Past Archives Projects

While I'm in Cumberland Gap working on an archives project, it has made me think of other wonderful details I've been able to participate in. Right now, in the mountains which still have some snow in their nooks and crannies, I'm thinking of Cumberland Island. It was once the playground of the Carnegies, so I wasn't expecting such visions of magnificent ruin to meet me everywhere.

Dungeness, the Carnegie home, burned and is now just a shell.


Their recreation home, before and after...

Even their old cars were a graveyard of ruin...

And speaking of graveyards, Cumberland Island is where the spunky Katy Greene, widow of Rev. war hero, Nathanael Greene (also who my home county and town are name for) is buried on the island. She owned the first Dungeness house.

Still, there were wide expanses of beautiful beaches, where we had our lunch, and the restoration of the mansion, Plum Orchard, was great to behold.

Plum Orchard

For places and legends we long for...

Thinking on the desert...

While the biggest snowfall we've gotten is falling outside, I can't deny that I'm loving every second of it ~ and of being snug inside to watch it. I have my scrapbooks spread out to work on here in a bit, but right now I'm musing on the desert. I can't but help compare the seasons and remember some of my favorite places in the hot, dry beauty of the legendary West.

The Painted Desert


The Petrified Forest

Exploring Cliff Dwellings

A Navajo lady weaving a rug

The surreal and stunning beauty of White Sands

and...

The incomparable sunsets and storms