Not too many days like this are left for us this year. Mid-autumn Indian Summer. The hectic days of October are done for another year. A hot tub and a couple cups of coffee beckon you to relax the morning away. When you're all softened up, please come on over and...
It's mid-September. The days are getting shorter and the air is getting crisper. Apples are ripe and pumpkins are everywhere. Out at Morning Mist Village along Glades Rd. in Gatlinburg, the autumn decorations are looking festive. And at the William Britten Gallery in...
The photograph above is the Green Headed, or Cutleaf Coneflower. It blooms all along the roadside in the middle of summer up near Clingman's Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park . Here's a fun photo tip for taking a picture like the one above. One of my...
These three Smoky Mtns photos illustrate something about how the process of photography happens for me. All were taken on a high-elevation trail near Clingmans Dome in the Smokies. Walking along the trail, the scene above caused me to stop. Something about the...
This Smoky Mountains valley was named by early settlers for the large number of Sugar Maple trees growing in the valley. As can be seen in the historical photo above, this was a vast area of fairly level ground. Settlers arrived in the area around 1800 ... the...
All of the Smoky Mtns photos on this page are of the Elijah Oliver cabin. Elijah was John Oliver's son, and he was born in Cades Cove in 1824. After a time away from the Smoky Mountains, he returned to Cades Cove after the Civil War. Notice the "strangers room"...
Rainbow Falls has been a popular Smokies hiking destination since long before the formation of the National Park. LeConte Creek plunges near 80 feet over a massive cliff face that Harvey Broome called an "ethereal diorama," creating the highest single-drop waterfall...
Matilda "Aunt Tildy" Shields married Henry Whitehead after her first husband ran off. Henry built the house pictured above in the Chestnut Flats area of Cades Cove in 1895. Notice the brick chimney! This structure might be called the ultimate log cabin, or sometime...
The textures in these photos of aged wood are a thing of beauty. The cracks and weathering only add character. All three of these photos are in the Smoky Mtns. The top and bottom pictures were found in Cades Cove, and the one below is from a door in one of the old...
It's a Spiritual Sunday again. Time to ponder whatever comes to mind. Like walking in the Smokies with your head pointed upwards. Watch the squirrels jump from treetop to treetop. Appreciate the soft sunlight filtering down through the canopy. Maybe spot a woodpecker...