Peacham Fall Foliage and a Blacksmith
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6Well, you might be confused about this title. When I started to blog for Yankee Magazine a lifetime ago, the wisdom I had garnered from the fall foliage lore masters was that the Northeast Kingdom, affectionately known as the NEK, was one of the earlier places where the foliage started changing.
But, in my early searches from 2003 to today, when I got there in late September, I found I had usually arrived too early. But that doesn’t mean that there are not beautiful images to make or things to do!
Peacham and a blacksmith?
This meant that any meaningful fall colors are further north, and I didn’t have my passport! Many of you have told me that you’re only coming for a short period of time and the colors HAVE to be at their peak…
Well, sometimes they don’t quite meet our expectations. You may say that the shot above is awesome and that you would be happy with it. Thank you, but it breaks a lot of the rules. Shooting at mid-day is my first mistake, but if you can’t wait till 4 PM, then TAKE THE SHOT! I want you to capture all these memories even if they aren’t award-winning.
What to do if you got here at the wrong time?
The shot above is 1 Oct but due to El Nino (this was 2017), the colors are just not there yet, so what do you do? How about a backup plan? If you check my festivals page you would know that the NEK fall foliage festival is generally from 28 Sept to 5 Oct. (every year the dates change a little), but today 1 Oct 2015 was the day that Peacham held theirs. (each day a different town takes a turn)
I wandered the grounds and found out that they open their blacksmith shop only during the festival. I was able to experience the process of creating a tool from raw iron to a useful implement. An older gentleman was showing a young man the ropes, from getting the fire hot enough to maintaining the fire without a lot of effort.
So I didn’t get a great shot of New England fall foliage, but I did make a great memory, and I enjoyed seeing some old-fashioned blacksmithing during my visit to Peacham in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.
Sometimes, that is all you can manage. I wish I could promise all the colors of a rainbow on every single tree. I can’t. What I can promise is this, if you plan to find other things just in case the fall colors, just aren’t there yet, you will make a great memory.
Isn’t that what your vacation is mostly about?
Now, I’ve created a listing of scenic drives, and these are all the articles that I feel give you ideas on routes to take and shots to get. I think you’ll find many of these scenic drive articles helpful.
Jeff Foliage Folger
Autumn is a state of mind more than a time of year – Jeff Foliage
- Visit my Fine Art America Gallery
- Visit my Amazon store to pick up New England-related materials
- Visit my Pictorem Gallery (Free shipping in the US and Canada)
- My Facebook foliage page
- Threads.net/@Jeff_Foliage
- Follow our new Fall Foliage FB Group!
- You can visit Lisa’s Artist Facebook Page by clicking here
Solid recommendation!!! I like the photo, too!!!
Solid recommendation!!! I like the photo, too!!!
Think you’re right when you say relax about things and take it as it comes . Some people seem to get hooked on finding “peak ” and miss out on everything else and there is so much to see and do .
Think you’re right when you say relax about things and take it as it comes . Some people seem to get hooked on finding “peak ” and miss out on everything else and there is so much to see and do .
Great image and as usual great advice- there is something to experience whether it is peak color or not, plenty of festivals as you mentioned, small museums and country stores to explore!
Great image and as usual great advice- there is something to experience whether it is peak color or not, plenty of festivals as you mentioned, small museums and country stores to explore!