This is a copy of a letter that Lorraine wrote to her great-granddaughter Kaitlin. Kaitlin is 7 years old and has an extraordinary vocabulery. She wrote that they were studying wether and such in schol and wanted me to write and tell her what it was like here: --------------------------------------------------- All along the coast - usually many miles from the oceans - there are mountain ranges. The ones on the East coast (The Atlantic Ocean coast)start near the northern top part of South Carolina and run up to the top of New England and the Canadian border..
Names of the mountains ranges change, but they seem to me to be almost all of one range! You will see them on the U.S. Map. You will see the Appalachians, The Great Smokies, the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Catskills, the Adirondacks, and then the mountains of New England.
We are in the mountains that are furthest South on the East side of the United States, the Appalachians. I was surprised to learn that the Appalachian mountains are the OLDEST mountains in the whole world. They have been here so many years, that wind and snow and rain have beaten down the top peaks of stone so much that you rarely see any outcroppings of rock at the tops of our mountains. The centuries have made them round and curvy, instead of jagged like the Rocky Mountains in the western part of the United States.
The many centuries have deposited dirt on top of the Appalachians,allowing trees and other vegetation to grow and form forests in these mountains. When you look at them, there seems to be row after row of mountain ranges. You often see different shades and colors on the mountains in the distance. They seem to get purple, lavender and finally fade to a blurred gray in the background.
There are not many big cities with big factories and other pollution causing factors to change our beautiful forests. Some nearby forests (within hundreds of miles) have been damaged by winds that carry pollution to their forests and kill their trees; So far, we have been lucky here in this area, because we are not near any big industrial cities and the prevailing winds do not bring pollution here, yet.
So our forests are healthy and green and our air is pure and full of oxygen. Oxygen is the part of the air which we humans breathe, and is very important to life. Our mountain air is very clean and contains a lot of oxygen, coming from the forests which leads to more healthy living.
I am hoping that this stays like this for many years. And, I believe that it will. I will tell you why:
We live in Transylvania County and 70% of the land is National Forest.Unless the laws are changed, no one can disturb these national forests.
However, lately, I have been very concerned because the federal government is showing less protection for the national forests and the environment. However, I am hoping that this beautiful part of the United States will be allowed to continue in its glory.
Since so much of the county is federal national, or state, owned forest,there is very little land left for places to be built upon. I am very grateful for this, as I hate to see this magnificent country side spoiled for the benefit of developers. There are so few places like this left in the United States.
HOW DID WE FIND THIS AREA?
When your grand pa was a little baby, it was during World War II sixty years ago. And we came to live in South Carolina for a few years. I loved it and was very happy there, in spite of the worry about the war.
However, it was not mountainous where I was, nor was it forested. I loved the climate, as I was so grateful to get away from the cold weather of Michigan. But, more than that, I loved the people of the South. They were so much gentler, kinder, and friendlier than the people I had known in Michigan.
Many years went by.
Then, in 1980 (that was 25 years ago), your grandpa and I travelled to North Carolina to see a printer we were doing business with. We came South down I-75 as far as Knoxville, Tennessee and then cut over on I-40 going East through the most beautiful mountains I had ever seen.
Your grandpa and I were so awe-stricken by the beauty of the area. But,we did not have time to stop and look around.
Then, your grandpa and your uncle Greg took a little vacation, driving up and down the mountain areas of North Carolina to look around. Your grandpa was especially impressed with our little town of Brevard, N.C. He came back to visit it several times and always took pictures to show me. He also was always telling me that we should move here, that he knew I would love it.
Your great grandpa, Barry Whitehead, lived in California. When he gotready to retire, they bought a motor home and took a year's time to travel around the United States. They visited all the retirement areas,to see which they thought would be the best choice to live. Grandpa Russell told his father to look into this area. He did. He bought a home in the nearby time of Hendersonville, N.C. and was always happy that he had chosen this area.
After years of having your grandpa tell me how wonderful this area was,I finally (in May of 2000) took a month's vacation and rented a house in Connestee. I fell in love with the place. I did not want to go home. I tried to find a place to buy but did not find one that I wanted.
The next year (July of 2001), I came to Connestee for another vacation and spent more time looking for a house. I found the one that we are living in, just two days before our vacation was over. I bought the house and went back to Michigan.
In middle November of 2001 we made the move to Connestee. I have never regretted it. I am very happy, content, and grateful that I am here and can enjoy my late years in this magnificent spot. I love the people in this mountainous area of North Carolina and am enjoying life.
GEOGRAPHY AND WEATHER
The United States has the Great Continental Divide near the west coast. It also has the Eastern Continental Divide, just a few miles south of us in South Carolina. This is where the mountains end. You can stand on the top of the last mountain ranges and see several states below you on flatter lands. It is very beautiful.
The area where we live is a most unusual area. It is where the trees of the north and the ones of the south, come together. So, the area has both types of trees and the autumn colors of the changing leaves are spectacular. People come from all over to marvel at their beauty. The peak color usually comes in Mid-October.
Another thing that surprised and delighted me about our weather, is that we have so many days of sunshine. So many days when the skies are all blue with no clouds. And so many nights, when you can look into the dark velvet night sky and see so many bright stars that you are overwhelmed. We can see them so clearly because we do not have street lights in Connestee. This makes the surrounding night so much darker and you can really see the stars.
When I was little, we used to spend our summers on an island in the Flats of Lake St. Clair, Michigan. We had no electricity on that island, so at night we could count the thousands upon thousands of twinkling stars in the dark summer night. This reminds me of those times when I was a little girl. There also were many fireflies flitting about in the Flats, and I was delighted to see them here in the summer nights; as I was afraid they had all gone away.
