The Story Behind the Photo !

The Brush Mountain School at the Hensley Settlement (circa 1940). While visiting the Cumberland Gap Historic Park in Kentucky, I was fortunate enough to have a fisheye lens in my bag. This allowed me to stand just inside the front door and get all of this school room.
As the settlement grew to its peak of 100 people, the school was moved to its present site. Restored to its mid-1940s appearance. The schoolhouse is stripped-down simple. A wood-and-coal stove dominates the room; cast-iron-and-wood desks stand in neat rows; light filters through the windows & chinks in the log walls. When the school closed in December of 1947, only four students remained -- the children of the three remaining Hensley-Settlement families.


If you ever get the chance to visit the Hensley Settlement you will find photo ops everywhere.


This photo was taken on October 11, 2009 at 3:30 in the afternoon with a Canon 5D and a 15mm fisheye lens set at 1/6 sec F5.6 ISO 100. As always, Happy Shooting !

Crutch