New Echota brings the spring

I celebrated this year's spring equinox with photographer Chuck Smith at New Echota State Historic Site (Georgia). It was a stunningly beautiful day to spend in such an eternal, peaceful place.

A few trees in the park have begun to flower, this one by the "middle-class" Cherokee homestead circa 1828, the same one I am standing next to in the first photo.



Beneath the pine, a turquoise sun, a cloud of calm...
the necklace I made with an orange heart charm from Jumping Mouse Beads in Ellijay, just up the Coosawattee River from here


In the print shop, Chelsea shares a copy of page one of the February 21 issue of the Cherokee Phoenix she just printed, then explains that it's from 1828, not a month ago! (This was the first issue of the first Indian newspaper of any Nation, and was printed in English and Cherokee and edited by Elias Boudinot. It is still in existence.)



Looking up at a picture of Rising Fawn George Lowrey in the Council House. (In 1828 he was the Assistant Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, next under John Ross, photo beside him on right)



A piney forest behind the site is a fine place for a fawn, so get on your hooves and come on out!

For more information about New Echota: http://www.gastateparks.org/Echota

For more on the Cherokee Phoenix: http://www.cherokeephoenix.org/

All photography by Chuck Smith (GA Aviation Photography) 2010
Special thanks to Chelsea, David, Yvey, and Will at New Echota.

To the season!

from a Broken Bridge, Sweetwater has never seemed sweeter

I've been thinking about ruins lately...
A trip to Sweetwater Creek State Park on the cusp of spring, a tear drop shed as I entered for hearing that amazing sound of rushing water not fifteen minutes from my home. And though it's warm, the trees are still bare, so there are so many clear views of the river all along.
The trail to the mill is well-traveled, so this time I chose to walk upstream, in solitude except for occasional joggers and dogs followed by tag-along men. I'd heard people talk about a bridge here, but I didn't see one, surprising given the lack of leaves. Then around a bend and under a mess of debris and fallen trees:


"It was September's flood that broke this bridge...
the hard work of 15 years by the Army Corps of Engineers!
a mass of green steel beams torn and thrown into the stream.
no human touch, only the hand of nature."
A jogger tells me this as he passes the ruin for the first time. It's going to change his route, he was expecting to cross as many others do.
Who would have thought, from a creek so Sweet, renewing itself again?
This could be a microcosm of the experience for those who lived through Hurricane Katrina, like my friend from Mississippi with whom I shared this story.

I sat on the concrete ledge which once was the bridge for a while, then as the sun was going down I walked down to the Mill area. Later in the day it's not so crowded and the rushing water over the shoals make for the best river experience in metro Atlanta! There is some boardwalk and trail damage too, down here, where volunteers have been working to clean some of this up.
Here's a beautiful view of the river through the mill you can only see when the trees are bare:


I love this park and I will come here again as soon as I can!

For more information about Sweetwater, check out http://www.gastateparks.org/Sweetwater

Winter Update 2: the Coosawattee Watershed, North Georgia

One sunnier, windier winter day I revisited the Coosawattee ("little Coosa") River area in Northwest Georgia, from Ellijay westward down to the I-75 valley around Calhoun. There are no state parks in this region; the central feature is Carter's Lake, the consequence of a colossal earthen dam project in the 1960's at the fall of the river (and currently under control of the US Army Corps of Engineers). For us in Atlanta, Carter's Lake is largely forgotten in favor of closer lakes like Allatoona and Lanier.
The prettiest views are commonly to the west. The town of Ellijay (on GA-515) is overlooked by residential Talona Mountain, which locals know as the mountain with the huge cross on top which is spotlit at night.
the view to the east...smoke in the sunset



the Coosawattee North Bank at Carter's Dam. Imagine how it looked before the dam was built! The river once had rapids here, and was the site of Mississippian and then Cherokee towns, and inspired James Dickey to write "Deliverance" after a trip down it just before the dam. Now the lake is the deepest east of the Mississippi (450 feet at the deepest point! ...the same as the elevation drop - 1250 to 800 feet) and has several park areas around it.
Further on, the Coosawattee joins the southbound Conasauga River to make the Ustanuli, near New Echota Cherokee Capital (which, due to current state park budget cuts ;(,,, is only open Thursdays through Saturdays).

More about Carter's Lake:
http://carters.sam.usace.army.mil/

For rafting and tubing on the Coosawattee:
http://www.riverfacts.com/rivers/10913.html

Spring come soon!
--Arianna R.F.

Winter Update 1: Occoneechi Mountain State Natural Area, NC

While passing through central North Carolina (my home state) I wanted to stop and visit one of the newer state natural areas, one that had been designated since I lived there. Occoneechi "Mountain" on the headwaters of the Eno River, once a Saponi settlement and only 867 feet in altitude - but still the highest point along the I-85 corridor and eastward to the coast - is easy to find, tranquil, and beautiful on a cloudy winter afternoon.

Near the summit is a circle of stones, the best spot to view the northward valley when the trees are leafless. I met an interesting woman there. It was so peaceful and the almost-melted snow spotted across the whole monadnock. If you walk up the main summit trail, look to your right just before the old firetower!
Occoneechi Mountain is located just off of I-85 at the S. Churton St. exit, near Hillsborough, NC. For more information....visit http://www.ncparks.gov/Visit/parks/ocmo/main.php

Osage-Orange 3: home again

HOME AGAIN

The Osage-orange tree's fruit which I discovered at Peachtree Creek in October and seemed to symbolize Harvest 2009 was taken back to the park. Rotten contentment.
Who knew it would inspire a song?
That - and the "Apples and Fireworks" store up in thar' hills with that singin' deer bust...

MAKE A WISH


when the great seamstress falls down on her knees
and spills all the apples she picked off the trees, the fireworks she bought
that she holds in her arms like a baby ignite and make light in the night
(and the appppples are rotten but they look white)
Down from the mountain she drove past a store
selling fruits and explosives and not much more
highway 25 dressed in a coat of orange grandfather's burgundy boots carry me
softly with his memory (it's been a year already)

and midwestern trees with an orange bark grow discreetly in an Atlanta suburban park
with a creek named after a fruit whose trees in this area have all been cut down
and no longer grow...
...and the girl in the band with a banjo in hand
drives an arrow-shaped van down the mountain
blues from a bow, it lands by a deer in the snow
"this is your chance," she says, "now let's go."

make a wish, make a wish, make a wish and place your fruit in the spiral
make a wish, make a wish, make a wish and hope that you'll be back tomorrow

won't you take me to a place to a far away place with nothing to remind me and I hope no one will find me but the gods in the garden and pay for my lodging cause I need recharging and ground me out like a telephone pole coming down from a mountaintop i am psyche so i was told bored of gourds and tired of boys

sunset
fawn rising

(if you have any questions about all of this, feel free to ask away!...)

"Desert-shore girl" music video - shows this week at AGIFF!

The video I produced for the song "Desert-shore Girl" will be showing at the Ava Gardner Independent Film Festival in Smithfield, NC this Friday (November 20)!

"Desert-shore Girl" (which I wrote and recorded with my band Found Objects of Desire) was inspired by Florida's parks, less-developed beaches, and natural springs.
Some of my photos and writing that accompany the video and experience are in earlier entries on this blog (September 2009).

Also, a video for "Meandering" - another Found Objects of Desire song, lensed/directed by my friend Athena Reel and featuring mountains in and around Asheville, NC - will show at the festival this weekend.

Here is the "Desert-shore girl" video for all to enjoy!!
Thanks to Kelly, the staff at Manatee and Wakulla Springs, Athena, Jamie, Ashes, and anyone else who helped out with this.

Vogel in October / Leaf Watch GA

A little late, but....


Today is the final day of the Georgia State Parks' Autumn Leaf Watch contest.
(if you've taken photos of leaves at any of the state parks this fall)
Post your photos on Flickr - find out more at

http://www.gastateparks.org/LeafWatch/

VOGEL STATE PARK, GA - OCTOBER 2009

Vogel is the second-oldest Georgia State Park, developed by the CCC and a notable mountain tourist destination in the 1940's and 1950's. It's on the Nottelee River side of Blood Mountain, centered around the little Lake Trahlyta - though the park's several miles away from Trahlyta's grave/home/spring. There's a place to swim in the summer, but the waterfall below is really picturesque and only a short walk away!

photography by zbilly (Billy Gilbert)
wardrobe = "shamanic secretary"
special appearance by Petey the Puppy



2009 Arianna Fawn
RIP granddad