An Adventure Begins....

This is a story of a charming Southern Town....
And so it begins again...this traveling...and this writing. Such is the story of the Vagabond.

It's been long--too long, as usual--since this space has been occupied by wordage, and the curse of it (I often joke) is that when one is the doing sort of person, it becomes hard to stop and write about the doing of it. In the time I have not been clacking away at keyboard, it has been a hallowed and harrowing tale of journey-prepping. I will tell you tales of painting and planning, and driving with no brakes on a wayward van. But those harrowing tales will come another time.

Now, it is time to catch you up on the traveling part, for what is a traveler without their travels. Four months ago, I decided to go on the road. Initially, it was to be a four state starter trip, with ideas of some Summer and Fall notions. Because of strange, mitigation circumstances (which I will tell soon), I had to cut those plans half-way, but that did not mean that there weren't adventures on the horizon.

I packed a pied parcel of art, art supplies, soap, honey, my trusty fiddle, and my old bones into a rogue van and, sure enough, it was time for another long distance trip. This time, the planned excursion snake-winded me from humid Florida at a pit-stop in Virginia, before I stopped into New Jersey for my first bout of classes at Jersey Made.

Virginia was a logical choice, a touchstone, as my sister works there in the horse hemmed hills of Southern Virginia, at a fancy girls school that--by all outward appearances---looks like Hogwarts.  By the way, it occurs to me you may be scratching or shaking your head, realizing that I do, indeed, have a sibling. Indeed, us wayfaring, mysterious traveling folk hail from families of all ilks and yes, I am indeed the proverbial black sheep of the family.

My sister is one year-and-a-half younger than I, though I joke when I say people think I'm the younger one; she is quite the serious, scholarly type--which I admire highly, but do not follow to the letter. Whereas she tread the same sort of path my parents seem to have laid out, I dallied amongst the outside lines, which seemed far more interesting to me.

In any case, she makes her home in a lovely little town called Chatham, which will remind you of all of those bucolic Southern small towns made famous in novels by Fannie Flagg or some such similar idealistic musings. And, of course, these towns are the ones I absolutely fall in love with, time and time again.

Once the proud home of an All-American made cloth company known as Dan River, as well as a booming mill town,  this place is still the county seat, where old law, lawyers, money, stories, and fine Southern charm mix itself up in that slow, swanky way that things do, south of the Mason-Dixon line.

And so here is the story, in pictures, of my small Southern love affair--

An old Victorian Mansion down a quiet tree lined street...

This stately home greets passers-by with  sunny "Hello!"

Down main street, this curious sight: an old trolley converted cleverly into a diner....

The steps of the county courthouse.....

Quite the sight: a swanky upscale home blazons the initial of the owner's name on the front door....

I step around the corner to find some amazing old country houses. This one boasts a rounded porch...

....do you know how much I love rounded porches??

This beautiful old church is on Main Street....

In fact, fine old enchanted details could be found everywhere.....

..as in the case of this lovely old gingerbread....

And even better than gingerbread...is CHIPPY old gingerbread....

...or this fine old stone well, right in the middle of someone's front yard.

Or this fun, Hobbity door at the bottom of this house!

Here is a curious house of long proportions--I have been told that the house started as the large house, and smaller, similar additions were added onto it as the family expanded. Today, this beauty serves as professional office space.

And of course, what forest lover wouldn't end with noble old trees...I wonder what this fellow has observed in its lifetime?




My stay was absolutely winsome and wonderful--and there was still a world of whimsy to come...
TOMORROW--The Song of A Storied New Jersey!