Some places seem to have an animated echo of the people and events that have come before, as if the walls or stones or trees hold fragments of another memory. Over the year, I've lived in a few places where the past seemed interwoven, quite nicely, with the present. But for all my interest in the history of the places I've lived, I've never been curious enough to do any research - until now.
Perhaps it is the steep pitch of the road, the lack of electric lines, or the length of the Vermont winter that provokes a sense of camaraderie with the hapless souls who have set a stake here, but whatever the brand of madness, I've developed a keen interest in learning more about the people that have made this mountain their home.
This past week I took to the mountain with an old undated map that listed families and their long abandoned farms as well as marked the spot of an old mountain schoolhouse. Of course, the summer months are not ideal for seeking out old foundations. Blackberries are at the height of thorny lushness, ferns have grown above my head and beneath all the green growing things, unseen things lurk in wait to twist an ankle. Nevertheless, off I went, roaring up the dirt road on the ATV like a nineteenth-century archaeologist in search of the prized find.
With a little guess work I stumbled upon a small rectangular stone foundation set back from the road about thirty paces. As I walked along the overgrown foundation wall I easily conjured up the children sitting at their desks in the below-zero normality of Vermont. Little faces focused on their slates as their cold fingers marked out pesky sums. The spirit of the place was there.
But so were the circling horse flies and the swarming mosquitoes. And after finding myself engulfed in a thicket of blackberries and having to pull out the thorns from my hands with my teeth I decided that perhaps the spirit of the place was inciting me to go a bit too native. I will have to wait for another elusive spring for more foundation hunting.
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1 comment:
Quite enjoyed reading your descriptions of the mountain & Lovely image of you trekking through the brush - albeit the ATV - I had envisioned you lumbering down the road in your Wellies {quixotic vs. practical}. So now I have 'conjured' up the visions of these school children with their slates & it has given me a nice respite from my everyday humdrum rituals...but then those BEASTS of NATURE had to intrude - mosquitoes & flies - and why do you suppose Nature put those THORNS on the Blackberry Bushes??? But sounds like an utterly rewarding day in that 'The spirit of the place was there.'
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