Out to Pasture

A 2021 visit to our daughter and her photographer husband in later October provided an opportunity to witness an abundantly colorful Appalachian fall amid the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Their home offers quick access to these mountains where the state of Tennessee shares a border with North Carolina. We were able to spend several days touring the countryside searching for iconic scenes by driving some of the less frequented roads that led up into the mountains. 

One such road took us through a sparse, rural area dotted with cabins, small ranches and farms, and older villages and settlements that must have dated back more than a century. Compared to the large, modern cities that lay only an hour away, this drive was like taking a trip back in time, to a more bucolic, serene and uncluttered day. While the struggle with nature then was more intense, life overall was much simpler. The daily chores of caring for the farm animals, preparing meals, planting and harvesting crops were wrapped in a time in which families gathered more closely, for meals, entertainment, fellowship, church, or aiding one another. Driving along, this smaller, older barn with its loft, the horses pasturing outside, chickens gathered around and an aged, study, colorful fall tree said more than we could ever describe in words.