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Category Archives: Stokes County

A real monastery in Stokes?

While driving back from Cana, Virginia, today (a trip to get organic fertilizers — more on that later) I took a different route home on N.C. 704 through northern Stokes County. I was surprised to see a sign pointing to a Greek Orthodox monastery. I couldn’t resist driving part way down their long driveway and […]

Almost as green as Ireland

I was expecting a miserably hot, dry August. But instead we’ve had a long run of rainy weather. About 7 inches of rain has fallen here in the last nine days. Everything is emerald green. The cloudy weather has held the temperatures down. The high for today was about 77. The meadows are boggy, just […]

Farmer's market, etc.

Tomatoes are not yet plentiful. When they are, the price will come down. Ken and I went to the Danbury Farmer’s Market today. Ken took some photos along the way. Here are today’s photos, along with a couple of older catch-up photos. As for the rainfall, one farmer said they got about half an inch […]

We're brown while California is green

After I moved to California, it seemed odd to me how the green seasons are almost reversed. In California (except for the mountains), the rainy and relatively warm winters bring the greenest season in March. Then, because it doesn’t rain from April to September, summers are brown. Here it’s almost the opposite. It rains during […]

Over the river and through the woods

Round trip — more than 100 miles I drove to Yadkin County today to visit family. It was good weather for photography, and the leaves were just beginning to turn, so I figured it was a good day to document the route from northern Stokes County, where I live, to the Yadkin Valley, where most […]

Scenic Stokes

Californians, note: Those are tobacco barns.Winston-Salem Journal The Winston-Salem Journal has a story this morning on plans to expand the Hanging Rock Scenic Byway in Stokes County. The expansion would connect the tiny town of Danbury to the scenic loop. Fifty years ago, parts of neighboring Forsyth County were scenic, with fields and barns and […]

Pickin' at Priddy's, Oct. 4

Every Saturday in October, Priddy’s General Store near Danbury has “Pickin’ at Priddy’s.” There’s a bluegrass band, and there’s always something homemade in a black pot. Dogs welcome. It runs from 3 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. Priddy’s General Store is three miles from my place. Today’s band was The Plank Road. Oct. 11, Hubert Lawson […]

Danbury farmer's market

The Danbury farmer’s market is a small farmer’s market, but they have a strict rule that if you sell it, you have to grow it. Today there were about eight vendors. Danbury, by the way, is the county seat of Stokes County, North Carolina. It’s a tiny little town. For watermelons, or for potatoes or […]

Today: stalking trains, tractors and lilies

A diesel engine belonging to the Yadkin Valley Railroad stands idle on a sidetrack at Donnaha, right beside the Yadkin River. Yadkin Valley Railroad is a tiny railroad owned by Gulf and Ohio. It has two lines — one from Rural Hall to Mount Airy (48 miles), and another from Rural Hall to Elkin and […]

From Mama's house to my house

Mama’s roses All these photos were taken yesterday. I let the GPS device pick a route from Mama’s house to my place in Stokes. I told the GPS device to pick a route that led past a particular place along the Yadkin River where I’d remembered seeing an old mill 30 years ago, and I […]