Tennessee rails

 The railroad that went past our home in Tennessee...

From Tennessee

 a fall view from 2007

From my favorite place on tis earth....

 I am thankful for so much...and I  am so thankful to have grown up in the mountains of East Tennessee.

Happy Thanksgiving!

An old, old house

First the view in color...from Tennessee in 2011

 I have no idea how old this place is....but it is miles from anywhere.   People just had to be self sufficient back then.  

Now, we'll zoom in, only in B&W

 I wonder how far they had to bring the windows....just imagine traveling an old rough road, maybe with a horse and wagon...and trying to keep a window from getting broke.

For some reason I think these fit B&W better than color.  I hope you enjoy them...

Old beauties....

I just thought I would go back and show a few more Tennessee pictures...

I remember stopping to take these last two and wondering about their history...

This house sat to the right of the barn above it....I feel sure they were once part of the same farm.  and probably still are.

How about a this?

I am still amazed to  have seen this peahen where we seen her.  We were really off the beaten path.  Much of the time would have had to hunt for a place to pass another car.

The sisters....

I call these two the sisters, but think of them as the twins.  but they are not quite.  The one has windows on the end plus the chimneys are different.  Notice the swing still on the porch of the nearest house?  Still, they are enough alike to make me think they were built by the same person.  And I wonder if they were for siblings.  Or maybe parents and child.

I would love to know their history, and know what families lived there.

These photos were taken in 2011...I wonder if the houses are still standing.

I think this barn belonged to the same farm.  This was the only shot I managed to get of it. 

An old Tennessee beauty...

Since I have not been getting out much, I have been going through the archives.  I thought I would start dipping into some Tennessee photos.

So here we have one barn...

I will be saying this a lot...almost all the photos were drive-bys.  Admittedly at a slow pace....most of the time there was no place to pull off.  And the roads were narrow with lots of curves.

Tennessee .....from a Kodak Instamatic

I did two versions of this...the photo is old.  Probably around the 1970s.  I don't have many from my growing up years.

But these photos show a part of me.  In the photo here, I was standing on hill across the road from our house.  It belonged to a neighbor.   One of my brothers and I sometimes used this hill for sledding.  It was not very steep, but it was close to home.

The barn  that is near the left side was our barn. It is gone now. That tree line that is touching it?  Do you see what I mean...it more or less dissects  the middle of the photo from left to right...that was Gap Creek.  There was a summer or two that we played in it almost every day at some point. Somedays almost all day.  It did not have any real deep spots near home.  By we, I mean my nephew and I, and sometimes the brother that is closest to me in age.

And the one below I am still in the same spot taking the photo.  I had just turned to my right.  Again part of our playground.  And both were a source of work...

We always had a few head of cattle....we just always called them 'the cows'...and each one had a name.  And I think I can still name most of them.  And we raised 4 pigs almost every year.  And I really don't remember a year we didn't but it is not something I am positive about.  We raised corn to have for feed...and we raised tobacco for a cash crop.  The big field on the right side of the road above was a hayfield for the most part...it did have a couple spots we used to raise tobacco.  And that field to the left side of the road was always used for corn.  Just so many memories just looking at these.

I am going to try linking to Betty's My Corner of the World.

Barn views

Showing some views of this barn...

In the top pic, it looks in fairly good shape.

But the doors look like they could use some work.

From the hills of Tennessee

A photo from 2011...

From Cumberland Gap...

Another photo from Tennessee.....

From the hills of Tennessee

One of a few pics I took last October...

From Tennessee

An old building ....I have no idea what it was.  And wonder when it was last used for anything.

Tennessee Barns from October...

For the Barn Collective, I am showing a few snapshots from Tennessee...

This one was down in a valley, and this is the best I could do.

 Not fantastic shots, but still they work for me.

 Above is not a barn, but an outbuilding or shed.

From my favorite place on earth..

From my favorite place on earth...near Cumberland Gap, Tennessee.

Barns from the past....

 All barns are from a drive taken in October of 2012.

They are all from Tennessee.

I just had to convert the one above to B&W.

I am linking these to the Barn Collective.

From somewhere in the Smoky Mountains...

I love places like this!

Back in time for barns...

This one from 2008, I think.  Probably northern Illinois...

And one from Tennessee in 2012.

Linking to the Barn Collective.

A barn from the Smoky Mountains....

I am sure I have shown this but it has been years...so choosing to post it again.

And will here a couple photos of some of the items inside..

Linking to The Barn Collective