GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS
The Smokies is one of the most heavily traveled parks in the United States. The National Park Service web page for the Smokies says that there are ~nine million visitors a year. Quite a number! However, if you time it right, you will find the park relatively empty. (hint: after school begins and before the trees change colors)
If you like old cabins, waterfalls, rhododendrens, salamanders, and, of course, mountains and bears, then this is the place for you! (Note: We didn't see a single bear in the time we were there, which was very disappointing for someone who just knew a bear would come traipsing through their campsite or across their path while hiking!)
Cades Cove:
- Elijah Oliver Home
- John P. Cable Grist Mill
- Dan Lawson Place
- Tipton Place
- Dan Lawson Place
- from the Dan Lawson Place
Pictures taken from Clingmans Dome:
- The Smoky Mountains, and part of the 'trail' to the Dome
- The Smoky Mountains
- The Smoky Mountains, taken from the trail
Mountain Farm Museum:
Waterfalls:
- Henwallow Falls
- Henwallow Falls
- Little Mouse Falls
- Little Mouse Falls
- Midnight Hole
- Ramsay Cascades
- a tree at the top of Ramsay Cascades
Alum Cave
taken from the Alum Cave Bluffs Trail
FRONTIER CULTURE MUSEUM
The Frontier Culture Museum is in Staunton, Virginia. Here is a description of the museum taken from their web page:
The Museum of American Frontier Culture is a unique museum which offers 17th, 18th and 19th century European and American history as an experience, featuring appropriate furnishings, crops, animals, foods, and a knowledgeable staff of costumed interpreters that help create a living illustration of life in Europe before immigration to America and the culture they built on one of America's first frontiers. Three authentic farms have been brought over from Europe to share the story of how our ancestors lived before they came to America, they include: German farm, c. 1700-1750; Ulster (Scotch Irish) farm, c.1700-1830; English yeoman farm, c.1675-1700. The American Frontier Culture farm comes from the Valley and shares daily life c.1840-1860. An 18th century forge from Northern Ireland--the museums first trades building opened in 1995 and costumed blacksmiths demonstrate regularly.
German (Rhineland-Palatinate) Farm:
Scotch-Irish (Ulster) Farm:
English (Worcestershire) Farm:
American (Valley of Virginia) Farm:
