A Walk to The Sacred Grove in Fall, Part 3
A Photographic Essay by Scot Facer Proctor

Morning light floods the piled stones and fence on the north side of the Smith frame house.

“My mind became exceedingly distressed, for I became convicted of my sins, and by searching the scriptures I found that mankind did not come unto the Lord, but that they had apostatized from the true and living faith, and there was no society or denomination that built upon the gospel of Jesus Christ as recorded in the New Testament.

Wagon is protected in shed just west of the barn on the Smith farm.

“And I felt to mourn for my own sins and for the sins of the world, for I learned in the scriptures that God was the same yesterday, today and forever, that he was no respecter [of] persons, for he was God

Morning light spills across the roof of the Smith frame house.

“For I looked upon the sun, the glorious luminary of the earth, and also the moon rolling in [her] majesty through the heavens, and also the stars shining in their courses, and the earth also upon which I stood, and the beasts of the field, and the fowls of heaven, and the fish of the waters, and also man walking forth upon the face of the earth in majesty and in the strength of beauty, whose power and intelligence in governing the things which are so exceeding great and marvelous, even in the likeness of him who created them.

Logs like these were originally placed on the Smith farm for beehives.

“And when I considered upon these things my heart exclaimed: ‘well hath the wise man said, it is a fool that saith in his heart there is no God.’  My heart exclaimed:  ‘all these bear testimony and bespeak an omnipotent and omnipresent power, a being who maketh Laws and decreeth and bindeth all things in their bounds, who filleth eternity, who was and is, and will be from all eternity to eternity.’

Wood fence stretches towards the south on the Smith farm

“And when I considered all these things and that that being seeketh such to worship him as worship him in spirit and in truth, therefore I cried unto the Lord for mercy for there was none else to whom I could go and obtain mercy

Turning around and looking back to the east at the cooper shop.

Click here to go to the fourth and final part of A Walk to the Sacred Grove in Fall.

All photographs are copyrighted 2003 by Scot Facer Proctor and are protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America and International Copyright laws.  All rights reserved.  No pictures can be used from this essay without express written permission from Meridian Magazine.