Beautiful Places

I have been to some beautiful places - Machu Picchu, the Savanna in Kenya with its exotic wildlife, wonderful Jerusalem, Bavaria in Germany. You have probably seen some of those too. But maybe you haven’t seen this one.

The confluence of the Cheat River and the Monongalia River is a beautiful place. Imagine the people who have walked that hallowed ground. George Washington was here. Think of Friendship Hill and all those who lived and visited there. It is easy to understand why Albert Gallatin wanted to build his home there when you know he was an immigrant from Switzerland. The lay of the land must have looked very familiar to him.

Or next October, you could go to Point Marion and stand on the schoolhouse hill. Look west to the mountains in Greene County. Every color in the rainbow is there in the fall foliage across the rivers. The beautiful leaves will be all around you but that is a really striking sight.

Should you happen to be walking down “Jack’s Hill” (that’s what we called it- it is the side of the mountain that follows Rt. 119 at the junction of the road to New Geneva) some winter morning, you may not be able to see where the rivers meet because the fog will be so thick. Years ago, my very young son called it a “mystical” sight.

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