The story is a sad one. A new American meets and falls in love with a Native American. Prejudice is everywhere among the settlers from Europe and their lives are made miserable. Death threats are made. If there is no peace to be had in this life, surely there is justification for making the move to the next? That is what our sad couple did.
They jumped off a cliff commemorated at this turnout on the Blue Ridge parkway. But is this where they jumped? No, this is where they are commemorated, a reminder that prejudice kills the spirit, and can lead to physical deaths as well. The actual site is a few yards down the road and blocked quite thoroughly by fencing courtesy of the state. No copycats allowed.
The place where they are commemorated is neither deep nor steep enough to kill, but it will certainly lead to serious injury:
From this spot, it is possible to see the house for which James built a huge deck:
The hill just to the left is covered with laurel, it is a state park!
So we have to go there and walk a path or two through the laurel and see the overviews from that peak:
Getting to this overlook point required walking a pleasant path through the laurel:
Not such a great trail, you say? True, but very pleasant and comfortable compared to the scrambling through the laurel we had to do on our little hike attempting to get into a small but wild canyon (see link below).
See Santa at Meadows of Dan
See where Rachel and James live
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