By Kevin Williams
I was traversing eastern Kentucky's "Mountain Parkway" last week and as I rounded a bend I was struck by what I saw: a tiny country church with a bright red roof. Â The church probably isn't all that distinctive at other times of day, but I happened to catch it right when the setting afternoon sun was hitting it directly, bathing the church in a warm glow. Â And those direct shafts of sunshine just seemed to light up the roof. Â I knew I wanted to capture an image of it, so I slammed on the brakes and went on a side road to get closer to it. Â But when I did that the angle of the light was different and it just wasn't quite as pretty, so I sped back to the highway, went back to the other direction a couple of miles, did a U-turn and ended up back where I started. Â I pulled over on a highway bridge and captured this image.
Eastern Kentucky is religiously rich with a diverse assortment of country churches: Pentecostal, Baptist, Brethren and Unitarian. Â This was a little "Free Will" Baptist church, I believe. Â The mountains of eastern Kentucky are sometimes painted with a lot of negative stereotypes, but a lot of them are unfair. Â I think the people here are blessed with a deep work ethic and an unshakable faith and ability to deal with adversity. Â A gorgeous part of the country!
Little country church with the bright red roof
Joanne Hobbs
The pictures of the Church with the red roof in the mountains are just beautiful. The mountains are pretty but these pictures are outstanding. I love them.
hmchelen
What a beautiful picture of the red roof church. The sun really set it off. It looks so peaceful.
Doris J Owens
That is a beautiful little church! There is nothing much prettier than where that was is located. I love the state of Kentucky. I was born there but I have had the opportunity to visit all 48 of the contiguous states and spend some time sightseeing, etc. They are all beautiful in their own way, but I especially like Kentucky.
Kevin
It was/is a gorgeous little church, I just happened to catch it bathed in a perfect light
Linda from KY
I'm pretty sure I've seen that church whenever we've traveled to visit our daughter and son-in-law in Eastern KY. We have to travel on the Mountain Parkway to get to them. It's a beautiful drive.
Most of the people in Appalachia are just like you and me. As a native Kentuckian I get more than a little annoyed at so much of the news and entertainment industries portraying Kentuckians as impoverished, ignorant people stuck up in "them thar hills." The Appalachian Mountains run through a very small portion of our state anyway. Since I'm the mother-in-law of a bright and well-educated Appalachian man, I can attest that the stereotype is very much undeserved.
Kathy Barnes
Thank you for the church picture it's beautiful, it looks like a painting.
Kathy