Here we go again off to another secret location deep into "Colonial Coast Country" as my wife continues researching her family history. This was on Thanksgiving Day and we packed a picnic lunch and headed to an exclusive and quite remote old waterfront estate that Ann has been to numerous times. This was my second trip. I can tell you the spirit of those who dwelled here and plied these waters is still very much present. The above picture shows the main road (or cart path as it were) which leads to the property. The deeper into the property we went, the older and thicker the way became........
One of the first features you encounter as you enter the property is a large meadow with this old family grave yard along the meadow's edge.
Here's a wider angle view of the grave yard and its orientation to the water. Ann is off in the distance heading for the bluff that overlooks the water. This was no doubt a very strategic lookout point to see approaching ships and sloops.
At the base of the bluff is a series of small sandy beaches. We went down to explore these beaches and this is what we were greeted with....FRESH BEAR TRACKS!!! We figured this mama bear and her cub had already seen us coming and made their way off the beach up into the woods above us, and while we fortunately never encountered them it put us on a heightened state of alert.
Here's Ann standing next to the bear tracks.
This was the next beach we came to which I named "Isla de Muerta" (Isle of the Dead) because I thought all these clumps of indigenous clay looked like half-buried corpses. Especially striking are the two clumps in the left center of the picture which look like skulls (see detail below)
The next beach I called "Ballast Stone Beach" where I found these two ballast stones. There was a lot of ship activity along this body of water in the 1700s and these ballast stones are evidence of that.
As I mentioned in a previous post, trips like this one with my wife are amazing experiences. Because of the nature of her research into her historically very significant family history and the access she provides through her family connections to some incredibly exclusive and archeologically important territory, these are not just trips to places but are trips through the dimension of time and as an artist I find it absolutely FASCINATING!
Standing at this point of land and as I look out across the water, it doesn't take a huge leap of imagination to see a couple of sloops anchored out there. I know for a fact if I were to put on some scuba gear and dive around out there.....I'd see those sloops.