Forest cathedrals

 "My woods are only about forty rods from my door and I have traced and retraced the familiar trails almost daily for many years, yet every walk brings new experiences and fresh revelations.   But who shall describe the subtle tenderness and immortal life of this forest where blissful, innocent Nature is so happy that she must needs be silent!  We enter its shady coverts as we would pass the open door of a cathedral, through light embowering arches, and look down the vista of trees as through the nave of the altar, toward which our steps are irresistibly drawn.  It is indeed a place to worship.    The mad, misguided, irresponsible world is shut out, left behind.  The spirit of these shadowy aisles is the spirit which comes to one upon entering a cathedral — vastness and quietness and peace…."

Samuel A. Harper, "My Woods"

The overhanging arches of the grant alleyway of live oaks at Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site, the shady paths through woods at Magnolia Gardens — both have for years been such havens for me as I turn off the busy highways and enter the realm of Nature, undefiled and set apart from the world outside.   I have always had a deep reverence for trees such as the grand live oaks of New Orleans and Charleston, the cottonwoods lining desert streams out west, the giant cypresses and tupelo trees of the Four Holes Swamp.  Among these trees and in these woods I always find a peace I can never attain in the city.   The trees are like companions to me, alive and welcoming.  There is so much in the world today to want to leave behind, and I always know where I can go to find refuge and sanctuary,  So I go again and again to my favorite woods and I am never unrewarded.

Along the trail through the woods at Magnolia Gardens.

A quiet spot in Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site

The oak alley at Charles Towne Landing