The Circle Game

Today is our day off and we slept deliciously late. Just before noon I took Sirius to the dog park where he played with a lab mix. They wore themselves out and really had fun. We decided to go to the theatre tonight so I got in the car and started a beautiful drive. First stop was the post office and then into Tamworth to the box office. Across the street from the theatre is a coffee shop and a weird place called "The Other Store." That is it for commerce in the tiny town and the store has hardware, sundries and a lunch counter with an outside deck with tables. I ordered a milkshake which they call a frappe and got an oatmeal raisin cookie to take back for Jeff.

As I drove out of town I decided to turn left and do some exploring. The two lane road is very pretty and there were some beautiful mountain vistas. I came upon a cemetery called Fowler's Field and stopped to take pictures.

The graves were very old and there were many tiny unmarked stones in different shapes. This interesting stone was for a fallen Civil War soldier who died in 1865. He was a hospital steward in a Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment. It is nice that a flag had been placed at his grave recently.

Driving on there was beautiful mountain views and I saw this most picturesque church.

There was an historic marker on the road at the site of a defunct kennel. The buildings were falling down, but the history is impressive.

Moving on I realized I was making a huge circle and decided to use the GPS to get home rather than backtracking. I saw a sign for a dairy and decided to get off the "main road." Turning onto a packed dirt road I drove for a mile or so and then turned onto another dirt road. Then I saw a sign saying another 1/4 mile to the dairy. Talk about the middle of nowhere? There were about eight cars in their tiny lot and a small barn where you could visit two tiny calves and two sheep. Their building held only a few people and they sell pints of ice cream and fresh cheeses. Outside were a few picnic tables with people happily eating ice cream and enjoying the beautiful day.

This is the road leading back from the creamery. Heading home I took one last detour when I saw a sign for a covered bridge.

Crossing over the bridge I was on another packed dirt road and continued in a loop back to the main road. Along the way I saw the prettiest farm ever. At the top of a hill it sat in a clearing with a panoramic view of mountains as a backdrop. The fields were lush and cows grazing made it perfect. I smiled and continued on to what was my favorite sight of the day. On the road I saw a fence of large stones and realized it was another cemetery. I parked on the side of the road and trudged up the hill.

Here I found old graves back to the mid 1800's. Most of the stones had worn down so they could not be read and many were tiny unmarked stones like the last cemetery.

As I walked through the rusted gate I felt serene. The sunlight filtered through the trees and the gravestones were like silent sentinels. They had weathered many years of storms and snow and still stood to honor those buried below. This last photo is a grave from 1858. Many of the markers were thin slabs of rough stone.

Finally headed home with a short stop at a nearby jewelry/western shop. After a quick dinner Jeff and I headed to the theatre. Tonight we saw an excellent production of Steel Magnolias. It is amazing that this theatre turns out fabulous performances each week. They call it a miracle in the program and we agree.