Fall In McLean, Virginia

Winter coming on, the leaves are dropping, clouds circling. A quick look at a suburb in the United States.

Around Clinch Mountain, Virginia

A quick look at a slice of rural Virginia, down Southwest way, up against the hollars that dominate the coal mining, mountainous region.

Homestead.

Target practice deer. Storm passing.

Cemetery guardian.

Iconic architecture.

Man by his home.

Tracking The Carter Family To Clinch Mountain, Virginia

The long, winding road to the source of country music goes to Clinch Mountain in Southwestern Virginia. Think Blue Ridge Mountains, king coal and rural living. Still beautiful today.

Word is out. County road named for the local celebrity, the paterfamilias.

Cabin where A.P. Carter was born and raised. Family portrait.

A peek inside the cabin.

When the singing gigs started to dry up in the 1950s, A.P. opened a little general store. What it looks like today, now a museum, and a vintage image of the place.

About a five minute drive from the cabin, you can visit A.P. Carter's grave in a hilltop cemetery. Many other Carters are also buried there, right on Clinch Mountain.

The Coal Mining Museum In Dante, Virginia

There's a nice, small coal mining museum in Dante, in a former bank building, displaying many artifacts from the town's former glory. It's a heartening gesture to a tough decline. Know and appreciate your history to learn from the past.

Well said.

Former employees of Clinchfield Coal. A guide to what was pulled from the mountain.

The museum has a fantastic scale model of the town. It gives you a good idea how a simple hollar is transformed by train track tentacles and company buildings and houses. From nothing, a coal removal machine.

Artifacts.

The grimmest reminder of sacrifice to king coal, a memorial to those people who lost their lives in the mines.

Down A Hollar To Dante, Virginia

You might think you've gone to hell, but Dante rhymes with "paint." Get your southern accent on and it rolls off the tongue. Dante is classic coal, a tiny town crammed into a hollar, created by a coal company that brought tracks into the area to pull all the black gold out. Glory days and heavy mining are long gone. Left behind, signs of another era.

Empty hopper cars outside the center of town.

You've arrived. A friendly greeting. Main street is a set of railroad tracks with company houses dotting the sides.

Old Christmas decoration in the dilapidated train depot.

Ball field. Iconic view, tracks through a hollar.

Never able to forget why the town exists.

Welcome To Bristol, Tennessee (Virginia)

Nothing like straddling states. The city of Bristol does just that trick - and its main street has the appropriate name - State Street. Half of it in Virginia, the other half in Tennessee. Bristol is famous for hosting the big bang of country music, a seminal recording session that took place in 1927. There's a nice, new Smithsonian museum in town that covers that event. Bristol must have also prospered under nearby coal deposits. Now, NASCAR is a big draw.

Welcoming the tourist dollars to town.

Another famous draw for Bristol, the last place where Hank Williams was seen alive. Right here, in a car parked in front of this joint. Closed store storage.

Bridal display.

Mannequins on Main Street, in a country store and a religious display.

Cleaning out an office, file cabinets gather in a parking lot.

What Is This White Stuff?

Winter arrived in Arlington, Virginia yesterday, or so they say. James and Sarah, after nearly 20 years spent living in tropical Florida and South India, aren't used to winter. But Lithuania beckons, better get reacquainted.

Hello snow.

Hello slight accumulation. The fauna come out in any type of weather.

But the autos stay parked.

Summer activities are definitely closed for the season.

Playtime is over.