Carl Sandburg Home

Donna and I recently visited the home of poet Carl Sandburg outside of Asheville, NC. It is a beautiful and serene area, the perfect home for a writer. I highly recommend visiting; access to the grounds is free, and for a reasonable $5 fee you can have a ranger-led tour inside the house, which is pretty incredible, as it is pretty much in the state in which he and his wife left it, so you can really get a feel for how they lived.





Lake on the property




This little guy was perturbed that I was following him around with a camera.






Carl was known for his writing, but his wife was quite known for her craft as well - raising dairy goats. Several descendants of her herd still live on the grounds.


Just down the road from the Sandburg home is St. John's in the Wilderness Church, built in 1834.



It features a beautiful cemetery on hilly terrain with an abundance of old trees. There is also a section of slave graves:


And, of course, if you keep up with my travel posts, you know that we had to have a Cracker Barrel meal before heading home. :-)

Musgrove Mill

I recently rode my VFR to Musgrove Mill State Historic Site near Clinton, SC. It is the site of the former home and mill of Edward Musgrove and was the site of a Revolutionary War battle in 1780 in which a badly outnumbered band of patriots pulled off a stunning victory against a much larger group of British loyalists. Nothing much from then is left today, but there are two mile-long trails that offer good opportunities for enjoying the plant and animal wildlife, with lots of good interpretive signage along the way that gives lots of information about the war and the battle. One trail is accessed from the main site, starting at the very nice visitor center; you drive a couple of miles across the river to get to the other trail. One trail goes along the route that the loyalists were lured down, and when you suddenly emerge into an open field, you can feel what they must have felt upon seeing an army of patriots waiting for them.











A heron off in the distance enjoying the solitude






I apparently have a fascination with fungus on trees.




This little guy seemed perturbed that I interrupted his leisurely journey across the trail.


Horseshoe Falls.


One of the park rangers is a fellow motorcyclist; he rides a Yamaha FJR1300, a sport touring bike similar to my VFR. Had a good time talking bikes and various other topics with him. On my way home I stopped at Subway for a bite to eat and struck up a conversation with two older couples who were on their way to the mountains for a few days; the two gentlemen had ridden motorcycles in their earlier days, so we had some good conversation as well. All told, it was a very enjoyable day.