Long before we called these woods home, there were others. Their farmhouse sat above a stone cellar hole. Cattle or sheep meandered their way along this country farm lane. Cups and saucers clatttered in a wash pan, the used water splashing a kitchen garden. And the view across the pond soothed a farmer after a long day. They say the largest crop that New England has is rocks ... that's a hard and bitter harvest for many a hardscrabble farmer.
Pete and I walked in the woods this week and came upon the ghost of someone's small farmstead ... it was haunting and humbling to see the rocks cleared and walls created, the stone cellar hole, the remnants of an animal pound and grown up fields, a collapsed well, and that old wash pan. It looked as if the last thing the farm wife did before leaving the old hill farm was to wash the dishes and dump the water against and a fallen tree. Then, she and her family moved on ...
To participate in Alyce's photoshare, visit her here. Use an original snapshot of your own and write a bit about it. Then link it and leave a comment on Alyce's Saturday Snapshot letting her know you're in on this week's offerings. Enjoy browsing everyone's pics ... there is such creativity and fun to be shared!
You told a great story here with your words and your lovely photos. Ghosts indeed. Thanks for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteI agree. The photos are great, but the story that went with them just made the whole scene come alive.
DeleteThat shade in the photographs speaks out. As do you words..
ReplyDeleteHere is my Saturday Snapshot post!
It's so cool to puzzle over random finds like that. Looks like a wonderful place to forest walks!
ReplyDeleteThese are amazing photos. I love the sepia tone. You really caught the hard lifestyle. Here's Mine
ReplyDelete'others' ... sounds a little scary....
ReplyDeleteSpooked, Dom? I admit it is a little spooky coming on these old farm sites, but it makes you think. A century and a half ago, New England was almost completely de-forested due to farming and lumbering. How things change with time ...
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely story and photos...I love the sepia tones, they set the emotional tone of the whole post. How fascinating to see that bit of history! And I love the idea of the farmwife washing her dishes before they set out. You can't leave home with dirty dishes!
ReplyDeleteAh, I do love the special effects and the collage....I can almost feel the ghosts behind the photos!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing...and for visiting my blog.
You chose great photos for the sepia tone, Susan. Very thought provoking!
ReplyDeleteTerrific photos! Things like that always make me wonder and come up with my own stories about the people who owned them.
ReplyDeleteYes! When I taught school, I would oftentimes let kids look at strange photos and magazine clippings and do 'free writing' that just came to them as they associated with the visual images. I found that I enjoy doing the same ... it made for some really fun literature sharing circles.
DeleteThose lovely pictures and your narrative tell a haunting story. Life now, for all its troubles, is much easier for most people around the world than it was a couple hundred years ago.
ReplyDeleteWonderful photos and lovely story.
ReplyDeleteReally beautiful. Lovely prose.
ReplyDeleteGreat story but a little sad unless they moved on to finer pastures.
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by and visiting.
Those are like works of art with that coloration.
ReplyDeleteWONDERFUL story and view. Thanks for sharing your insight.
ReplyDeleteAll those old stone walls (many now restored) are a favorite part of New England for me -- loved this post.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely and haunting post!
ReplyDeleteFascinating photos and a nicely framed collage. I like the sepia effect.
ReplyDeleteBeing from the Midwest where the soil is rich it's hard for me to imagine anyone trying to farm on that rocky land.
That's a great story you shared, Susan. I love looking at old, run-down dwellings like this and wondering what life was like when people actually lived in them. History of lives always interest me.
ReplyDelete