Mark's Photo Travels

It's become a yearly tradition to visit Henderson County, North Carolina to explore the area and return with some apples. This year is no different (duh, or I wouldn't be writing this!). This area is currently in a drought, and recent photos I've seen of low water flow at area waterfalls were discouraging, so this year I chose to visit a few historical sites in the area. I picked some sites from a multi-county historic schools survey report I found during the summer, and some grist mills I found on Panoramio (RIP). I went last Sunday, and considering some of my stops were active schools that day worked out much better than a weekday would have. The first place I visited was the site of Flat Rock High School in Flat Rock, located off highway N.C. 225 and now the mixed use complex recently renamed to  Flat Rock Square . Flat Rock High School was built in 1925 and remained a high school until 1960 when the school became a junior high. On August 18, 1971 a fire set by an ...

On Veterans Day, or November 11th, I returned once again to northern Greenville County to visit more old buildings from the past. Here are my highlights. Ballenger Mill Ballenger Mill is located on Old Ballenger Mill Road a few miles north of the Highland community. According to a MillPictures.com section dedicated to the mill , the mill was built in the 1820s by Lewis H. Dickey. After the Civil War, the mill was known as L. Green's Mill. The name changed to Ballenger Mill in 1960 when it was purchased and restored by J. L. Ballenger. The current owner, Willow Creek Conservatory , uses the site to host weddings and other events. A pretty photo from December 2010 by Flickr photographer Donnie Bagwell shows a mill race that's been removed since. The covered bridge is a 20th century creation. The grounds also has a tiny chapel converted from a one room schoolhouse. The place is beautiful and is obviously well suited to hosting weddings. Waldrop Stone Cot...