Reed Gold Mine is the site of the first authenticated discovery of gold in the United States in 1799. John Reed, a former Hessian soldier, discovered a 'gold substance' in the water of Little Meadow Creek in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, and began the gold rush in this country.

http://www.nchistoricsites.org/reed/history.htm 

Little Meadow Creek

Inside the old mine

A bucket to remove everything that wasn't gold

View from the middle of the mine. The bottom was closed off after it filled with water.

Photos By Joyce Lavene
www.joyceandjimlavene.com 

Garden Statuary

"The hours I spend with you I look upon as sort of a perfumed garden, a dim twilight, and a fountain singing to it. You and you alone make me feel that I am alive.  ~ George Edward Moore


Garden Statuary has always fascinated me. The statues tell a story all their own.

Rose petals and a cupid from South Carolina

Duke Memorial Gardens

An unusual Roman soldier

Not unusual - a woman caught with her clothes in disarray

Chinese fish

Lake Lure: earth and water

"Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountains and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we could ever learn from books. ~ John Lubbock Photos from Lake Lure, North Carolina. Some of you may recognize this area as the spot where the movie Dirty Dancing was filmed. I'd love to set a book here. Just haven't found the right one yet! The view from the house we stayed in was incredible. Heading into night Out for a boat ride Twin fir trees and stonework Lake Lure Inn, the scene of Dirty Dancing from Joyce Lavene www.joyceandjimlavene.com

Don't wait for your ship to come in ~

Don't wait for your ship to come in - swim out to it! ~Unknown

Random pictures of water.

Wilmington, NC

Waterfalls Park

Reed Gold Mine - the first place in the U.S. to find gold

Feeding the Gulls

Badin Lake, NC

South Carolina coast

www.joyceandjimlavene.com