Thursday, October 16, 2014

Fall Scenes from Holmes County

 
National Geographic just named Holmes County, Ohio as one of the most scenic spots in the world to see fall leaves, ranking third, behind Sonoma County, California, and Northern New Mexico.
 
I don't think the colors are as spectacular as in previous years here or here, but it might be a little early. We just had our first frost so maybe the best is yet to come.
 
I have lived here all my life and take this area for granted, but when I take time to slow down from life and just take in the sights around me, it is truly beautiful and I feel blessed to live here.
 
This might have been the most colorful tree we saw.
 
Holmes County is known most of all for being the largest Amish settlement in the world. Scenes like this are an everyday occurrence.
 
Holmes County has many, many miles of dirt roads and we love to see where each one takes us. 
 
 
I am very passionate about old abandoned buildings and when we came across this one I yelled....Stop! This is one of the most picturesque ones I have come across.
They may not look so pretty to some, but they are so full of history and stories, I wish it could tell me just one.
 
This home looks so empty and lonely. I'm sure it has stories to tell too.
 
We meandered along, from one country dirt road to another, some of them barely more than a cow path.
 
The only traffic we met was an occasional buggy.
 
 
 
 
The one thing I love about our area is all the beautiful old barns. 
 
 I love the old ones with their faded wood and lopsided walls.
 
 
The more run down and weathered, the more they appeal to me.
 
I even love the shabby doors and broken window panes.
 
 
 
While some of our surrounding counties are very flat, Holmes County is known for it's rolling hills.
 
An old Amish School House, I assume no longer in use. Sometime I would like doing a post of just Amish School Houses. There are dozens of them in our county.
 
 
 
 Our rolling hills open up to beautiful valleys.
 
 The last farm we happened upon as we headed home, completely captivated me. All the buildings were painted white or red, but had the same aqua colored roofs. Just loved it!
 
I didn't notice until I put this photo on here, but I pretty sure the dog house on the far left is painted to match.
 
The buggy barn. 
 
 I couldn't find a good place to get a shot of the side of this but yes....it has an aqua roof. I hope I can find this place again because I would love to take some photos of a few buildings that I didn't get.
 
So while there wasn't that much fall color yet, I hope you enjoyed seeing a little bit of  'where I come from'.
 

7 comments:

  1. We must be sisters for sure because we like the same things. Sat. we took the 5 and 3 year old grandkids to the covered bridges, Mohawk Dam, and the lighthouse located somewhere in the hills. On Sun. we took them to Mohican. They loved it.

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  2. Thank you for the tour. All the photos were gorgeous.

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  3. Beautiful pics, like always! I agree that the leaves aren't quite as colorful this year as they have been in the past, but still nice to look at. Today I discovered an abandoned house and barn on a little road off of Weaver ridge. Me and my camera may have to make a trip over there sometime before the leaves fall. :) Happy fall!

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  4. Pat Sommers October 17October 17, 2014 at 5:12 AM

    Enjoyed your pictures! I so wanted to do the Holmes Co. thing this year. Fall is so beautiful there.

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  5. We have not been to Holmes County ---but loved the colors at Logan (Hocking Hills) a couple of years ago about this time. You are right.. The colors are okay--but nothing spectacular YET... Maybe they will get prettier. It's the same here on the plateau in TN. We finally had some sunshine today after 2 weeks of rain/clouds. SO--we got outside today to see the colors --and I was so disappointed.. So far, nothing much. The early colors we had are now on the ground --after our high winds/storms this past week. Everything left is either yellow or brown or green... We'll see if we get more color soon. BUT--we can't get enough cold weather here to help the trees turn... It was cold (40's) last night --but has gone up to the high 70's today.... Geesh... ha

    I'd love to visit that county sometime and go on all of those back roads. You got some really nice pictures of the barns, old homes, old schools, etc... Beautiful area with those rolling hills...

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  6. You live in such a beautiful area, I am so glad you shared with us! I love the aqua colored roofs, that is something I have not seen before, and I love it too :)

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  7. Based on your photos there is a definite reason they declared that. Beautiful photos!
    Cher Sunray Gardens

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