over on the South Fork of the
New River; just up river of
the confluence of the North
& South Forks.
New River - Mangum Farm, Nov. 1977
The Apprentice's Trail
|
I wound up living in Crumpler, NC
over on the South Fork of the New River; just up river of the confluence of the North & South Forks. |
New River - Mangum Farm, Nov. 1977
|
|
Robin & Bet Mangum,
the friends who had suggested I speak to the Hoffmans, had just bought a small farm on the Ashe County side of the river. They rented the place to me for $15 a month. |
Mangum farmhouse - the 'ol Spencer Brown Place - Nov. 1977
|
|
I moved onto the river in
July of 1977, & began cleaning out a house that was just a month or two from being used to hang tobacco. There was no running water, but for the attached springhouse & the whole place smelled of the river & old buttermilk. |
|
|
The house & I slowly
discarded it's disrepair. With the cleaning of the yard & the small orchard out back, things started to look a a bit brighter along the river. |
Mom & Dad's 1st Visit - Aug. 1977
|
|
My various needs like firewood, spring plowing & the use of a telephone, introduced me to folks like Paul Lambert Sidney Stirgell, the Simmons & the Fitzgeralds. |
South Fork, New River. View from the Mangum Farm - Nov. 1977
|
January storm - winter, 1978
|
It was a quiet & sometimes
lonely place, but those times along the river are, now, as cherished embers from a well banked fire. |