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Thursday, April 5, 2012

Big Spring ~ Rockbridge County, VIrginia


Big Spring is located about 5 miles from our home and the property is adjacent to the old Highland Belle Middle School where I taught for years. It is now the central office for our county school system, and I go there each day to pick up and deliver the mail. Pretend you have just gotten the mail for the day and are walking out the side door of the school into the parking lot. Stop...stand there...and look straight ahead. This is what you are going to see....UNBELIEVABLE...Big Spring as the fog is lifting and the sun is rising on a winter morning. It is one amazing and beautiful sight, and it changes every single day. These pictures are all a part of the collection I am putting together to give to my friend, the school’s superintendent , when he retires. I taught his sons a LONG time ago.


 Drive out the driveway, turn right, and drive just a bit and you will see this mail box on your left...I know, I took it from the other direction just to confuse myself :-)

Drive on a wee bit past that mailbox and you will see it....Big Spring. It looks like a big lake and is fed by a natural spring. Between 1998 and 2003, Nestle’s Waters, the parent company of Deer Park Water tried to purchase the property for the production of Deer Park Water. Nestle started bottling water around 1844. The output of the spring is 3.3 millions of water per day. Well, we all rose up and fought with every breath we had. It went on and on, but finally we WON! It is still privately owned, and the new owners are fixing up the entire farm and have built a wonderful new barn. I am saving those photos for Tricia’s "Barn Charm" on Monday.They have also built a little dock and have canoes which you can see in the photos.

 {Nestle started bottling water around 1844. Deer Park was founded in 1873, and was formerly known as the Perrier Group, the top bottled water company in the US.}



Drive past the old vintage weighing barn (I am saving that, too) and the beautiful new barn, and you’ll see the “mini-fence” and this little building with the other end of Big Spring behind it.

Then, just to the right and up the hill a bit is the old homeplace which the new owners have completely renovated. The lake wraps around the back of the house and can be seen from I-64. I am hoping to get a better shot of it before I post the fabulous new barn and other vintage structures.I just wanted you all to see the pretty old house up on the hill. I cannot even begin to imagine what it must be to awaken in the morning and look out upon that gorgeous body of water.



If you haven’t figured it out already, Bud and I live in a beautiful part of VA. There is no shortage of wonderful sights to see or hikes to take. I feel very fortunate to have lived 22 years a block from the Atlantic Ocean on the island of Palm Beach, Florida, 18 years in Asheville, North Carolina, which is surrounded by the Smokey Mountains, and 33 years in Lexington, Virginia, in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

This post is linked with:
Skywatch Friday
Friday Fences 

40 comments:

  1. What a wonderful series of images... you have made those fences a work of art..
    Hugs Drew xx

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  2. Fun to know a little more about you, my fellow Virginian. That is one beautiful sight to see each day. I can hardly wait until Monday to see the Barns.
    (and Many Thanks for the kind comments you have left me)

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  3. i love that fence! beautiful place! your first view of the fog... WOW!

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  4. You live in a beautiful part of the US. It must be a joy to see this around you every day. Lucky you won the battle about the spring water and the new owners are renovating the buildings.

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  5. What a beautiful place! The pictures are gorgeous. My favorites are the first one of the sunrise and the one of the fence along the road with the gate.
    You sure have lived in some beautiful places.
    Thanks for visiting and your nice comment.
    Have a Happy Easter.

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  6. Wow! What a totally beautiful place. Great job on the photos. Except when I was very young, I've also been lucky enough to live in a very scenic place.

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  7. These are all very peaceful and beautiful shots.

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  8. All of these photos are great, Genie, but the first one is spectacular!

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  9. You live in a very pretty part of the world full of many views to sit and admire, thanks for sharing with SWF.

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  10. Great photos, Genie! The first shot is gorgeous....I also love all the ones with fences. The last shot just pulls you right into the scene. You surely do live in a beautiful place.

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  11. Very nice photos and tour. You do live in some beautiful country, but oh, that snow in the winter...not for me.

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  12. I love all your captures for the day, Genie, and that first shot is indeed awesome! The fence is terrific! Hope you have a beautiful weekend! Enjoy!

    Sylvia

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  13. Aah Genie, you have ++++++ outdone yourself on this post. Best ever - I absolutely love these photos. The first photo is hanging on my wall, except there are a couple of cows in the picture. I cannot get over the similarities from your photo to mine - colours, everything - amazing. Love the Big pond.
    You n Bud are most fortunate to live in such beautiful surroundings. Thank you sooooo much for sharing this fantastic post, my "Warden" friend. Thanks for the great note you left me. You certainly inspire me as well.
    Cheers, Lilly

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  14. All the photos are beautiful! Va. is a beautiful state!

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  15. Thanks for the tour!
    Love the first photo!
    Happy Easter!
    Lea
    Lea's Menagerie

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  16. great grouping. i love the 1st photo with the fog rising off the pond. awesome. (:

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  17. I like these fences that wind through the countryside like this.

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  18. Am very impressed with your first pic! It looks like a 16th century painting! And the one with the fence -did you use a fish eye lens? Have a great Easter weekend!

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  19. Absolutely wonderful pictures. It would be great to live with such beautiful surrounding scenery. Here in Ohio where I live it is just flat farmland. I have to drive a while to find great scenery to photography. The pictures are amazing.

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  20. Very nice! I loved the back story you furnished on Big Spring.

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  21. Wonderful shots from your trip, very different.

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  22. You are fortunate, indeed, to live in such a paradise. That was how I felt for the 15 years we lived in the eastern Sierra. Not as green as your part of the world but the front scarp of the Sierra was practically at my doorstep. A (young) hiker's paradise. Trail heads there are over 9,000', more challenging now that we are older.

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  23. The first shot took my breath away! So amazing with the lighting and the fog altogether!

    Big Spring is beautiful with well manicured landscape and fences.

    Nice collection, Genie.

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  24. Those are all so beautiful! I love living in Virginia - in just a few hours you can travel from ocean to majestic mountains...I am sure I have seen this, since we travel I-64 often, but will have to look for it next time!

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  25. beautiful photos genie! what a great gift for your friend...i love that the big conglomerates didn't win! and i feel stupid, i didn't know bottled water has been around so long!

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  26. I really, really enjoyed all of these, Genie. Every single shot.

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  27. beautiful golden hues and soft tones. i love the bare trees. terrific shots, genie!

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  28. This place looks really great, and the first photo is simply awesome!

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  29. all your photos have a wonderul dreamy quality to them
    and the scenes are amazing

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  30. I have never been to any of those places you have been fortunate to live, but after seeing your photos (and those of other bloggers from those areas) I am itching to take a long, slow drive southwards....

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  31. Great series of beautiful photos!
    What a wonderful place.
    Thanks for sharing.
    Have a Happy Easter.
    Mette

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  32. Fog looks so much better in the country than the city. You live ins such a beautiful, scenic area.

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  33. Wow what a view -- I bet your friend frames that top photo to hang on his wall! I sure would.

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  34. Oh yes! You have lived in some of the best places on earth! Beaches are so wonderful. I do love Virginia so very much, with the gateway to the Smokies, and I miss it! The Smokies are truly special!

    I LOVE the first photograph you posted. It's one of the prettiest photos (of one of the prettiest places!) I have ever seen! I am so glad the battle was won against Nestle. What a gorgeous farm and spring and lake! It was worth preserving always!

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  35. Incredible shots! That first photo is somewhere between a postcard and a painting, just stunning.

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  36. Beautiful shots.

    Regards and best wishes

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  37. Wow! Spring does brings beautiful skyshots here.

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  38. Great shots Genie!! Beautiful scenery. I LOVE the first shot - the colours are beautiful.

    (I'm playing Blogger catch up... commenting on my favourite blogs and posting on my blog)

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  39. Lovely countryside you've captured, Genie. Virginia was a memorable state of the USA when we travelled there. One gorgeous locale followed the other as we travelled through.

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  40. Lucky, lucky and smart you to live is such beauty! I saw the top photo in my reader and had to come take a closer look... simply stunning. The superintendent will surely appreciate your beautiful and thoughtful retirement gift, Genie.

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