Breath our scents, walk our landscape, hear our melodic dialects, delight in our savory morsels, touch each rich texture, and the southern essence remains a mystery. The ethereal south, unfathomable to the five senses, lives in the heart. If you believe in magic, and can survive the devastating passions of an open heart, just possibly, you stand a chance of living a moment as a southerner. Most people aren't brave enough to be southerners, even the ones that are.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Bridging, (a B word) Generations


Sometimes I wonder what it is that bridges one generation to the next and then the next. And sometimes I wonder what gets left behind and how much is brought forward. And sometimes I wonder why our past slips away from us. Sometimes I wonder.

The Albino HMS monkey took a trip into the countryside today to visit a little history. The only remaining historical covered bridge in South Carolina is Campbell's Covered Bridge. For a state that once was richly sprinkled with covered bridges, we are left with this. That's progress. There are other covered bridges in South Carolina today. I saw one only a couple of months back that was brand new going into a private housing development. But this is the only one left from the past. It's in Greenville County off of highway 414 and was built in 1909. Two years to go before it celebrates 100 years, and already its one of a kind.

Following this along, the monkey also visited another historical bridge today, although significantly more substantial and ancient. But, we'll save that bridge for another day. After all, it represents another generation, even further back. There's a lot of memories in these Carolina hills, some lost, some still remembered, some passed from one generation to the next and then to the next. Bridging the generations, here beneath the Carolina moon.

Posted by Dread who is a bit melancholy this evening remembering the bridges to the past, and wondering what will be the bridges to the future.

1 comment:

Sandy Kessler said...

Lucky sock monkey My home state Wva has quite a few covered bridges