I like to explore and tell descriptive stories about places. I also make jewelry, music and mixed-media art.
At 9:40 am, May 27, 1925, there was an explosion inside the Carolina Coal Mine, Farmville, Chatham County, North Carolina; as a result, 53 men lost their lives. This remains the deadliest industrial disaster in North Carolina history, but it is unknown to many in the state, but for a historical marker along US 15-501 […]
Read More Coal Glen Mine Disaster MemorialSomewhere in the middle of the Piedmont, a rocky river becomes silty and muddy and changes direction. Called the Deep River, it gives its name to the southeast’s largest Triassic rift Basin. The name “Deep River” is a translation of an indigenous name, sapponah (sappony), which, beyond this, has vague (conflicting?) sources but most likely […]
Read More The Deep River and its Triassic Basin: Cumnock to CarbontonPANGAEA is splitting slowly but not neatly. Forces pull apart land masses, and the water flows into the open space of the rift. The largest spaces eventually become part of the Atlantic. Smaller spaces become long, shallow lakes, swamps, and other wetlands, giving a habitat to large and small reptiles, insects, palm trees, and other […]
Read More Deep River Triassic Basin: A Grandmother of IndustriesCold Moon, December 2024 As the final full moon rises before winter solstice on a cloudy night in the North american eastern woodlands, I look back through the past solar year and then to the path that lies ahead. Earlier this year, I decided to update the name of this blog to “Arianna’s Creative Travels” […]
Read More Creative Travels: observations of a cycleThe storm bore down on my headwaters, as it had done to my sisters, and I couldn’t hold back. We were all overwhelmed and enraged; this was just another breakdown in my ancient age. So full my banks, so strong my force, I broke bridges and carried campers along my course. I threw their pieces […]
Read More Fury of an Appalachian RiverDanville, Virginia to Eden, NC, Sept. 2024 “You can take all you want. It’s all rock around here.” -ABC Store operator, Pelham, NC SHALE BE COMING ROUND THE MOUNTAIN I’m standing on a multi-colored rock field between an ABC store and a visitor center near the North Carolina-Virginia line, looking downhill at what I am […]
Read More Dan River Rift Basin: Piedmont Geology and CultureSHE WORE A GREEN LYCRA DRESS TO THE WAREHOUSE PARTY The parties were funded by DuPont as it set up on a spring basin near the river. The scene had been Basic before that, it was all metal. Then came the industrial dance all-nighters and occasional death rock and harsh noise. It got huge, over […]
Read More Waynesboro, Part 2: A Walk Along the River
arianna's creative travels 