SkyWatch Friday

Patrick Henry's home in Brookneal, Va....to see skies from all over the world, visit Skyley! Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Vacancy

This pretty old house appears to be vacant. It sits up the road from yesterday's house, on a hill, across from a church. I would be happy to take it off someone's hands and fix it up!

This Old House

This beautiful old home is located in Fincastle. I love how they decorated so simply for Christmas. I love this old house. I love Fincastle. Fincastle is FULL of beautiful old homes, buildings, churches, cemeteries and so much history!

Barn Charm Tuesday

Taken out on Poor Farm Road in Fincastle, VA... To see barns from all over the world, visit BARN CHARM!

Balustrades

At the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Va. I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

SkyWatch Friday

We've been having some pretty sunrises around here this week. To see more skies from all over the world, visit Skyley! Only 2 shopping days left!

Sunflowers

Sunflowers in Patrick Henry's garden. They might not be in their prime but I think they're still pretty! Brookneal, VA

Watery Wednesday

Along a horse trail in Buchanan, Va...it's Wednesday so I'm once again linking to Watery Wednesday!

Barn Charm Tuesday

Located on Poor Farm Road in Fincastle, Va

To see barns from all over the world, click the BARN CHARM badge!

A Little Privacy Please

Yep, that's Santa sitting on the pot. Saw this unique Christmas display on Poor Farm Road in Fincastle.

SkyWatch Friday

Waiting for the Fincastle Christmas parade to start


The Botetourt County Courthouse was built in 1848; it suffered a severe fire in the 1970s and was rebuilt. The plans for the courthouse that preceded this one were drawn by Thomas Jefferson.

For some reason blogger isn't letting me add a clickable link so copy/paste the link below to see more skies from all over!
http://skyley.blogspot.com/

Cotton

Picking seeds from cotton. Patrick Henry's Red Hill, Brookneal, Va

Watery Wednesday

The James River, Buchanan, Va. That water looks so cold now. We took canoes down it on the 4th of July, in fact, we put the canoes in right at this very spot!

Linking to Watery Wednesday

Barn Charm Tuesday

Springwood Road, Buchanan, VA

To see barns from all over, go check "Barn Charm" :)

Mellow Yellow Monday

The Fincastle Christmas Parade....linking to Mellow Yellow Monday

SkyWatch Friday

Once there was a tree..... and she loved a little boy. And every day the boy would come and he would gather her leaves and make them into crowns and play king of the forest. He would climb up her trunk and swing from her branches and eat apples. And they would play hide-and-go-seek. And when he was tired, he would sleep in her shade. And the boy loved the tree.......very much. And the tree was happy. (The Giving Tree)


This awesome, old tree is the Osage Orange tree that stands at Patrick Henry's Red Hill (that is Patrick Henry's law office in the background). This tree is believed to be 200-400 years old and was the largest of its species until it recently lost out to 2 others, 1 of which stands on a property in Alexandria once owned by George Washington.

You can find out more about historic trees by clicking HERE and you can see skies from all over the world by visiting Skyley!

Have a great weekend!

Patrick Henry's Law Office - Red Hill

When Patrick Henry moved to Red Hill in 1794, he was in semi-retirement from his law practice. Having served as Governor of Virginia for five terms, and in failing health, Henry saw some clients here but used the office chiefly to instruct his sons, nephews, and a grandson in the law. The building may also have been occasionally used to house guests of the Henry family.

Red Hill National Memorial

Watery Wednesday

Christian taking a break from our hike up to Stiles Falls, Shawsville, Va.

Linking to Watery Wednesday

:)

Barn Charm Tuesday

The FFA float at the Fincastle Parade on Saturday. To see more barns from all over, click the "Barn Charm" badge :)

Mellow Yellow Monday

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at Red Hill, Patrick Henry's home in Brookneal, Va. They had a special Christmas celebration going on with carolers, cookies & hot apple cider and Brunswick Stew.

This is a photo of the staircase inside his home, decorated for Christmas. Linking to Mellow Yellow Monday...visit them to brighten your day with more yellow!

SkyWatch Friday

After our bear adventures on Sunday we sat under this tree and picnicked on chicken salad sandwiches. I love the spooky way bare branches look against a grey sky! Linking to Skywatch Friday...check it out!

Have a great weekend :)

December Theme Day - Action Shot

Ack, do you know what today is? December 1st! The first of the month always means theme day in the City Daily Photo community. I'm always hit and miss with this one because the first seems to sneak up on me every month. I was ready for this month's theme though since I have an arsenal of football pictures, thanks to my boys playing! The picture I chose to use today is of our team, the Botetourt Panthers, age 9/10 division, in the playoffs. This picture features my Braden, who just made the tackle and is about to make a scary landing (at least to mom!) and my Dalton (Braden's twin brother) coming up on Braden's right, along with a few other Panthers. Sadly we lost this game but look out next season!
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Happy Theme Day! And get that Christmas shopping started!

Watery Wednesday

On Sunday we went out to Camp Alta Mons in Shawsville to hike up to Stiles Falls, a 45 foot waterfall. The hike is about a 45 minute, moderate walk along the river, which you need to cross over a few times but there are rocks you can hop on like a little bridge.

On the way back from the falls, we spotted 3 baby bears in the river as we were crossing and could hear the momma bear somewhere above us on the hill in the woods growling. We had to cross over the river to get back on the trail and unfortunately the babies went the same direction as us and then climbed up a tree. We had to walk right past the tree where the babies were, with momma somewhere to the right of us, I'm sure keeping an eye on all of us. We made lots of noise by yelling (all 6 of us!) to keep her away from us as we went along our way. It worked, we didn't see her but got great views of the babies. I wish I could have stopped to get a better picture but I don't think that would have been a great idea lol...Anyways, in this photo you can make out 2 of the babies up in the tree. The 3rd baby had climbed down and ran off into the woods. Such an awesome experience to see them!


Linking to Watery Wednesday


And a brief history of how the falls got its name:

How the Water Falls at Camp
Alta Mons Received it’s Name
The earliest recorded name for the 45 ft. water falls is Purgatory Falls. This early name comes from a stenciled photo of a late nineteenth century travel log magazine. Purgatory Creek flows from several springs of a Floyd Co. mountain watershed above the falls. Once over the falls the creek enters Montgomery Co., twists and turns through the present property of Camp Alta Mons; a year round, 875 acre camp and retreat facility for the United Methodist Church of the Roanoke District. Formerly, the property was part of the Pearman Farm and Crockett Springs Resort dating back to the 1890’s.
The early day resort hosted wealthy families who wanted to travel to the mountains in order to escape the crowded cities’ heat and epidemics of various ills of that day. In order to attract folks, the resort management would invite Civil War celebrities and heroes, both Confederate and Yankee. Following is the story about how the falls became Stiles Falls.
From The New Messenger, Dec. 19, 1968:
“During the Civil War the Merrimac was blown up in Chesapeake Bay by her own crew to prevent the ship from falling into the hands of the Yankees. Randolph Stiles was the first officer of the Merrimac. He saved the ship’s log and later gave it to the Valentine Museum in Richmond. While with a group of young people in Montgomery County, the story records, Randolph tried to swing across Purgatory Creek on a grapevine where the water plunges over some rocks and was killed. The falls has since been known as Stiles Falls.”

Barn Charm Tuesday

Another view of the barn at Avenel Plantation (Bedford Co). Can you spot the little squirrel?

To see barns from all over, visit Barn Charm!

Mellow Yellow Monday

Yellow canoes...Camp Alta Mons, Shawsville, Va
(by the way, we saw 3 baby bears while we were out hiking there yesterday!)


Linking to Mellow Yellow Monday

SkyWatch Friday

My sky, right now....surrounded by clear, blue skies. It's going to be a beautiful day with warm temps!

To see skies from all over, visit Skyley....happy skywatching!

Happy Thanksgiving

...sniff, sniff, sniff.... "do i smell turkey?"

have a super thanksgiving!

Watery Wednesday

....reflections....

(carvins cove, roanoke)

linking to watery wednesday

hope everyone has a blessed thanksgiving!

Mellow Yellow Monday

Saturday's sunset....photographed by my 9 year old, Dalton...added some color boost! Linking to Mellow Yellow Monday

SkyWatch Friday

Skywatching from the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Va

To see skies from all over the world, visit Skyley!

Have a super weekend!

Avenel Plantation

Avenel was built circa 1838 by William M. Burwell and his wife, Frances Steptoe Burwell.

Notable visitors included General David Hunter, Mr. and Mrs. Robert E Lee and their daughter.

Avenel can be rented for weddings, receptions, etc...

While googling for info on Avenel, I even found out a movie was made about it! Portrait of a Plantation

Watery Wednesday

On Sunday we visited the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford. Bedford was chosen as the location for the memorial because
Bedford provided a company of soldiers (Company A) to the 29th Infantry Division when the National Guard's 116th Infantry Regiment was activated on 3 February 1941. Some thirty Bedford soldiers were still in that company on D-Day; several more from Bedford were in other D-Day companies, including one who, two years earlier, had been reassigned from the 116th Infantry to the First Infantry Division. Thus he had already landed in both Northern Africa and Sicily before coming ashore on D-Day at Omaha Beach with the Big Red One. Company A of the 116th Infantry assaulted Omaha Beach as part of the First Division's Task Force O.

By day's end, nineteen of the company's Bedford soldiers were dead. Two more Bedford soldiers died later in the Normandy campaign, as did yet another two assigned to other 116th Infantry companies. Bedford's population in 1944 was about 3,200. Proportionally this community suffered the nation's severest D-Day losses. Recognizing Bedford as emblematic of all communities, large and small, whose citizen-soldiers served on D-Day, Congress warranted the establishment of the National D-Day Memorial here.

The last "Bedford Boy" passed away in 2009.

Linking to Watery Wednesday

Barn Charm Tuesday

The barn at Avenel Plantation in Bedford. The house was built in 1838 and is rumored to be haunted but I couldn't find any info on the barn.

To see barns from all over, visit Tricia at Barn Charm!

Mellow Yellow Monday

An old fire truck inside the Bedford County Welcome Center. Why is it that old things look so much cooler than new?!

Linking to Mellow Yellow Monday!

Mohawk Bug

This little dude was on our porch recently. Check out the spiky little mohawk he's sporting. Not a clue what he is, I've never seen a bug like this....any guesses?

Watery Wednesday

Peaks of Otter....linking to Watery Wednesday!

Barn Charm Tuesday

Cute little barn sitting on a corner in Buchanan, Va

To see barns from all over, click the "barn charm" badge!

Mellow Yellow Monday

This was about 2 weeks ago at Peaks of Otter....probably not much yellow to be seen by now....linking with Mellow Yellow Monday

SkyWatch Friday

Geese flying over Mt. Vernon, last winter. To see skies from all over the world, visit Skyley!

The Fisherman

Walking along the greenway in Salem we saw quite a few guys out fishing. This is the Roanoke River.

Watery Wednesday

A frozen Douthat Lake, last winter....linking to Watery Wednesday...check it out!

November Theme Day - Fences

It's "Theme Day" for City Daily Photo members and today's theme is "Fences"...this photo is from Williamsburg, Va...one of my favorite places!

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants