Remember the Barn Graveyard post, well Mitch had read it and saw the pictures and decided that he wanted to go back and see if for himself. Today being Saturday, and having nothing to do, but clean the house I agreed that going out in search of an adventure was right up our alley. Before I came to that conclusion our discussion sounded more like this.
Mitch: I want to go somewhere.
Me: Okay, where do you want to go?
Mitch: Lets go see that barn graveyard
Me: You do realize that this time of year it's gonna be hard to get into, there's going to be poison ivy and grass way past our waists since no one cuts it, there will be ticks and whatnot out there too.
Mitch: Yeah, but I want to drive by it and see where it is.
Me: Okay, sounds good to me.
To get me to go on an adventure is usually THAT easy. What actually transpired was a little different. So you have to drive on 21 to 30 to get to where we needed to go and as we were driving, most of the scenery looked correct...and then it didn't. It's funny how you plug an address in to your phone and it spits out three choices to you. These three choices were not the same three choices it gave me the last time. Needless to say we drove ALL the way to Catawissa (56 minutes away) without even a glimpse of this elusive barn graveyard. As Mitch and I sit in Gayle's driveway trying to figure out a different way back, one that we might have missed Mitch's phone showed us a different route to take and it turned out to be the correct one. Yeah for Google Maps!
As we were driving back we cross over a bridge, a newer bridge and I happen to look over to my right and I see the falls that I had seen before! I told Mitch to go back. I told him I wanted to stop and take a picture of those falls before, the last time, right after we went exploring in the barn graveyard. Unfortunately it's a really hard shot to get because it's in the middle of a bridge and the bridge is used a lot. Any shot of taking that picture without getting ran over is slim to none. I asked him to pull a U-turn and go back to the white and green house and make another left!! This mama was EXCITED!
 |
| This is what I saw! It's beautiful! |
As we turn down this rock drive, I look for any kind of signage that says, "Private Road" or "Private" and not seeing anything we press on. As we turned a little ways down we ran into two very nice gentlemen, a father and son you could tell by the looks of them. The son comes up and I asked him if we could drive down a bit further to take a picture of the falls. His response back to me, "for $400 bucks, sure why not." All I could do was laugh and laugh I did. When I stopped he looked at Mitch and said, "Well since she didn't take me seriously I guess you can drive down a ways and just park off to the side." We drove another 100 feet and pulled off to the side. I have to tell you this place was AMAZING!
 |
| The first thing I noticed was this laying against this beautiful building. |
 |
| So here's the bridge that I saw from the bridge that everyone drives on. |
 |
| This is the out building that the conquistador was laying up against |
It really is quite a stunning old bridge.
Come to find out this bridge was in a movie AND built in 1893 by a company that is still in business in St. Louis!! The company is the St. Louis Bridge & Iron Company.
The movie 'Saving Shiloh' was filmed here in 2005! Who knew!!
The owner of the property came out and had a lovely long chat with us and I apologized for laughing because I didn't realize that this was a private residence. Jim, the lovely owner, did say that somedays he thinks about putting up a 'Private Drive' sign up by his newer house, but then if he did he wouldn't get to meet so many nice people who stop by to look at the falls.
He told us that the dam was built in 1836 before the Civil war and that he used to live in the mill that butts up against the bank of this small river. It's so picturesque I can't even believe that he lives here and has for 40 years! This man has four grown children, two daughters and two sons and they've all since moved away. He's 73 mind you, and sharp as a tack! He tells us that five years ago he built himself a newer house and lives up by the street, but still uses the mill to this day. Seriously, I don't know about you, but I would totally live in a mill! He said that his children used to swim in this river and he jumps into the river from the bridge from time to time. He just makes sure he takes his cell phone out of his pocket and takes his shoes off, but it's just a fine jump!
He says that in St. Louis when they tear down the old buildings, he knows some of the construction guys, and they call him and he reuses some of the old rock facades to build up his little town.
I am in serious awe of his creativeness! He has such a great eye and a talent to match.
 |
| He told us that he's going to pour a cement floor off of this and put a table and some chairs here. Seriously the view is perfect for a such an idea! |
He says he built this door and told the girls it's a magical door that will take you anywhere you want to go. Well, right then, I was in one of the coolest places I've seen in a long time and loved every minute we were able to stand and chat with Jim.
And to think we almost missed this over some crazy directions! If we all looked around more at the space in which we travel it's truly amazing all the things that we are able to experience. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, but most likely if you look hard enough there is adventures to be had just about anywhere. I have learned that, "If you open your heart anything is possible." - Saving Shiloh
WOW! How cool is that place!
ReplyDelete~jmarchal