A couple of weeks ago I drove to Hagerstown.The last time I took a trip to this part of Maryland was nearly 25 years ago. I had to go to a little town just east of there called Boonesboro, because I'd found a screen-printer for tee-shirts, who used Soy Based Ink. I was young and harried and not very experienced in traveling out of the safety on my "hometown". I was so stressed, I don't remember the car I was in. I do remembering trying to get there in a hurry. Back then that stretch of the road was pretty lightly traveled, and a trap for unsuspecting speeders. I got a speeding ticket. I'm sorry to say I didn't enjoy driving then as much as I do now.
I was working on this recent trip too, however I guess with age and experience, things like timing and levels of urgency get worked out. I decided to leave a half hour earlier than I had originally scheduled. My car was covered with snow, however I was driving west, and Doppler said the snow was going to be more in the South East. I get a charge out of being out in drivable snow and I don't believe all the hype about every snow storm being so much of a bother. I miss snow when it's not around in these parts. Snow feels healthy to me, winter as it should be.
I really was going to try to stick to the main drag, on my little trip west, but as soon as I got to the commercial strip mall part of the drive, I veared off on the first Senic By-Way I saw. I live an a "new" community with just a handful of historic properties preserved amongst all the other 35 year old brick/siding and mortar constructions. Large Box buildings and shopping compounds are plentiful here. I've heard some folks here talk about how old things are at 30+. I guess if a thing is made to be disposable than it is old. There's not a lot of color here though. The whole idea was to blend into the environment. However, at some point in the midst of development, the environment started getting in the way. Us "oldtimers" are still grieving the loss of forests we counted as familiar.
I have a friend who says that folks used to gather on the front porch and visit with each other years ago, and we don't do that so much anymore. We have our back yards and email, and private lives now. This is espcially true where I live, which is not a community of people with front porches. I've passed a lot of amazing beautiful porches on this drive. The historic detail and colors of each set them in whimsical contrast to to the modern grey pavement. With the added snow, houses here are works of art to my mind's eye. I regret not having brought my camera.
I've noticed, that every time I slow down the drive, and get off the beaten path I discover the color and imagination in what is old in Americana. This trip was no exception. Here I saw architecture that was so beautiful and intricate and removed from the smooth cold lines of what shows up as new. Each house I saw was more destracting and delightful than the last. This was the kind of stuff that makes me wonder about the hands that crafted, and what was happening in the world during the time that was invested to make these places, and the lives that benefited from those creations. I see this old Americana as "a take your time" kind of culture, a time of back breaking hard work, which reflects character, genius, mystery and longevity.
For more reflections on Americana, through poetic intrepretations, visit
www.washingtonart.com/whitman/walt.html .DC Celebrates Whitman:
150 Years of Leaves of Grass
.
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