27th
What was this place?
As I passed over the sloping ridge, I could see what looked like buildings arranged in no particular order and could now see that there were indeed billows of smoke rising from the place. The closest building was also the tallest. It was surrounded by a large grove of trees and was set apart from the village.
It looked almost straight like one of those tall towers farmer’s use to store corn and grain. It had a pointed rooftop though and was the color of stone, so it couldn’t be that. An old watchtower? I remembered seeing one at a historic revolutionary war site once and at least from this distance, it appeared very similar.
As I got closer, I started to hear a chorus of sounds. The crack of a hammer being used and the distinct clang of metal against metal. There were other sounds I could not make out, but it was clear that there were people living here. I heaved a sigh of relief.
The village was arranged in somewhat of a circular pattern, with more buildings than I originally thought and I could now see other buildings spread out over the fields surrounding the village, farmland from the looks of it.
On the far side of the village there was a large stream, perhaps a river even, but it was difficult to tell it’s width from this distance. It ran from north to south cutting into the great forest just north of the community. Strangely, there was no bridge going over the river at any point. I wonder if they even used cars here as I didn’t hear any of the typical sounds of traffic.
I could see a road leading into town from southwest now but it wasn’t paved. A town with only a single dirt road? For a moment, I swore I heard the sound of a horse trotting.
Then I realized I couldn’t see any telephone or power poles and certainly no wires. Did this place even have a phone? What was this place? Only one way to find out…
