•
 |
| Mt LeConte in the Great Smoky Mountains |
The seasons are beginning to mingle. For weeks, fall colors have flowed with slow restraint down the slopes like the tears of a geisha; while last week, a light snow dusted the higher elevations. The first kiss of winter, as soft as a lover's touch, covered Mt. LeConte above Gatlinburg, my hometown.
Thomas Wolfe wrote "you can't go home again." He meant that things change. After you leave, it's never the same. Yet, perhaps he was wrong, Asheville is on the other side of the mountains; here Mt. LeConte still looms.
I grew up in the foothills south of downtown Gatlinburg as did my father Russell, as did his father Homer, as did his father Jim, as did his father Caleb. I come from a long line of hillbillies, mountain men, and the mountain that has loomed over all those lives is Mt. LeConte.
I grew up in the foothills south of downtown Gatlinburg as did my father Russell, as did his father Homer, as did his father Jim, as did his father Caleb. I come from a long line of hillbillies, mountain men, and the mountain that has loomed over all those lives is Mt. LeConte.
Its silhouette is recognizable as the mountain with four peaks. At 6,593 feet, High Top, the second peak from the left, is the third highest point in the Smokies, topped only by Clingman's Dome at 6,643 and Mt. Guyot at 6,621.
Chet Raymo writes in The Path, "If we don't belong somewhere, we belong nowhere. If we are not attached to a particular landscape, we might as well be adrift in space...The place we learn to love can be a windowsill in a New York high-rise, a patch of woods on Walden Pond, or a million acres of the high Sierras. What's important is that we feel at home.
I feel at home at the base of this old mountain.
•
I love those photos, and I agree you can still love home, even if it changes after you leave.
ReplyDeleteYes, a sense of place--some people recognize this more strongly than others. Sounds like you know it in your blood & bones.
ReplyDeleteIn the interests of equal time (and satisfying curiosity!), what were the names of the mountain women who lived with the men by Mt LeConte--each of whom gave birth to another mountain man?
Yes JoLynne. Even though it may change, it still feels right.
ReplyDeleteAnd oh yes Patricia. You are correct.
In the interest of brevity, I only listed the Bales males. (Hey, that rhymes.) But the mountain women who worked beside them were equally rooted and harder working, plus they had all the babies. Of whom, I am one. The last of a line.
Those names would have been Helen, Pearl, Emma and Elizabeth.
Thanks for pointing it out.
How I envy you! That was my dream, to find our place in the foothills of an Appalachian Mtn. Instead we have found a home in the foothills of the Santa Catalinas, and it isn't at all what we'd expected. I mean, we KNEW what life here is like, but we just didn't expect to return and stay. I hang onto the Appalachian blog connections I have because I miss it all so much.
ReplyDeleteYou are such a beautiful writer. I catch my breath over phrases like "like the tears of a geisha." Anyway, I am proud to know you through your blog. May the snows of this winter be breath-taking but not distressing. All my best!
Marie
Thank you Marie. Comments like yours keep me writing. Love those Smokies.
ReplyDeleteYes, I'm lucky, I've only drifted 39 miles from where I grew up and on a clear day, I can still see LeConte from my driveway.
stephen LYN