Sootypaws Journal

We're hoping to post some photos taken in the hollow here back in the good old days. Changes have constantly been taking place over the years and what is old has been quickly disappearing.

Our neighbor, Wanda Lane, let us scan some photographs she had that were taken in the 1960s of Harmon's Creek Road where it climbs the mountain -- to the ridge where we live. Back then the road was dirt. When we bought our property in 1984 the road had been graveled. In the 1990s it was tarred and chipped though that has deteriorated badly over the years -- damaged severely by heavy trucks bringing equipment and materials for the gas wells drilled around here.

The school bus doesn't go up the mountain. There is a turnaround at the base just before my mother's property.

		This is looking down the road to the base of the mountain. The barely visible roof on the right is for a spring house. My mom bought this property in the 1980s and the spring house was modified to create an apartment. Her house is just below, nestled between the hillsides, next to a creek. The black dog is typical of the area where all the dogs have big smiles. Up in the woods to the left is a rock outcropping that looks just like a dog's head. Up there, also, is where stone was quarried for foundations and chimneys of area homes by the family who lived here in the 1890s. This is also where we took photos in our A Walk Through the Asbury Property post.
		The road up the mountain has a steep grade with only one short level spot and a hairpin curve. Ruts in a dirt road like this, especially on a grade, help keep vehicles from sliding off the mountain side.
		Even further up the mountain. This is the level area, with a short pull off spot in the foreground just before the hairpin curve.
		In this photo, looking up the mountain road, we're nearly at the top. It's possible to see in the photo how the road is in a gully. Dirt/mud roads tend to do this on slopes because of erosion and runoff and also because of the way traffic uses the road, shifting from side to side trying to find a spot that offers good traction.

More soon!