My Autumn Place Pt. 1

Since I didn't make it up to New England this Fall....I decided to keep it alive in my memory by sharing with you all photos of the wonderful towns and vistas that I have encountered in my travels. Woodstock, VT is in my top 5, as I mentioned in earlier posts. But with all of its charm, (and it has tons to spare)...Woodstock is pretty well known and easily accessible to many. You learn this the first time you try to make your way there in the Fall and find a slight traffic jam through town.
But there is another town in Vermont that could well be my favorite of all.... And that town is Peacham. Where Woodstock is found easily on the map, you will need more than a map and a good sense of direction to find your way to Peacham. I read about this town on one of my Photography sites, years ago while planning our very first trip to New England. It was touted as being the 'most photographed village' in all of New England. And if not the most photographed, then certainly the most photogenic! Every time we go to New England, we go to Peacham, and every time we go to Peacham, we get lost! Maps will only help you so much, but when you get out into the pristine Vermont countryside on narrow, winding little 2-lane roads...you better pay close attention to every street sign. For one moment your on track according to the map, and the next thing you know you are 25 miles out of the way, on a completely different road, heading in the wrong direction, saying "this doesn't look right does it"? But it's really hard to pay attention to mundane details like maps and street signs when you are feasting your eyes on the glorious Vermont landscape in the Autumn, like the scene above which was shot en route to Peacham. However, with time and determination and stopping to ask the locals, (who honestly, sometimes seem a little put out with 'outsiders') you will eventually wind up in Sleepy Hollow. What? I meant 'Peacham' right? Well yes and no. The first time I laid eyes on this small little village, colored like crayons with trees of red, yellow, green, brown and orange...well I fell in love. THIS is what my minds eye sees as 'Sleepy Hollow'...the one from the cartoon brought to life. With the gray clouds overhead, enveloping me in their cold blankets, and the lonely caw of crows watching from bare branches in the autumn trees....to the red, white and black shuttered barns behind every stately old homestead....this was my Sleepy Hollow, my Hallowe'en Town of Olde. Now I've been to the real Sleepy Hollow / Tarrytown as well, but Peacham seems more like my ideal of how it would have looked long ago when Irving wrote the tale.I fully expected to hear the galloping of hoofs, followed by the sight of the Headless Horseman with his jack o' lantern head all orange and blazing. This must be where I lived....sometime in my past, another lifetime maybe, or perhaps in a memory or my wishful imagination. I stared longingly at the homes all shut up tight against the cold, as the woodsy smell of smoke drifted out of their chimneys. I wondered who was inside, how they ever found this place, this little slice of Heavenly Autumn on earth. I wondered if they ever stepped outside their doors and breathed in the cold air, looked around at the splendor of leaves and color and pumpkins on the door stoops and thought to themselves how awe inspiring it all is, how blessed they are to live there? I wondered how many gorgeous photos I could get if only I could just stay here awhile. But before I set about to taking photographs with my camera, I first stood still and silent and looked around slowly, taking photographs of this splendid place in my mind, my memory bank. I tell myself that when I am old, perhaps even when I am dying....and a reel of my life is playing back in my mind....I will see this place, this Autumn Place where leaves dance and I feel as close to nature and to life and to death as I ever hope to.
In Part 2 of this post on my 'Autumn Place' - (Peacham, VT) I will share images from the Cemetery in Peacham. Actually there are two, one is REALLY old and the other is just old and splendidly beautiful.
All Photography © 2009 Wendy A.
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