Frames Within Frames
Frames within frames at a small Japanese Tea House located on Avery Island at the very bottom of Louisana. Avery Island is the home of the tabasco chili pepper, the…
Mrs. Johnson and the Praise House
For the better part of the next hour, Mrs. Johnson tells us her story - she recently moved back to St Helena from New Jersey - and the history of this praise house. This area was once a part of the Mary Jenkins Plantation. Thus, we are standing in the Mary Jenkins Community Praise House. Prior to the Civil War, slaves who were living on plantations were often allowed to build small structures for worship known as praise houses. After Emancipation, former slaves who remained in the area would build more substantial praise houses. This one was built in 1900. Mrs. Johnson tells us that the community is dwindling and services are no longer held on a regular basis. But her eyes brighten and a smile crosses her face as she tells us that the services they do have are lively affairs with much hymn singing and praising, and ending with a shout. A shout was a tradition practiced by African slaves where the worshipers move in a circle as they chant, clap their hands, and shuffle and stomp their feet.
Southern Sunrise
A recent sunrise I couldn't resist. Looking onto the property adjacent to mine through ancient live oak trees dripping with Spanish moss just as the last of the morning's mist rises…
The Deep South in North Florida
Most of northern Florida is very much like the rest of the Deep South. A place where time seems to move a little slower. A place where well enough…
Where Time Stands Still – a Photo Essay
There is a farm, a small family farm, in the rural South where time seems to be standing still. Time moves on, of course, but here, like small farms everywhere,…
Details
Cade's Cove, on the western side of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, in eastern Tennessee, is one of my favorite places. Well, other than tropical beaches and islands, of…
Abandoned in Natchez
Three abandoned kittens, people-watching in front of an old derelict building, just yards from the Mississippi River in Natchez. Just don't get too close or they will disappear faster than you…
Deep South Rails – a Triptych
Backroads and railroads crisscrossing the South. Ribbons of steel, ribbons of concrete. Connecting here to there. Nowhere to somewhere.
Biggin Church Ruins – Along the Road Less Traveled
Way down in South Carolina's Lowcountry, not too far from Moncks Corner, and just a stone’s throw from the Cooper River lies the Biggin Church Ruins. It was constructed in…