If you are a history buff and interested in historic ruins, castle ruins, southern plantations, old army forts from the civil war era, and digital photography, you have found the right site!
With camera in hand, I have taken a few hikes to photograph at least three such places, and found them to be interesting and very educational. The castle ruin is Ha Ha Tonka, which is located in the Ozark Mountains at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. The Wormsloe Plantation is in the outskirts of Savannah, Georgia, and Fort Pulasky can be found on I-80 between Savannah and Tybee Island in Georgia.
This first set of pictures is of the historic ruins at the Ha Ha Tonka Castle that burned to the foundation early in the 1900s.
Taking pictures from various angles enabled me to add interesting light and dark detail through the trees.
The sounds of nature (click on some of the pictures) envelope the park and castle making the experience eerily rustic and equally peaceful.
Rock and dirt paths and a boardwalk winds it's way down from the castle to a deep blue, natural spring far below... a slight rushing sound of a babbling brook wafts it's way back to you from the steep mountain climb from the spring.
The actual remains of the plantation cannot be seen without taking in a long, leafy walk through a barely weathered path through the woods, where the only sounds you hear are crickets chirping, birds singing their songs, and an occasional scampering, of what I hoped to be, deer through the dense thicket.
Using photoshop 7.0, I was able to really bring the historic ruins to life. You can hear the ka-booms of the cannons as they were shot, if you click on the pictures.
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