When we first built in the country, I spent many hours exploring the woods and creek around our property. This was many years ago, before changes in adjoining properties impacted the landscape. Given I was also in grad school in geography, I was particularly interested in “who” had lived on the land before we arrived and built. In human geography, this is called understanding the “sequence occupancy”. In my wandering and discussions with locals, I discovered some surprising things, in one case, quite literally.
It turns out that there was at one time a tannery on the creek, remnants of bunkers from the Civil War, old trading paths, arrowheads, stone foundations, iris that still bloom, over 30 varieties of wildflowers, and moonshine. A lot of moonshine, complete with remnants of copper pipe. And the local name for the stream? “Spirit Creek.” (Although in another post, I’ll share some other reasons it might’ve been called that.) Anyhow, the word was that drop-off points for jars of moonshine were old, rotten tree stumps. So one winter I decided to see for myself and after digging around some huge ancient stumps, guess what, I found an old quart jar. Empty. But in my mind I was touching a piece of history. And being a N.C. native from the foothills, I have to admit, it’s a proud history.
The culture, history, and artifacts from my explorations became and remain part of my writing. No matter where you live, many others have most likely lived on that land. Someone built your apartment building over something, or cobblestone street, or historic property, long before you called it home. Take a moment to consider and honor whomever was there before you. Do some research into your area, including folklore and culture to understand the richness of tradition around those who were there before. Doing so can provide ideas for scenes, characters, and stories for all of your writing history to come.
Photo credit: Peggy Choucair from Pixabay
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