Friday morning I dropped the kids off at school, grabbed some coffee and my camera gear and went out on a totally awesome history geek photo safari with a dear friend. Our book club recently read the
Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches by SC Gwynne. It's a rare history book in that it doesn't create true heroes or villains out of this very bloody era of frontier life. Instead, Gwynne explores the gray area created by two sides caught up in a life or death battle with implications no one could foresee. Quanah's story takes place along the Red River in southwest Oklahoma and across the Texas panhandle to the Llano Estacado on the New Mexico border. The original Comanche Reservation is just down the road from us in Lawton. We searched for Quanah Parker's Star House and his original burial site. Thwarted on both of those by blocked roads and poor directions we headed over to Ft. Sill, where Quanah, his mother Cynthia Anne and his sister Prairie Flower were united in death at the post cemetery.
It was a perfect April morning on the prairie and just right for paying our respects to the history and beauty of this sometimes harsh corner of the world.
These photos are really cool! I love that you went exploring in an area where the book you read was set. I think that gives so much more depth to something you've read. I remember reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil just after visiting Savannah and it made the reading experience so much richer.
ReplyDeleteSo cool that you got to visit the places in the history book. Kinda brings the pages to life. The one of the abandoned building with barbed wire across the photo is nice and the gravestones in black and white.
ReplyDeleteHow cool is that! And your photos came out so well! I am always amazed at how artsy well taken cemetery photos can be. These are lovely.
ReplyDeleteI loved that book, in part because Savannah is almost a character in itself! That is someplace I'm dying to visit :)
ReplyDeleteThank you! Just getting out and playing with the camera (minus kiddos) was like a mini-vacation :) Next time we just need to get out earlier so the light is better!
ReplyDeleteThank you! It's so easy to forget how many things there are to explore locally because everything is always more exciting in a "new" location...kind of like your lovely staycation you just took!
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