Mountain Top Sculpture Garden

We first saw them in 2011 as we were returning from a trip to Virginia where I'd presented a workshop at a storytelling conference. I was fascinated then and have never forgotten them---but where were they? Neither of us could recall!

But on our trip to the eastern side of West Virginia a week or so ago, we stopped at an old store in Riverton. And one of the men there knew what I was talking about. It was too far to go back to find the sculptures that day, but we agreed that when we returned to visit my son and to make fruitcakes with my sisters, we would look again.

We got lucky. We found them, on the western side of South Branch Mountain, not far from Franklin, WV.

We got even luckier. Their creator happened to be at his welding shop. I was taken aback at first by his dog, a mix of bulldog and something else, that came running at us, but he turned out to be a good ol' dog, thank goodness. However, I don't think I'd want to meet up with him if his owner wasn't there--a good watchdog, I'd bet.

We had a good chat with Dennis. He made the sculptures so long ago he can't remember when it was, and some of them, he said, have Confederate steel in them that a friend gave to him.

I am glad we found this place again, and even more glad to have met the creator of such imaginative work. I hope we get to see him again.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Storytelling Road Trip: New Cumberland, West Virginia

It has been an amazing week. From storytelling to travel to a quiet cabin on the banks of a river, it has been a week of contrasts, of beauty and fun, conversations, laughter and a few tears.

On our way to New Cumberland, WV on Wednesday we spotted someone strange on the side of the road, so of course I had to introduce myself.

Metal sculptures of a particularly fine and weird kind! We stopped after the show to take these photos and discovered they were created by a man named Ken, whose daughter I had just met--she was a volunteer at the library. She was happy to let us get up close with these great pieces of her father's imagination.

Isn't he awesome?

A little creepy, I admit, but what an amazing work of art!

Larry kinda liked this hairy guy:

There were lots of others:

A peek inside the robot to see who's running the show:

Fun stuff! And the kind of thing I love to find along the storytelling trail.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

A Kingdom of Rust

High on a mountain on the side of  the road there lurks a strange menagerie:

horses and skeletons and rusted knights of old,

 wind veins of forgotten things fly as pennants in the breeze,

 and point to dire warnings for dogs of all kinds.

 Here Don Quixote rides again, his bones a-rattling against the sides of his steely steed

  while far above a fair damsel waits in some distress from her castle window high

 while the firebird or eagle (take your pick) surveys all with a glassy eye

and the Don's gun is at the ready even if he may be a little slow on the draw.

 The gates to this kingdom guard its secrets and hold its occupants hostage to the passing curious eyes,

while in the brush another creature, dangerous and dark, waits for the unwary trespasser.

(We saw this sculpture "garden" on top of South Mountain, I believe it was, in Pendleton County, WV. Jason and Matthew, I hope you can tell us more about this place. Very strange.)