Gorgeous day. Absolutely fabulous here in North Carolina, so Steffi and I decided to get out and take an afternoon driving tour of some of the small "towns" south of Carrboro.

We started our day, however, with a hearty, hearty soup. (Reminds me of my favorite line in Christopher Guest's mockumentary Best in Show, a wonderful take on The Dog Show. The film also pokes fun at the "Anna Nicole Smith syndrome" -- you know, where a buxom beauty marries a 99 year old, multi-millionaire geezer 'cause he's her best friend. In one scene, the honey bunny is asked the following question: "What do you two have in common?" And she pauses for a moment, then says matter of factly, "Well, we both really like soup." Whenever I discuss this film with others, I have to mention this line. I think it's classic, but most people, after the joke, just look at me as if I'd lost my mind...)

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I'm not sure why, but when I woke up this morning, I knew I wanted to drive to Saxapahaw, NC, a little Haw River mill town about 20 miles southwest of Carrboro. According to a history given on saxapahaw.com, the town was first inhabited by Sissipihaw (branch of the Sioux) Indians and first settled by the "white man" (Pennsylvania Dutch) between 1740 and 1750. We began our tour - October 17, 2004 - at the post office.

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The only inhabitant of Saxapahaw that we actually met was a longhaired, gray cat. It was incredibly friendly and this picture actually belies the fact that it liked me more than Steffi.

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Watertowers are cool. I like them. Very much.

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Probably the strangest sight we saw all day. In the middle of a huge, rolling field of grass (and a few odd, rusty metal farming relics) we discovered this old rocking horse, put out to pasture apparently after better days on the playground.

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Scattered across the pasture were 4 or 5 piles of rusted steel objects, all open-air art exhibits...

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One of my better portraits/pictures of the day. I must have done something right today because usually when I take the camera on a trip and have it - for all practical purposes - glued to my face, she (Steffi, not the camera) gets a bit ornery -- especially when she's trying to talk to me about something and I'm trying to photograph her.

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Selbstausloeser: Exposure on this timer shot was off (underexposed) and my corrections in Photoshop didn't affect much of an improvement. (The shot I took with fill-in flash was better, but I didn't like the reflection on our glasses nor the composition.) This one will have to do.

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On to Bynum, NC, another little community situated on the Haw River. I took a couple of wide angle shots from the bridge, but they didn't look so hot when compressed down to "journal size."

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Well, if there's a Bynum Beach road, I'll assume there's a Bynum Beach somewhere. We didn't see it, though...

A little note (stolen from here) about Bynum: Bynum, North Carolina is an easy place to miss if you don’t know where you are going. There is one little state road sign on 15-501 South that points the way. The small mill village is located approximately 8 miles south of Chapel Hill and 4 miles north of Pittsboro in Chatham County. With its “close-but-far” proximity to Chapel Hill and the Research Triangle Park, this quaint community has become the perfect target for rural gentrification.

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A walking bridge, closed to all traffic and wheeled vehicles.

Another note (stolen from here) about Bynum: The commonly accepted territory of Bynum includes the area immediately off of Bynum Road. The town grew up around the mill, which was set on the Haw River. The mill would later become the sight of the Bynum Manufacturing Company, established in 1872 to make cotton goods (Hadley: 1971). Originally, the company built 14 cotton mill houses available for rent to its employees (Eventually that number increased to 38). As the mill grew, the town grew and became a vibrant community. In the 1930’s there were five stores, a movie theater, and a high school in Bynum. As one native Bynum resident said, “You never had to leave Bynum at all back then. Everything you needed was walking distance” (interview: 2003).

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The only inhabitant of Bynum we actually got to shake hands with.

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I think the terrier liked Steffi more than me, but she (the terrier this time) was quite content to pose for photographs.

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One of the biggest reasons to visit Bynum is to see all of Clyde Jones' critters. Jones is in his late 60s and has been creating his chainsaw-carved wooden sculptures for over 20 years and is somewhat of a local legend. Here's one of my favorite paragraphs from the Roadside America website's description of Jones' work:

The works, which used to have the more formal moniker, "Haw Creek Critters," (since The Haw River flows nearby) have been exhibited all over the world, from the Great Wall of China to the Smithsonian Institute to area barbecue restaurants.

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Unfortunately, this is about the best shot I got of any of Clyde Jones' Haw Creek Critters. This, I believe, is one of the 12 reindeers pulling a rigidly stoic (stoically rigid?) Santa Claus down the road in front of the Critter House (picture above).