Boxley

After the hike along Leatherwood Creek, I headed back and then walked up the hill to visit the Villines Farmstead. Now preserved by the National Park Service, the farmstead is home to a collection of old buildings that were occupied between the 1850s and the 1940s. The oldest building is the two-pen log house, which was probably built in 1854. This is the front door of the house, which was open but there are signs saying the the buildings are fragile and that you can't go inside.



Peeking in another door you see an old (and uncomfortable looking) mattress, sitting in a room. Above the mattress you cans see bits of wallpaper and some old newspaper, which was used as insulation back in the olden days.





I headed to the back of the house, and looked through the back door. This was an addition to the house, made of cedar logs, that was constructed sometime after the 1880s. There is a considerable lean to the building here, which is probably why the Park Service doesn't want people going inside anymore.



Further down the hill is the farmstead's old barn, which also had a sign up preventing anyone from accessing. The barn door was open, and the old wood was weathered and faded.



There was a lot of interesting details along the exterior of the barn, including this aged piece of wall with a rusted bit of metal siding.



Along the front of the barn is this ring that was nailed into one of the logs. I'm assuming it was used to help corral animals back in the olden days.



From there I started to head home, but made one last stop at one of my favorite old barns in Boxley. The Edgmon barn was built sometime in the 1920s and sits at the edge of the valley.



A field nearby had a few good displays of wildflowers, so I tried to get a picture before driving up the mountain towards home.