JH+SH

This tree is located in the Chickasaw State Park in Tennessee. When I was a boy, I would go camping there in the fall and hiking in the winter and spring. In the summer we would rent canoes or paddle boats and swim in the the lake. Back then there was a floating dock with a slide that you could swim out to. There was always a wait to get on the slide and by the end of the day you were exhausted from hours of treading water waiting your turn.


Before it bacame a state park the area was home to many of my relatives. My grandmother was born in a small cabin not far from the lake in the late 1800's. Next to this tree is a springhouse where she would come as a girl and get water. The spring still runs today, just as clean and cold as it was then. When I got married 15 years ago, I took my wife to the park. I showed her the lake I would swim in and the playground and the springhouse. We carved our initials into this tree.


This past weekend I had the chance to take my own kids to Chickasaw. It was to cold to swim and the floating dock is long gone, but they had a great time anyway. We rented a paddleboat, did a little fishing and talked about roots.