Backroads

Backroads are awesome, and I should know. I'm from a state - West Virginia - that probably boasts more backroads than most. In fact, despite the interstates, folks could not navigate through the mountains and trees in this wild and wonderful place if not for backroads.

In any state, narrow and oftentimes dirt roads provide a way to get from point A to point B, but they are also gold mines for things you may not see while zooming down the interstate or the freeway.

Just last week alone, while traveling one of my favorite Tennessee backroads, I saw a group of baby goats sitting on a collective of tree stumps, a man who makes and sells birdhouses hard at work behind his house (well, I assume it was his house - otherwise, I saw a man stealing wood planks from behind his neighbor's house), and signs for an upcoming church camp meeting.

Last Saturday, however, my travels on my beloved backroad led me to what every historian yearns to see - an estate sale! Yes - a pink piece of posterboard in the front yard of a 1950's-ish house bid me stop - and I did!

After exploring the house, the barn and a small run-down log cabin, I came away with some pretty cool stuff - pottery, an antique rooster salt and pepper shaker set, a walking stick, and a glass Fire King measuring cup. My favorite item, however, is this vintage cast iron wood splitter, picked up for $1.25.

If you're scratching your head right about now, let me explain. I collect old tools and things made out of metal, iron, etc. I can't tell you why, but I am drawn to these things, and I like to think about the hands that held and used them before mine. My collection includes old chains, railroad spikes, hinges, shovels, chisels, bed springs, and white porcelain insulators.

The bottom of this wood splitter is full of dings and marks made by someone, I like to think, that chopped firewood and built things, magnificent things. Not just because they had to, but because they wanted to. Things they could sell in their front yard to people like me who prefer the backroads and care about the history created there.