Finally! Jeff's Photos from Skull Shoals

Stream on road to the ruins

Such an inviting road

Scull Shoals - historical site

My photos came out above Elizabeth's, who posted first. She gives more in formation below. Meanwhile: Gary Doster tells me that the creek we crossed over on the way to Scull Shoals was Sandy Creek.

 It was so pretty we had to stop and take pictures. Left to right: Jeff Engel, Elizabeth Barton, Alexis Winger.

Then we continued down the dirt road toward the site of whatg once was the thriving community of Scull (not Skull--though I kind of like that spelling) Shoals.

Arriving at the site, we read the posted literature about the town. Eliizabeth gives some of the information in her part of this blog, below.

                  The brick ruins show what happens when humans leave--nature takes over, as Elizabeth says.

           My version of the sun on the grasses and the fence that surrounds the major part of the ruins.

AND NOW FOR ELIZABETH'S PICTURES AND COMMENTS:

Sure hope I've got the name right!  Scull Shoals - just south of Athens, GA on Highway 15.....
The intrepid four magical mystery tour photographers set off for this historical site a few days ago....
Alas, my photos are limited because of an abundance of poison ivy....maybe the other folk will post very different views.
This little settlement was thriving for over 100 years from the late 18th century till the early 20th....there was a mill there using water from the river  to grind corn and wheat and farmers came from all over.
Alas, a giant flood destroyed many of the buildings and a lot of stored flour....the people left, the buildings gradually fell down and nature took over....as you'll see.
Nature will win!  There's no doubt!    Here are my photos.....

I really like the way the light caught these wild grasses which surrounded the ruins.....

A doorway to nature....lovely old bricks...

 a really bad hair day!!  you can see the brick creature just groaning!!! AGGHHH!

a couple of nice shots of the river, I'm not sure if this is the Actual Scull creek of Scull shoals or not!! And I didn't see any shoals.....there had been a bridge but it was long gone....

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JEFF has a separate posting of this excursion. They seem to be above mine.....But anyway, here are 3 of the 4 photographers' renditions of a nice morning excursion to this historical site.

The MMTPs go to the Etowah Indian Mounds, Cartersville, GA

J1

Etowah Indian mounds.    The mounds are aboriginal.   The long steps leading to the top are not ;).   Nor are the people, although they are originals each in her own way.

J2

 Iconic Cowboy sculpture at the entrance to the Booth Museum of Western Art, Cartersville, GA

J3 
The patrons.  
Note: while they appear to be discussing the pictures, in reality they are
debating where to go for lunch.

J4
View out from inside museum (obviously [insert eye rolling emoticon here])

E1

A brisk February day...and we visited the amazing  Etowah Indian Mounds at Cartersville, north of Atlanta. The beautiful 54 acre site lying alongside the Etowah river was home for several thousand   Native Americans from 1000 A.D. to 1550 A.D.
Three of the original six mounds are still there and are amazingly high (63 feet) ...you can get to the top via steps...and there's an excellent view.
Etowah Mounds is the most intact Mississippian Culture site in the Southeast.
In a small museum adjacent are a number of artifacts including the stone sculpture above.  There are also many ornaments, some pottery and various tools.

E2 looking East from the top of the large Mound

E3 Looking down from the largest mound to the Etowah River

 Enough fish was caught in the river (many different species) to feed the entire community...life before pollution!

E4  Sky pathway

E 5  Looking North upriver

And here are Pat's selected photographs.

P 1.  Before we went to the Mounds, we visited the Booth Western Museum to see a display of Ansel Adams photographs, as well as photos by artists who inspired him and whom he inspired. The statue above was by the Musuem's entrance. Then, inspired ourselves by the exhibit, we went to the nearby Etowah Mounds to take some pictures.

P2. First we climbed Mound A, the largest and highest mound, for views like the above.

P3. As this picture of Alexis shows, there were lots of stairs to climb to reach the top.

P4. This view from the top of Mound A shows the Etowah River and Mound B on the left. The tiny people show the scale.

P 5. After climbing back down from the Mound, we walked along the river to see views like this one. But we could not stay long--we had to get back on the road in hopes of avoiding the Atlanta five o"clock traffic. Life intrudes upon art!!

Athens, GA at night in December

There's something really magical about night photos!
And so the indefatigable magical mystery tour photographers of Athens, GA set out for a night time shoot!  (well, one turned out to be supremely fatigable and was unable to join us....and we hope he regrets it!!!)

Here are some of our favorite pictures from our evening out in Athens - which was followed up by a very nice post-shoot supper at one of the members' houses....we MUST do this again!

so please...vote for your favorites in the Comments!  

E 1 Lady on a Pole!

E2 Glow

E 3 The Dark Path

E4 Clayton Street

E5 The Shaking Christmas tree!

Here are some of Pat's photos:

                                                            P1  Athens City Hall

                           P2  "The Spirit of Athens"  catching a falling star with the new moon behind her.

                                       
                                           P3  City Hall portico with winter trees and the new moon

                                                                   P4  The base of the City Christmas Tree

 

P5 Close up of some of its ornaments 

P6 Christmas on Clayton

                                    P7  Intrepid Magical Mystery Tour photographers Alexis and Elizabeth risk their

 lives as they photograph in the street!

P8 And here are the three of us--Elizabeth, Pat, and Alexis--taken by Pat's camera on a tripod. She

missed Jeff, who usually did these group photos! 

Finally, here are three photos from Alexis:

 

A1  Impressionistic photo of Pat and Elizabeth and Christmas tree lights.

A2 Elizabeth and Pat on side steps of City Hall

A3 Pat and Elizabeth walking down a magically lit street

It  was a great evening, and later having supper at Pat's by candlelight was the appropriate ending to the magical mood.

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