked, played, cried, breathed-it seems if I’m still and quite I’ll catch a glimpse of them as they head to the spring house or up the trail to gather apples.
I wish I could tell you a story about the misty outline of a person I saw run around the cabin-it’d be perfect for my Spooky October series-but the voices I heard and the faces I saw near the cabin were only in my imagination.
Tipper
oh i love that cabin! i have a thing for old shacks and cabins and have a few books about them.
I enjoyed this piece. I just visited VA, and the Appalachia area where my family is from, as well as a childhood friend I grew up with in Texas. Sam, a blog friend, she said I would enjoy following you, so I signed up. I look forward to more…
Hi! I had a wonderful time on the FT also! What a beautiful place Purchase Knob and Haywood Co. are! I definitely want to go back. I loved the old cabin and always wonder about all of the life the cabin saw too.
Hello Tipper, Chitter and Chatter. As an old teacher I know there are lots of ways to learn. I took courses in outdoor theaching and learning. It’s good that you all got to go on this field trip. Thanks for sharing it with us. The pictures made me feel that I was there.
how amazingly beautiful. thanks for the photos and story. we need to be like these folks and be a bit self sufficient these days!
Love those pictures! Especially the one looking through the window. And I also love visiting places such as this. Makes me wish I could close my eyes and see a glimpse into the past. What it was like in its day.
Love it–just love it. Thank you for letting us readers come along and enjoy your trip. Always enjoy looking at pics of places & hearing stories of bygone days. Thanks. Kat
I have heard that the best colors in the fall come from the driest season – without rain – is this true. Nana
I feel the same as you do when it comes to old houses and cabins. I always want to know the history of the structure and of the family that lived there and what happened to them. The whole area where the cabin sits is just breath taking! It’s wonderful that the apple tree still lives on. Enjoyed this post so much. blessings,Kathleen
Tipper: The trees were beautiful as was the cabin. It is so great to get the history of an area you are visiting. I would have really loved to be there for a visit.
Looks like you had a great trip. I would call that cabin home today. Love the fall colors!
Tipper, I love places like this where we walk through history. I too am a history buff and can see the people in your imagination heading to the spring house or to the orchard to pick apples.
Enjoyed my visit, as always. Have a great week.
Blessings,
Mary
I love the old cabin. Our minds think alike, I’m always wondering what it was like long ago when I see old places like that. What life was like when they walked upon the same ground. By the way, I got my gifts in the mail-thank you, I love them.
what a great tour–beautiful pics, and some history to go with it.
history is my favorite subject right now!
(woo, i’m at the shop, and commenting on Tipper’s blog! yay for me!!)
What a great trip for you and your girls. One you all will remember forever!
I loved that cabin.
I’m glad you have a sense of history and appreciate the old things. I always had a strange feeling when I found flint arrowheads knowing that hundreds of years before some of my Indian ancestors had fashioned them. I also have walked in history and found a connection so strong I could almost imagine I was there. It’s carried through the years in the music too. Thanks, Pappy
All I can say is just beauiful pictures. And the cabin that take me back to were my grandfather lived as a boy.
What a cool trip. Thanks for taking us along. That cabin looks like one solid structure. And those apples–yum!
Sounds like an awesome trip! The pictures are so gorgeous!
Wow I could really feel the history in your experience, Tipper. I get that way when I visit old places. It’s like you can almost feel the presence of those who went before you long ago. Nice experience, great story.
What a great trip! I’m afraid I must confess….I don’t know what a wooly adelgid is??
I do know about wild hogs tearing up the ground. I’ve heard the Deer Hunter complaining about them tearing up the woods where he hunts for deer.
I love the old historical places, especially churches. If I get real still in those places I can feel things from time gone by. We really are connected to all that has been.
It is wonderful that you and the girls got to make the trip.
Tipper,
The field trip description and pictures were wonderful! I’m glad you and the girls went and shared with us the beauty, boundlessness and bounty of the area. How wonderful that the old apple trees are still bearing!
I particularly enjoyed reading this. I taught Miss Emily and her brother Seth many years ago when I worked with her mom, Jennifer, at Peachtree Elementary. Emily is also a neighbor. I did not know about the Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center. Thanks for sharing this!
Your picture of Autumn is beautiful! Glad you went with the girls on this trip as I so enjoy your perspective on the old ways. And to get a ‘taste’ of history was the most special part. Thanks for sharing with us. xxoo
What a great day. I would have enjoyed that so very much.
That cabin and the scenery you showed was very beautiful. Something I have dreamt about for some time.
Beautiful. Buck & I have hiked in the nearby Cataloochee area. I remember seeing volunteer daylillies and other flowers from some earlier century’s cottage garden that continued to come up each year even though the people were long gone and only parts of a house foundation and chimney remained.
I am so happy to see that a cabin was preserved. Somehow, the ghosts of the past draw me and hold me to places like the one you visited. Sounds like every had a good time and learned something. Also, I couldn’t help but think of a darn good bluegrass group that comes from that area, Balsam Range. You can hear them here: [http://xrl.in/3cz4%5D, on a show we saw last July!
What a wonderful trip we camped near Johnathan Creek in Maggie Valley last year, wish I could have been there for the wonderful field trip..
Wow, what a neat trip! I would have loved it, too!
There are so few places like this left~I’m so glad that this one is being preserved for future generations to see and appreciate.
Thanks so much for sharing this!
(Hey, I’m able to post today!)
You ought to frame that cabin picture…it is so pretty!
Glad ya’ll enjoyed your trip!
Hi Tipper, I enjoyed this so much. I’m a history lover, too. I’m sorry I haven’t been able to visit lately, I have had some challenges to face, but am trusting the Lord for His help.
Thank you for sharing your field trip. I love it Blessings, Annie
You are right about history. We really need to appreciate how things got to be the way they are now like those apple trees.
I am in Brevard, NC this weekend for the annual gathering of the Allison Family. The gathering on Saturday was at the Allison-Deaver House, the oldest frame home in Western NC and the oldest existing Allison home in America. Only this summer, I found out that this house was built my Benjamin Allison, my great-great-great-grandfather in 1815. As I walked through the house looking at the rough-sawn plank walls, I was surprised at the emotion that rose up in me. These old places are precious as evidence of our past and the way we lived, and this one is especially precious to me because of the family connection.