PRIMITIVE STONE/ROCK ART

OLD THREE STORY COMMERCIAL BUILDING

While out playing camera sleuth last evening I came upon a beautiful example of primitive stone/rock art. Almost hidden from the community it offered a great repose from the commercialization of the town. It was both old and new in its presentation.

The stone/rock art is a retaining wall that runs about thirty feet along the side of an alley. Its height is about 15 feet at its highest. Across from the wall is an old three story commercial building leaving a narrow pedestrian alley running between the building and the wall.

Above is the first glimpse I got of the stone wall -- part shadow, part sun. Upon closer inspection I noticed the diversity of the old stone and rocks and the few human touches that looked recently added. One recent addition appeared to be a narrow garden bed at the foot of the wall.

Given the types of stone work within the wall I estimated the age to be from about the time of the early 1900s. Rather primitive yet absolutely beautiful with the color variation of  rocks and stones. One metal window with a cross-hatched screen was inset in the wall, rather a mystery as to why. 

Large boulders are found along the bottom tier of the wall. Their beauty can be viewed above. Notice the bottoms of inset blue bottles behind the plants

This middle wall section with the pottery sun is filled with what I call a cement mix with gravelly type stone. The sun is a newer addition inset with a newer cement mix.

Art work pieces adorn the wall -- a hanging metal pot -- a  small blue container inset in the rock wall, gives one the human art feeling. The wall part behind the blue planter is gravelly but without the colors or beauty of the lower two thirds of the wall. Yet its crudeness lends itself to the human and natural drama of the wall.

The wall is shaped with nature and appreciated by the human mind. Beauty can be just around the corner in the least likely spots.

WHICH CAME FIRST -- THE TOMATOES OR THE WHISKEY

Growing tomatoes in a narrow sliver of a bed that runs the length of  an old dirt alley way  can be quite a challenge. Especially when you have to lean the tomato plants up against an old multi-story  commercial building. Maybe the stress of it all called for a drink or two . . .  Or maybe the empty bottle sitting on the door ledge above the tomato bed was found while digging the bed? But whatever was going on the plants knew to grow tall and heavy with tomatoes. 


I wonder which appeared first -- the tomatoes or the whiskey bottle?

AN OLD PORCH ROCKER AND AN OLD USED FACADE

Now used for storage, this old building has served its community well. It was once a school house then a general store and lastly an antique store. Now it serenely sits out its days providing a scenic "window" into the past of Mt Vernon, Kentucky.