First, a bit about Mr. Kilmer:
Joyce Kilmer (born as Alfred Joyce Kilmer; December 6, 1886 – July 30, 1918) was an American writer and poet mainly remembered for a short poem titled "Trees" (1913), which was published in the collection Trees and Other Poems in 1914. Though a prolific poet whose works celebrated the common beauty of the natural world as well as his Roman Catholicreligious faith, Kilmer was also a journalist, literary critic, lecturer, and editor. ~wiki
And about the forest:
Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest is an approximately 3,800-acre tract of publicly owned virgin forest in Graham County, North Carolina, named in memory of poet Joyce Kilmer (1886–1918). One of the largest contiguous tracts of old growth forest in the Eastern United States, the area is administered by the U. S. Forest Service. The memorial is a rare example of old growth cove hardwood forest, a diverse type unique to the Appalachian Mountains. Dominant species are yellow-poplar, oak, basswood, beech, and sycamore. Some trees are over 400-years old, and the oldest yellow-poplars are more than 20 feet (6.1 m) in circumference and stand 100 feet (30 m) tall. ~wiki
We visited this lovely place with our natural history club. What didn't fully impact me until the evening was we were in the same area the Cherokee, or Snowbird people, were from exhiled from and sent to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears. Some were able to hide here and some made it back.
My photos cannot do justice to these amazing trees. The biggest I've seen, saved from logging by a dam, the depression and some people who cared.
I'm so glad I finally made it here. Worth the 6hr round trip drive and the yellow jacket stings I got.
•more info about the Cherokee
http://www.grahamchamber.com/cherokee.html
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