Mostly Early 1800s

 
Today we spent the day with Randy and Annette. They fed us breakfast at their house and then we went to see "The Wall." This is a memorial built over the course of 27 years by one man, Tom Hendrix.



His great-great-grandmother, Te-lah-nay, was one of the Yuchi Indians sent west along the Trail of Tears in the 1830s. But she was unable to adjust to life away from the Tennessee River. The Tennessee was known to their tribe as the Singing River for the music it made before the dams were built. Te-lah-nay said she could not hear singing in the rivers of Oklahoma, so she began a journey all alone, back to her homeland. It took her five years, but she did return. This wall commemorates her trip. It is winding in places as her travels were, and there are resting places along the way.



These rocks are all naturally formed like faces, and Tom placed them in one location to represent the spirits of the grandmothers.



Many people who have visited have brought rocks from around the world to leave as a tribute to Te-lah-nay, and others on the Trail of Tears.



I bought the book of her story called If the Legends Fade.

After that, we went back along the river. These are not the exact bluffs I hiked above the other day, but are less than a mile from there. As you can see, there are private homes atop these. Both of these were actually designed by Randy, who is an architect.



We drove up there to check out the view.



After lunch, we went to tour an antebellum house called Belle Mont. It was built in 1828. There is still a lot of work to do to restore it, but it was interesting. It's built in what's called Palladium style, which means there are two wings that reach back from the front of the house with a courtyard between. They didn't want pictures taken inside.

The ceilings are about 15 feet high, and the doors about 4 feet wide. They've managed to collect some period furniture, and there is a portion of the original wallpaper from France that has been preserved.

It was smaller than you'd expect from the picture although the rooms are fairly large. There was a grand hall/entrance and three rooms in each of the wings on the ground floor. On the second floor is just the one front room.

The kitchens were all in separate buildings outside and no longer exist. There is a photograph of one of the slave cabins that was still standing in the early 1900s, but no one has yet determined exactly where it was located.



We finished one of Loretta's other odd jobs, and that took care of today!

	See Opus 40
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A Walk Along the Tennessee River

 
Loretta had to work today and the place I was planning to go is only open on weekends, so I hunted up some other trails. It turns out there is a fairly extensive trail network on the Tennessee Valley Authority land associated with Wilson Dam at Florence. The river here is wide and beautiful.



The Rockpile Trail is mostly at the top of the rocky bluffs along the river that I don't have a picture of yet. Of course, the hiker has to get up there!



There were a lot of ups and downs, but some sections were just a pleasant stroll (through the poison ivy).



The biggest trail surprise was a place where there is a deep bay at the edge of the river. The trail comes down to water level and crosses the mouth on a concrete bridge that is used as a fishing pier. There was a man there catching crappie. He said I should go back the way I came and there was a trail that stayed above the head of the bay. I asked him if the bridge connected with the trail on the other side. He said it did, but I'd have to go uphill to get back to the other trail. I told him I'd have to go uphill even if I turned around. I said I wanted to go to the dam, and asked if the trail went on that way. He said he thought it did, but he'd never walked to it. (By now, I was less than a mile from the dam!)



I went on, and got back up to the main trail with no problem, but thought perhaps I'd reached an alternate Oz. There were red brick steps and above them a red brick trail!



Finally, I made it to Wilson Dam. I showed you this four years ago, the last time I was here. This time, I want you to find the pile of rocks below the dam, just left of the center of the picture.



The rocks are always covered with white pelicans, cormorants, and great blue herons. Look at the relative sizes.



I really love the pelicans. This may be my best picture of them yet, even though they are so far away.



They have a nine-foot wingspan, much larger than the herons. And those black feathers only show when they fly.



I can't keep saving all the wildlife pictures to show you later, or there will be a huge backlog. Already, I have no idea how to share all the new and interesting plants without boring you to death. Anyway, I'll add some wildlife from today. This is a red-spotted purple butterfly. He was kind enough to land on my foot for his picture.



Best picture I've ever gotten of an indigo bunting. Not super great, but not terrible.



And most exciting for me, a new species to add to my list of animals. This is a five-lined skink. He was running right along that concrete bridge. I had no idea that a- they are so big, and b- skinks are lizards, not salamanders!



What an awesome day! I completed the hike loop via a paved trail, but there was a breeze so it wasn't too hot. That gave me time to hike the Native Plant Trail too. Total distance- maybe seven miles (the maps didn't indicated mileages).

Here's the trail joke of the day. I needed to use the Energy Trail to connect to the bike trail. I was quite perplexed as to what that name signified. The answer... trail under a powerline!

The poison ivy was crawling out of the trail throughout- coming for me. My first act after returning home was to shower and wash all the clothes. Hope I got everything I touched wiped down.

	See Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge See Wilson Dam
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Alabama Wildlife -1

 
Loretta and I spent the morning doing errands, but then we headed out to try to find a wildlife adventure. We had marginal success, but are going to try again tomorrow. My best picture of the day is a white egret soaring over the Tennessee River.



I can crop that so you'll see the bird better, but I liked the shot with the clouds too.



This is a crummy picture, but there's no (safe) way to get it better. This is white pelicans and cormorants sitting on the rocks in the Tennessee River below the bridge. Had to take it through the railing at 50 mph.



Just a mockingbird, but they are pretty, and I seldom see one in Michigan, although it's not unheard of.



While we're doing common birds, here's a cardinal. But I loved how he looked sitting in the white clover.



Funniest wildlife of the day- a stuffed fox in the lodge at Joe Wheeler State Park. The jaunty look for Christmas, I guess.



Now we've arrived at the location we were trying to find: Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge. Sadly, the visitor center is closed on Monday and we didn't know that. But we're planning to go back tomorrow. Nevertheless, it was not a wasted drive. We found a short trail along Flint Creek (which runs into the Tennessee River).



These turtles were pretty far away, so the picture is poor. I'll try harder to get good pictures if I see them tomorrow, because this is a new species for me! These are eastern river cooters, Pseudemys concinna concinna. Since it's new to me, it's obviously my favorite wildlife sighting of the day.



I also saw a red wasp that I couldn't get a picture of.

We had a great time! Got in the car to head home just as a downpour let loose. It didn't last too long, but the timing was good for us. Wonderful, wonderful day!

	See Mockingbird
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