Woodbine Market at 20 Years

Near Lebanon Church, VA

This farm market sits along Route 55 (John Marshall Highway) north of Strasburg. When I stopped there today, I saw a sign saying they are celebrating their 20 year anniversary. 

It’s on one of the main roads that connects the Shenandoah Valley with West Virginia. Years ago, West Virginia decided to replace Route 55 with a superhighway known as Corridor H, and a significant part of it has been completed in West Virginia. Connecting it with interstate 81 in Virginia would benefit some businesses in West Virginia, but it would not particularly benefit commerce in Virginia. So the superhighway still ends across the mountain in Wardensville, WV.

The mountain, by the way, is a rugged one that separates the two states. Here’s a view as seen from Perry, West Virginia. I suspect the rock formation is Big Schloss. This outcropping of quartzite and sandstone along the crest of Great North Mountain is a popular hiking destination. I’ve seen a lot of these formations along the mountains of West Virginia. (Geology buffs have probably figured out that these rocks did not erode like softer rocks that were once around them.)

I hear the views are great from up there. I regret that I did not make that hike when I was younger and more able, but that was a long time ago.

Killdeer and Robins

 Shenandoah County, VA

My dog was with me when I took this picture of a bird by the North Fork. I used my cell phone at zoom setting, holding a leash in my other hand. The picture came out slightly blurred so I tried to fix it using the Picsart app.The filter is called Indie2.

My iPhone identified this as a killdeer, and that appears to be correct. I think this is the first time I’ve captured a recognizable picture of a killdeer. They don’t come to my yard, but they do hang out by the river.

American Robins are a common bird in Virginia. This week I photographed one with Great North Mountain in the background,  and another one in my neighbor’s driveway

Prescribed Fire at Wolf Gap

Smoke on the mountain! I knew what it was because I had seen an announcement that the forest service was going to do a prescribed burn at Wolf Gap.

Yesterday I was driving home from recycling coupled with Charlie’s afternoon outing, and I could see the smoke from Woodstock.  I decided to take a closer look, so I drove out to St. Luke.

Let’s go west just a little ways and take another look.

I discovered some back roads that I had not driven before, and saw some nice farms. I’ll study the map and go back again to explore.

Earlier Post: Bringing Fire Back to the Mountains

Linking to: Skywatch

Crescent Moon Mural

 Near Edinburg

Bits of Moon has opened their Christmas shop for the season. I saw this cheery painting around the door.

Their regular shop has a moon painting also. The shop sells vintage items and collectibles, mostly small decorative items. 

Oh, there’s a LOVE sign. It’s a Virginia tradition to make unique signs with the word LOVE.

Link: Monday Murals

A short distance south on Ox Road are some farms, a vineyard, and a church. This farm has a view of Great North Mountain.

Sky, Trees, Mountain

The first scene is looking east toward the Massanutten Range. The second picture is looking west toward Great North Mountain. I took it while walking Charlie early this morning because I saw the hot air balloon.

These are cell phone pictures. I brightened the second one using Photoshop Express.

Spring Springs

I participate in a couple of online photo groups. One of them has a weekly theme, and this week’s theme is “Spring.” I couldn’t resist playing with the word, so I posted four pictures today of springs, the kind where water flows from the earth.

I took these pictures today at Orkney Springs, a beautiful place on the side of Great North Mountain. It’s been a resort since the horse and buggy days. Some of the springs are now channeled into pumps and protected by a roof. 

One of them comes out of a pipe set into a rock wall. It’s known as Chalybeate Springs or simply “the Orkney Spring.”  Chalybeate refers to water with a taste of iron, and the iron-rich water here turns the rocks brown.

This plaque includes a date of 1783, which I assume is when the spring was first written about. I don’t know when it was discovered because people of the Senedo tribe lived here long before. Although they didn’t leave written records, they left artifacts.

Most of the historic resort is now owned by the Episcopal Church and managed as a retreat center known as Shrinemont. 

Mosaic Monday

The Spring on Wolf Gap Road

Great North Mountain

This spring has provided water to travelers for over a century. Wolf Gap Road (Route 675) existed before the Civil War. It’s been paved since then, but it’s still narrow and winding, so it’s not suitable for tractor-trailers or long RVs. 

While I was walking up from the parking space to the spring, a couple stopped to get water. This man pointed out that the trough that you see in the lower left of the first picture was built to provide water for horses. 

 This spot is not far from the top of the mountain, where Wolf Gap Campground is. Just past that is the West Virginia state line, where Wolf Gap Road turns into Trout Run  Road. 

Mountain laurel is now in bloom and is plentiful along that road.

Serenity and Sameness

There was a small art show today in Lost River, so after taking Charlie to the dog park, I drove across the mountain. The show was in a yoga studio, and I spotted this statue on the porch.

Although I took yoga classes when I was younger, I was never been able to do the lotus position. 
 

A funny thing about this position is that it keeps coming up in my AI experiments. It seems that whenever my prompt alludes to serenity or spirituality, the database comes up with this same yoga pose. Computer-generated imaging tends toward triteness, which I suppose is to be expected when so much of what it found on the Internet is repetitive.

On the way home this afternoon, I missed a turn to the spot where I was planning to walk Charlie, so he was getting restless by the time I got to the top of the mountain. I pulled into the parking area at Wolf Gap and we walked around. The forest is very green.

Sharing with Mosaics and Sunday Snapshot

The View from Conicville Church of Christ

This church in Shenandoah County has a fine view that I shared long ago but yesterday the light was so nice that I stopped and took pictures again.

“The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.”  ― Mary Oliver

Seek Solace Amid Disquiet

So much of the news is worrisome. Disasters from climate change, wars, human cruelty, and the fascinating but disturbing hearings on Trump supporters’ attack on the Capitol last year… these are upsetting. 

Well, as individuals we do small things to try to make our world a better place.  Often I feel sadly inadequate. When I join with others to try to do things as a group, I feel a little more hopeful.

One thing I do on this blog is to show how beautiful are my own surroundings.  Various sages have said that we only protect what we love. I hope my pictures help viewers find more things to love in nature.

View from Trout Run Road

 “Nature brings solace in all troubles.” ~ Anne Frank

Summertime Skies, Shenandoah County

Although we've had some beautiful sunsets lately, I seemed to miss them because I was either busy or too tired to go out looking for them. I don't get a great sunset view from my house like I did at the lake house. Yesterday when I saw the sky turning pink, I drove out to get a good western view.

I found it at Saint Luke on Back Road and pulled into a church parking lot. There I could see Walker’s Cash Store with a barn down the road and Great North Mountain behind it.

The store is no longer open, although it was still in business a few years ago.

The View from Honeysuckle Avenue

 Woodstock, Virginia 

Wordless / Barns

The CCC Camp at Wolf Gap

George Washington National Forest

There is a small campground and picnic area next to the West Virginia line in the mountains that divide the two Virginias.

"Once the site of Civilian Conservation Corps Camp, Wolf Gap F-15" ... this phrase barely tells the story of this site. The camp opened in 1933 as part of Roosevelt's New Deal program to end the suffering of the Great Depression.  A year later it was designated a "colored' camp, meaning it would serve African-Americans. In those days, even government programs were segregated in Virginia. 

According to Shenandoah Stories,  Camp Wolf’s Gap "would provide employment, training, and a home for several hundred African American citizens of Virginia and surrounding states."

The camp today is a small recreation area, primitive by modern standards. There are a few campsites and a picnic area plus access to hiking trails. There hasn't been a water supply there for several years. I think the area deserves a permanent sign about the history and a working water pump or spigot. 

It is between Edinburg and Wardensville and worth driving the winding mountain road to visit in the autumn. 

The View from Van Buren Road

In Shenandoah County, Virginia.
 

Inspired Sunday / The Barn Collective.

Sugar Hill Cemetery did not appear to have a church nearby. There's a burial list on the Virginia GenWeb site. 

I came across it while exploring back roads. We've taken extra rides in the country this autumn because most weekend events were canceled due to the pandemic. 

My plan that day was to cross a ridge on Zepp Road, enjoying the fall colors and taking some photos. When I crossed a scenic creek at an intersection, I pulled off and got a few pictures. Then I consulted the map and decided to explore the road named Van Buren Road. 

It did not occur to me until later that I had heard of Van Buren Furnace, an old iron furnace on that road. Perhaps someday I'll go back and look for it. 

The stream here is Cedar Creek, which makes its way down the mountain to Middletown, where there's a battlefield named after it. It flows into the North Fork of the Shenandoah near Strasburg.

 
(There are dozens of posts on this blog about Cedar Creek.)

   I hope you enjoyed these autumn scenes. Have a great week!