Max Patch Mountain Hike

“May your dreams be larger than mountains and may you have the courage to scale their summits.”
― Harley King

 

This 4,600-foot mountain was cleared and used as pasture in the 1800s. Today, it's a 350-acre tract of open land on a high knob with 360-degree views. On a clear day, you can see from Mt. Mitchell on the east to the Great Smoky Mountains on the south. What a picnic spot! And great for star gazing and enjoying wildflowers. The summit is a short walk from the parking lot. Max Patch is part of the Pisgah National Forest. 

 

Two easy loop trails lead you to, and around, the summit. The 1.4-mile short loop crosses the summit. The 2.4-mile loop circles the mountain for outstanding views from all the sides. From the parking lot, follow the marked trail to the left. You will ascend through a forest and then reach the top for amazing views. The rest of the hike is on the grassy bald. You can also hike north or south on the Appalachian Trail for as far as you want.

The Great Smoky Mountains, only 20 miles away, dominate the southwest horizon. To the west the terrain drops over 3600 feet into the flatlands of eastern Tennessee. To the west, 50 miles distant, rises the dark ridgeline of the Black Mountains. Endless ridges and peaks fill in the panorama everywhere else.   Source

Maggie Valley Waterfalls

I spent college football Saturday, from 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM, hiking with friends to a couple of Western North Carolina's loveliest waterfalls:  Waterfall on Little Fall Branch and Mouse Creek Falls.   In all, we walked almost 6 miles.  And when you take into account elevation, it may have been the equivalent of 8 in the city, on a flat plane.  It was a great workout!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buck Spring Trail

“I'm a person of the mountains and the open paddocks and the big empty sky, that's me, and I knew if I spent too long away from all that I'd die; I don't know what of, I just knew I'd die.”

― John Marsden, A Killing Frost

Buck Spring Trail Overlook - view from site of George W. Vanderbilt's hunting lodge.

Our hike was 3.1 miles.

George Washington Vanderbilt was the grandson of the "commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt. Mr. Vanderbilt began buying land south of Asheville in 1888, and by the time he finished, he owned about 125,000 acres, including Mt. Pisgah. Near Asheville, he built his famous Biltmore House, the grounds of which Fredrick Law Olmstead landscaped.

In the Mount Pisgah area, the Vanderbilts kept 471 acres in Buck Springs Gap, about a mile from Pisgah Inn. Here George W. Vanderbilt had constructed a popular log hunting lodge. The main lodge had 4 bedrooms, breezeway-connected building had two two-bedroom suites, and the kitchen/dining building was connected to the other two. There were several buildings near these buildings. Mr. Vanderbilt built Buck Spring Lodge just before the turn of the century, and the others were razed in 1961.   - Source

James H. Posey, Bodyguard to Abraham Lincoln

Grave of James H. Posey, Riverside Cemetery, Asheville, NC

James H. Posey was a captain for the Union in the American Civil War.  It is believed that midway through the war he was chosen to serve as a personal bodyguard to President Abraham Lincoln. Following the war, Posey retired from military service before settling in Asheville, NC, in search of better health.  In 1917, Posey passed away from injuries sustained in an accident likely caused by his failing eyesight.  - Source

Just hope Posey was not on duty that fateful night at Ford's Theater.  Or that he had been!!

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A Tyrant??

“Assassination in the abstract is a horrid crime….but to slay a tyrant is no more assassination than war is murder.  Who speaks of Brutus as an assassin?  What Yankee ever condemned the Roundhead crew who brought Charles I to the block, although it would be a cruel libel to compare him politically or personally to the tyrants who are now lording it over the South?”   - newspaper in the days leading up to or during the Civil War...The Richmond Dispatch...before Lincoln was assassinated.

During the days of Abraham Lincoln's presidency, the King of Siam and the President corresponded. Thailand's king offered assistance to the Union during America's Civil War, and Lincoln mailed some of his favorite books to the Thai king, who was proficient in English.  Some of the correspondence and materials are preserved in a museum in Thailand.

One of our nation's heroes today was once thought of by many to be a tyrant whose assassination would be not only justified, but relished.  Some uncovered diaries of Southern Belles of that era actually reveal a stunning amount of admiration for the actor-turned-assassin John Wilkes Booth for his glorious "deed."  Let that slosh around in your head a bit.  Experiencing some cognitive dissonance?

One thing we are not taught in our schools, communities, families, religious institutions is critical thinking.  I sure wasn't.  We get bits here and there, but not anything of substance.  The questions:  How would it benefit us to be critical thinkers?  Why does critical thinking upset people?  In what ways does not using critical thinking limit us personally and as a society?

A Walk in the City

Create Maps or search from 80 million at MapMyWalk

Unless you simply enjoy walking alone, I would encourage you to organize a group.  The accountability and motivation that you gain from being with others really pays off.  The other day, when we did this 5.51 mile walk, I would have for sure stopped at 3 miles had I been on my own. But there were a couple of people who wanted to push on, and I went along.  The result: I ended up walking the longest distance ever for me in the city.  Check my other mapped routes under Map My Walk and you will see that a few times I approached that 5 mile mark, but had never gone over it.  Another plus for walking with others is that long walks just seem shorter.  Maybe it's having conversations with interesting people.  You're learning something!  Our little group on this walk was typical Asheville - people who have moved here from all over, mixed in with a local or two.  This time it was San Fran, Boston, Ohio, Alabama and a couple of native Carolinians.  My goal, going forward, through the Fall and until winter becomes unbearable, is to organize more walks like this - twice per week in the city.  Of course, I want to continue the nature hikes.

Rattlesnake Lodge Trail

A favorite hike for locals, the Rattlesnake Lodge Trail is a fun trip back in time. You hike to the "ruins" of a lodge that was built and enjoyed by many in the early 1900s. It burned in 1926. There are two trails that lead to the site: a 1.4 mile gradual climb from Ox Creek Road and a 1/2 mile steep climb from the Blue Ridge Parkway.  The hike from Ox Creek Road is about 14 miles north of downtown Asheville (7 miles east of Weaverville). This trail is part of the Mountains to Sea Trail. Source

 

The other day, a fellow hiker and I walked the trail.

 

 



www.rattlesnakelodge.com

 “I like geography best, he said, because your mountains & rivers know the secret. Pay no attention to boundaries.”
― Brian Andreas, Story People: Selected Stories & Drawings of Brian Andreas

Silver Bell

This was a favorite picture of Mom's.  Silver Bell was keeping me company.

A Mere Coincidence?

At the old IGA on Hwy 431 in Headland, Alabama

 

Last Wednesday Kade and I picked up a cargo van we were renting for a quick (but long) run to Headland (AL).  First, we walked with the Enterprise rental guy completely around the vehicle, inspecting it inside and out before signing the paperwork, paying our $65 per day fee and driving away.  We then took the van back home and loaded up our huge plastic storage containers and packing supplies, plus our overnight bag and other essentials.  Since we very seldom like to drive the full 6 1/2 - 7 hours, we stayed overnight in Phenix City (AL).   On Thursday, we spent hours packing up my share of "small things" I inherited from Mother.   Finally, the van was packed and we were ready for a quick exit out of Headland.  Before leaving, though, we stopped by my sister's to pick up something. Just as we were about to say our goodbyes, my sister, who was standing near the back of the van with us, said, with a look of surprise on her face, "Look at the license plate!"   What are the chances, on the day we went to Headland to pack up some of Mother's things, the license plate letters spelled her middle name?!?!?  A very rare middle name at that.  I'm thinking she was there with us!!!

We have all enjoyed going through family pictures.  This is one of Mother's school pictures, and one of my favorites.  Not sure the year it was made.  Late 80s or early 90s, I would guess.  She taught for twenty-five years in the Henry County School System.

Today - September 23 - is Mother's birthday.  She remains with us in our hearts.

 

Watt Espy, The Lexington Years

For a short period in the 1960s Watt Espy lived in Lexington, Kentucky. Some letters he saved enabled me to Google these images. I do know quite a bit about Uncle Watty's time in Lexington - why he was there, where he worked, some personal stories and more - and I am hoping that posting just these images will give me some incentive to come back and share some of what I know. When I do, it will end up archived under Watt Espy in categories (right sidebar).

 267 S Limestone St., Lexington, KY     

256 Lyndhurst Place, Lexington, KY

Kentucky Central Insurance Building

Watt was working as an insurance agent for Kentucky Central Insurance in Lexington.  He also was engaged to a lady named Barbara (divorced, with a child) while living in Lexington.  Major and Edith took a trip to Lexington to spend time with Watty and meet his fiance.  According to one letter Major wrote Watty after the trip, they were impressed with her.

Click here for a letter Watt wrote to a Carroll cousin while in Lexington.

Craggy Gardens

This afternoon I joined some Asheville hikers on two Craggy Gardens trails.  In total, we hiked just under three miles.  The goal was to reach the Craggy Gardens Visitor center in time for the 7:34 PM sunset.  We did just that, but the sunset was not really visible.  I guess it was too cloudy. 

“There is no such sense of solitude as that which we experience upon the silent and vast elevations of great mountains. Lifted high above the level of human sounds and habitations, among the wild expanses and colossal features of Nature, we are thrilled in our loneliness with a strange fear and elation – an ascent above the reach of life's expectations or companionship, and the tremblings of a wild and undefined misgivings.”
― Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, The Haunted Baronet And Others: Ghost Stories 1861-70

 

Source

Espy-Solomon Hardware Company

1921

The Wiregrass Farmer

October 16, 1924

1925

In 1930, J. J. Espy, Sr. sold his interest and the name was changed to Solomon Hardware.

1936

1976

1981

For more on the Headland town square, click here.

For more scans of the Headland Centennial Book, click here. 

Catawba Falls

A friend and I organized a hiking trip to Catawba Falls that we successfully completed today.  The only part of the falls we couldn't see was the very upper portion, which was closed or marked as 'very dangerous.'  But, as you will see, what we did view was very, very impressive.  And the hiking, in and out, was very good exercise.  Check out the video I made.

 

 

Vintage Postcard of Catawba Falls

 

Graveyard Fields - Upper & Lower Falls

Today I went hiking just off of the Blue Ridge Parkway.  A couple of hikers joined me for the fun!  I ended up going back to Graveyard Fields in order to hike all the way to Upper Falls, an area where I went on my own once before, but did not make it quite to the top.  From the trailhead to Upper Falls and back was 3.2 miles.  After completing it, we walked down to Lower Falls, a more impressive falls than Upper Falls, and one you can actually see from the Parkway.  That hike was another .8 miles total.  For the day that brought us to 4 miles of hiking - all in lush natural surroundings. Throw in the elevation and the challenge walking through sometimes tough terrain, and you have quite a bit of exercise.  I slept really well last night!  In the videos I made (see at bottom of images), be sure to check out the view of the mountains and low-lying clouds from the overlooks en route to Graveyard Fields.   Captivating!

 First three images are of Upper Falls

These two images are of Lower Falls

Need Help On The Espy Front

This is a bit of a mystery to me.  I do not fully know the Espys here.  I know a bit about one or two.   By placing these items on my blog, and listing out the names, I hope someone out there - a confirmed relative of theirs, perhaps - will contact me and help me fill in the blanks.

 

Exhibit One -  Mary Newman, William G. Espy

 

 

 

Exhibit Two - Glen Espy, A. Lee Espy, John Mark Espy

Exhibit Three - David Espy, Cathy Espy

Constantine Palace - St. Petersburg, Russia

The condition of the palace as late as 2000  

 

For more photos of the palace and grounds when it was in decay, and then after being completely restored in meticulous detail in time for St. Petersburg's 300th birthday, click here.  And to learn more history of the palace, including why it got into such bad shape, go here.  Estimates of the cost of restoring the palace, park and gardens plus expanding the scope of the project to include "cottages" for visiting guests are as high as $350 million.



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To learn more about the Constantine Palace, here's the official website.

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The villas in the upper right welcome heads of state and other dignitaries.



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Russia recently hosted the G-20 Summit.  For video footage of the leaders gathering for the "family photo", click here.

Some excellent video footage of the interior and exterior of the palace.

On Kade's and my visit to Moscow and St. Petersburg in 2007, we did not visit Constantine Palace. I really didn't even know it existed.  However, we did get to see these magnificent ones:

Tsaritsyno
Peterhof
Yusupov
Stroganov
Hermitage