Foxfire

We needed to get away today, and a visit to the Foxfire Museum and Heritage Center was a nice choice on a day like today.  You can see us at the chapel they have there, our first stop actually on the grounds.  There were roughly twenty-two buildings there to see, all authentic buildings moved from one place or another to this area, from chapels to barns to grist mills.

Madison brought her camera along to take pictures as well, including this one above from the interior of the church, and this one below of the Bible, open there on the podium at the front of the church.

The church bell rang periodically as visitors made their way to the chapel, each one able to pull the rope so that everyone all along the area could hear.

Mom and I gave it a tug, and found it to be a pretty loud bell.  In fact, for the entire visit, you could hear that bell ringing as visitors found their way to the chapel. 

Here's Madison delivering a fiery sermon!  We drove the car up to the top of the area, and the girls got out to walk from building to building.  The highest was the chapel, and we walked downward, downhill from there, exploring each of the other buildings and learning a bit on the way.

And we were taking a lot of pictures along the way too.  Both Madison and I were taking lots of photos this afternoon.  Down from the chapel were a few other buildings, including the grist mill.

I took this picture upstairs in the grist mill, these old gears and wheels used over a century ago.  The larger wheel, of course, could be found outside.

No flowing water or anything, but this has been rebuilt along with the others, right here on the side of this mountain.  It's all a little over an hour away from us.  We were looking for a few things to do this weekend, and there just weren't so many Christmas activities going on, and the gardens were a little pricy considering it is November.  So we decided to check this location out, and we're glad we did.

Here's a small area where there were plenty of pieces of folk art, and in an area next to this you could find another decent collection of pottery.  We've seen that a lot lately.

Mommy was enjoying her visit today.  The weather was nice, although a little cool.  But it was nice walking along in the sunlight, going from place to place, and learning a few new things along the way.

Nana enjoyed the visit too.  It kept her mind off of things for a bit, at least, and that was the goal of course.   She's been in a bad way the last few weeks, and even today she had some difficulties.  But trips like this are pleasant and get her mind distracted in another direction.

And Madison enjoyed the visit too.  It was something different.  I remember the "Foxfire" books growing up - my mother had the collection of them, so I remember a lot about that.   It was surprising that all this was not that far from us at all.

There were a few wagons here, including a more significant one.  And the fall leaves were nice, although there weren't as many on the trees as a few weeks ago.

There were about twenty other visitors with us here today, all of us at various parts of the walk, but never so crowded that we had to wait to go into any place.  It was all set up over a large enough distance that we'd see each other, but wouldn't be all compressed in one place at any time.

And there were plenty of things to see, lots of old farming implements and objects that showed life in the Appalachian Mountains not long ago.  Here's another wagon wheel below to another item that played a more significant role.

Madison has recently studied the Trail of Tears, so this wagon here was an interesting moment.  It's actually the only wagon that people know of with certainty that was used to help remove the Indian population from this area.

On the inside of it is a list of names of family members forced to move against their will.  Certainly not a high point in our government's history.  

Madison took this picture of the wheel of that wagon with her phone.  She took a lot of photos today, including this one in the woods of the setting sun.

It was getting cooler as we went down the side of that mountain, looking at weavers, storage places, old houses, and yes, there was another blacksmith.

I never get tired of seeing a blacksmith, for some odd reason.  This one was showing off a sword that he had made, although he was currently working on something a little less sharp:  a spoon.  He was happy to talk with everyone, including Nana as you can see above.  

Madison posed for this picture just after we were talking with the blacksmith.  Right across the way, the trial continued to move downward, passing by this other building with a pretty pathetic old chair still leaning alongside the building.

All throughout, old furniture was on display, a lot of it of it in much better shape than this chair.  Also on display:  these old pots and that pan there.  This was found on one of the lowest buildings on the tour.

There were plenty of things to see here, and lots of places to take photos of things as they used to be.  The mountains were pretty today, despite the lack of leaves on them at this point.  It was a nice day too.  Nana was walking all along from place to place, her mind occupied by the new things to see in each location.  There was an old stove that she remembered having a similar version of, and other items like that.

The sun was setting a little earlier, but that was okay.  It made for interesting pictures that Madison and I were taking throughout the tour.  She loves the perspective shots, and other shots that are taken with the sunlight streaming towards the camera.

Meanwhile, Mommy was spending valuable time with Nana, the two of them talking and exploring.  It was good to get out today.  For one thing, none of us have been here yet.  And yes, it was good to get her out of the house, thinking of other things.

I wish I stopped to just rock in some of these rocking chairs.  That's the spirit of this place, just a slowed down version of life.  It never really sped up for them so much.  And while there were things they missed out on that made life more convenient, comfortable, or even safer, there's still so much serenity to a rocking chair on the front porch in the mountains that cannot be explained.

Ah, the Christmas tree.  We found one in a cabin, along with a dining table decorated for the holidays.  It was decorated nicely, as people in that area would decorate things, and it was very nice.

It was a pleasant trip north day, and made the day nicer.  We watched a Christmas movie this evening upon getting home, and enjoyed some time together on the couch under the Christmas tree.  As soon as we got back, Nana was having trouble again.  She was having a lot of trouble this morning too.  Getting away really helped out, and we were glad for that.

Tonight we were reading and praying.  We're needing help, and hope.