Hutton House

This civil-war era house was owned by Christine "miss teenie" Hutton. We used to sneak off and play in the house when we were kids. Check out the size of the limestone blocks that are used for the foundation. Very cool. The house was built by slaves, from bricks that were fired about 1/4 mile away.

The main floor joists are made from whole trees, split in half, with the bark still on. It's got jail cells in the basement, yep jail cells, with bars on the windows and locks on the doors. Back when we were younger and stupider we'd take turns locking each other up in those cells. Hey, it's better than playing jail with the old refrigerator behind granny's house, right?

I can remember the portico over the front door being very ornate, I'm not sure what happened to it, there are no remnants of it left. Inside the front door there was a marble staircase that curved up to the second floor. Even back then the floor was starting to give way because of the weight of the staircase, when I looked in yesterday the floor and the stairs had collapsed into the basement, very sad. The cistern was located around back, near the kitchen, in what today we'd call the back deck. It had a hand-powered water pump that would draw water up from the cistern.

The brick that have fallen away on the left side is damage from this year's wind storm. The stump from a huge pine tree that fell over during that storm can been in the right front. The house has seen lots of history and more than it's share of bad weather, and it has lasted in pretty good condition until this year, but I doubt that it will hang on much longer now that the roof has started giving way.

Barn Rock Barn - Mendota, Va

Is the barn eating the rock?
Is the rock eating the barn?

This is the famous Barn Rock Barn located in the Pine Grove community near Mendota. I do like me some barns and this one is pretty cool as barns go. From what I can gather, in the 1940s Frank Osborne "wanted to show how Southwest Virginia's outcrops could be creatively used when he built the barn with a 12 ft high rock for a wall."

I'm sure it sounded like a good idea at the time.
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Directions: From US-11 in Abingdon, follow US-19 northwest for 7.5 miles. Turn left on Va-802 (Mendota Rd) and travel westbound for 11.8 miles. Turn left on Va-621 (Barnrock Rd) and travel 0.3 miles, keep left on Va-614 when the road splits. The barn is about 100 yds ahead, on the right, just past Pine Grove Baptist Church.

Great Channels Natural Area Preserve - The View

In addition to the geologic coolness of the rocks at the top of the Great Channels Natural Area Preserve, there is an insanely nice view of southwest Virginia. Since you are mostly above the tree canopy there is almost an unobstructed 360 degree view.

If a person was able to climb up the fire tower about two sections of steps, you'definitely have a clear view all around - but the fire tower has a sign that warns folk not to climb - so I can't in good conscience advise you to do this. I've not been anywhere in this area that affords such an unobstructed view of the valleys and surrounding mountain ranges. I'd be willing to bet that on a clear day you could see 50 miles.

The top picture was take facing due south. The sun was low in the west, it was quite hazy over the mountains, and I had forgotten to reinstall my polarizer afore I took this picture, so I dinked with the picture a bit trying to bring out some of the detail.

The bottom picture was taken facing north-east. That direction was not as badly hazed over as the southern exposure, so it needed a bit less post-processing.

I'll definitely be making a trip back in early winter when the sky's clear and the haze is gone. It'll be spectacular.

Great Channels Natural Area Preserve

I made an impromptu trip to the Channels Natural Area Preserve in Russell Co. Va. It was a gorgeous Sunday afternoon and the trees were displaying some great color.

The hike is about 6.2 miles roundtrip, with almost all of it on a gravel forest service road. The first mile or so is pretty easy, the last 2+ miles is a consistent climb, where most of the 1000 feet gain in altitude is made.

The first thing you see when you get there are the remnants of a small house and the fire tower pictured below. Walking past the firetower leads to a small trail through the rhododendron and down into the channels.

It's like nothing I've seen in this area before. The walls are 15 to 30 feet high, made of sandstone that's been grooved and pitted. The walls have been carved into huge boulders that have toppled over making a ceiling over the pathways. My description doesn't do this place justice, you really just need to go see it for yourself.