A Mystery in the Middle of Nowhere...

Have you ever encountered something that made you feel as though you had stepped back into another time? A sight or smell that made you stop and say, "I wonder what it was like when..."? I recently had the good fortune of this type of experience and wanted to share a photo so you, too, could experience a similar feeling.

One day I was driving to a shoot through an extremely rural area - and when I say rural, I mean rural. The nearest supermarket was over 20 minutes away. To some people that distance may not mean much, but to me translates into the "middle of nowhere"! At one point I hadn't passed another car for nearly 15 minutes after leaving the main road. There were plenty of houses around, but nobody could be seen lingering around outside. Very fitting environment given what I suddenly came upon...

Just off the side of the road I noticed a stone fireplace and immediately pulled over to gain a closer look. The chimney and hearth seemed well worn but completely intact. Aside from this stone structure there were no other signs of a house anywhere around: no stone foundation, no remnants of walls, or pieces of glass from a window. It almost appeared as if the fireplace and chimney appeared out of the surrounding wilderness. As I stood looking at this curiosity, I was transported back to a time of log cabins and sweeping wilderness. I started picturing an old house that sat on acres of property without another house anywhere around for miles. I pictured horses roaming around the cabin, horses used to travel the long distance to the local store or plow the family farm. I imagined the road from which I took the picture being unpaved and gouged out by wagon wheels.

There was one curious thing about the area - what was the importance of the fence surrounding the chimney and adjacent grass. Was it the outline of the original building? I started wondering some other details of the story behind this solitary structure:

- how old was this fireplace?
- was it truly, originally part of a house or some other building?
- if it was a home, who used to live there?
- was this fireplace used simply to keep warm or to cook daily meals?

The possibilities are endless...but I guess I will never know the answers. Sometimes the fun is in not knowing but rather leaving the answers to imagination.

That's the Golden Perspective...what's yours?