House of Prayer

 

I've always been intrigued by this simple little building and its angel grotto.  Surely there's a story here...

Along the Back Roads...

As I traveled the back roads of Madison County coming home from the threshing on Saturday, this sign caught my eye.

Turnpike Road.  Way back, turnpikes were privately owned and maintained toll roads. There was a famous Buncombe Turnpike passing through Madison back in the 1880s -- but it ran along the river and was part of the Drovers' Road. Could this be a remnant, perhaps feeding into the main road? The river is nearby. . .

Just next to  Turnpike Road was this simple church. The back roads are sprinkled with small churches -- a leftover from the time when a church needed to be within walking distance of its congregation?  Or a testament to the independent, sometimes schismatic nature of religion among the people of this area?

A little farther on, I stopped to take another picture. Something about this abandoned house puzzles me. It looks more like the log construction used in tourist cabins back in the early years of motoring than the log houses that have survived in the area. The house just doesn't look to me like the local architecture. Could this have been built by an early transplant to Madison County?  I'll have to see if I can find out.

There's always something to see and think about -- along the back roads.