SLIDE SHOW
The photo above is the view from my front door, just after the sun had risen over the Alec Mountain Stone Oval yesterday. The flagstone walkways that I built around the house honor the Appalachian Trail, which is near here. In about three years, those rhododendron will be six feet (2 meters) tall!
Where has the time gone? I now have been at this house for almost seven years, after going nine years of either living in a tent or a structure without a working HVAC system and cooking stove. The realtor, who listed this house assumed that the new owner would tear it down.
by Richard L. Thornton, Architect & City Planner
The Alec Mountain Stone Oval is about two miles east of my house and at the same elevation. I have found a 20 feet diameter stone ring and two stone monoliths on my property.
Closer view of a Native azalea that I transplanted as a sprout in 2020.
This Native rhododendron is covered in blooms this morning!
Most of my azaleas have not started blooming.
This area of the property was a jungle when I moved here. My garden terrace complex was inspired by the ancient Itza Maya towns that I visited in Chiapas and Guatemala.
Ruins of the Itza Maya city of Tonina, Chiapas (Mexico)
I also built a V-wall facing due south, like this Itza terrace complex in Northeast Georgia, six miles from Athens.
A closer view of my Itza Maya terrace complex before the soil is cultivated.
Another view of the newest part of the terrace complex.
View of the patio and kitchen deck. My land goes back 1500 feet from the house, but is mostly a deep, steep-sided ravine, where bears like to dig for grubs in rotten logs. I built the patio during the pandemic,
Another view of the front garden. I built the stone wall and all the concrete masonry walls. There were only two shrubs and no grass on the property, when I bought it. A tree service had to cut down 57 large trees near the house and in the front to make it possible to insure the house. Several large trees were about to fall on the house!
Another view of the front garden. The dark rocks are lava bombs from a fairly recent eruption. the red clay rocks were removed during construction of the upper terrace walls. Over time, they will turn a rusty brown color.
Coming next will the Native flaming orange azaleas. They are my favorite flower.
The Americas Revealed 
Those azaleas are blazing. If I end up here around Clemson, I’ll be looking for some seeds. 🙂 Hiking into the Worley Mine at the base of Alec Mountain this past Thursday, Rhododendrons flanked it’s west face. I’ve never seen that many. None were blooming. Looking forward to returning for the show soon. Maybe after this weeks rain.
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Is the Worley Mine a tunnel or a pit? I wonder if the presence of semi-precious stones was the reason for building the stone oval?
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Could be, but North Georgia isn’t known for gem quality Corundum, which is Sapphire and Ruby. Nothing much to see here. No tunnel. There is a tailings pile.. Industrial corundum is second to diamond in terms of hardness. Corundum was used to make sandpaper. The synthesized version, Carborundum, was developed around 1904 and closed these type of mines. I’m suspicious of the Corundum claim. The 3/4 mile hike in on the 125 yr road was difficult. They spent a great effort to put the road in for what looks like much of nothing at the mine operation site. From the night shade image it looks like they had sluice. I don’t know about these things, but I did expect either a mine or pit. It only operated a few years around 1900. There’s no option to post the image here. I’ll send it.
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