Feeling a little homesick for the Ozarks . . .
I've visited the Ozark town of Eureka Springs, but that was a long time ago, and I was too young and ignorant to appreciate it, though I recall that my grandma was enthralled by the place - she spoke especially fondly of a hotel whose every floor was at ground level due to the steep hillside 'hollar' within which the hotel nestled.
The internet allows me a 'virtual' visit, and nothing can beat just gazing at this autumnal photo:
Click on the image for higher resolution and get a better view of the church, which I don't recognize and which also is not identified in the accompanying article.
Sun-Ae and I will be visiting the Ozarks this summer, but we probably won't visit that part of Arkansas, just my hometown, Salem, in the central part of the Ozarks.
But perhaps one of my readers knows this autumnal scene? Jay? Bill?
Labels: Ozark Mountains
posted by Horace Jeffery Hodges @ 4:30 AM
15 comments
15 Comments:
Eureka Springs has some delightful architecture. Good to see it.
Yes, and that part of Arkansas now has good restaurants with excellent wines and beers to go with the great food.
Jeffery Hodges
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Can't help you with the location of the photo, but I can assure you that the fall foliage in Arkansas and anywhere else below the Mason-Dixon line is nothing to write home about. Vivid colors are achieved in forests with few species competing for your attention in rigorous climates with a quick temperature descent from summer to fall. The only region of the US that can compete with the beauty of Korea in the fall is northern New England. Vermont's Green Mountains and New Hampshire's White Mountains are walls of eye-popping color surrounding postcard picture-perfect quaint villages with little white churches. Michigan and Wisconsin in the upper Midwest are forested with a similar species mix in a similar climate but lack the mountain and valley vistas. In spring, however, the American South excels the North in putting on a cheerful color show of bright and pastel blossoms. Korea and Japan seem to enjoy the best of both transitional seasons. China is a disappointment due to poor urban landscaping and forest preservation and the effects of severe air pollution.
Sonagi
A wet blanket to smother my autumnal passion . . .
Jeffery Hodges
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To answer your question, the church pictured is St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Chruch. To see more pictures and a bit of history go here. The picture in your blog was taken from the balcony of the Crescent Hotel which you can see above the church in the pictures on the link. The church and its gardens are a much sought after wedding location with couples coming from all over the US to get hitched there.
I have to disagree with Sonagi though. The Ozarks have as wide a variety of trees and colors as those in the Northeast, however; the conditions have to be just right for all of the colors to manifest at the same time in the Ozarks. Typically a wet mild Fall and a quick hard freeze. A quote Mom attributes to me when i was six years old and we moved from Little Rock to Horseshoe Bend in the Fall of 1963, a year the colors must have been really spectacular, was "The hills look like a bowl of Trix". Refering to the bright colors of Trix cereal. This past Fall was not a particularly good one for us, but two years ago was amazing.
Jay
Jeff,
It’s a bit late for my answer, as Jay’s dun said ‘er.
And he’s also correct on our colors …given the right conditions, they’re as spectacular as New England’s.
Bill
" The Ozarks have as wide a variety of trees and colors as those in the Northeast, however; the conditions have to be just right for all of the colors to manifest at the same time in the Ozarks."
The lower Appalachians and the Ozarks have a wider variety of trees than the forests of the upper Midwest and Northeast as I alluded to in the phrase "vivid colors are achieved in forests with few species that compete for your attention." For achieving strong colors, less is more. A stand of evergreens interspersed with orange-red sugar maples and yellow birches looks more striking than a hodge-podge of variegated colors. On my only trip to New England in the fall, it was an average year for colors, according to locals, yet to my eyes calibrated on the colors of Michigan and Korea, the reds, oranges, and yellows were brilliant. I saw sugar maples that looked like they were on fire.
Sonagi
I live in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, which has a similar species mix and climate to the Ozarks. In an outstanding year with the right weather conditions, specific tree species like red and sugar maples can match the brilliance of their brethren further north in an average year. There's a reason why New England draws more out-of-state leaf peepers than any other region, and it's not due to better tourism promotion.
Sonagi
Jay, thanks for the further info on the church.
Jeffery Hodges
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Cousin Bill, thanks for the belated thought . . .
(By the way, I've heard nothing on this blog from Uncle Cran, so how's he doing?)
Jeffery Hodges
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Sonagi, I object to "Hodge-Podge" as a term of derogation.
Jeffery Hodges
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Thanks Sonagi for the clarification. Where Jeffery and I grew up there are large stands of cedars and some pines which provide the color variance you mentioned. On the Western edge of the Ozarks and into the Boston Mountains where I now live the green tends to be more pines than cedars.
You are welcome Jeff. Did you get an email from me? I sent it a few days ago.
Jay
Yes, Jay, I received the email. Too much happening at the moment. Thanks.
Jeffery Hodges
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this is behind the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs. a long and very steep winding stairway behind the hotel leads down to it. the Crescent Hotel is known pretty exclusively to be haunted. indeed the church here is haunted too. can you see the round black roof behind the terracotta roof? there are life size Resurrected Jesus and life size Mary inside entrance of the church to greet you. my husband and i the last night of our honeymoon walked down there and got a spook light show to end all!
Thanks, FOR! I am ever glad to learn something new.
Jeffery Hodges
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