RV Lifestyle Where the Past Touches Your Soul John Rice Irwin collected artifacts and buildings over the course of 50 years, assembling a typical early Appalachian village with barns, homes and businesses. Musicians play traditional music, and a restaurant serves Southern home-style meals with ingredients from the museum’s gardens. Feel the Thunder Custer State Park in the beautiful Black Hills of western South Dakota is famous for its bison herds, other wildlife, scenic drives, historic sites, visitor centres, fishing lakes, resorts, campgrounds and interpretive programs. In fact, it was named one of the World’s Top Ten Wildlife Destinations for the array of wildlife within the park’s borders and for the unbelievable access which visitors have to them. The bison wander the park’s 28,733 hectares of mountains, hills and prairie, which they share with a wealth of wildlife including pronghorn antelope, elk, white-tailed and mule deer, big horn sheep, mountain goats, coyotes, wild turkeys, a band of burros and whole towns of adorable prairie dogs. Visit on the last Friday in September and feel the thunder and join the herd at the annual Custer State Park Buffalo Roundup (September 24). Watch cowboys and cowgirls as they round up and drive the herd of approximately 1,300 buffalo. Not only is the roundup a spectacular sight to see, it is also a critical management tool inmaintaining a strong and healthy herd. St. Simons, Georgia The largest barrier island in the Golden Isles, St. Simons Island lies across the immortalized Marshes of Glynn made famous by poet Sidney Lanier. Moss-draped oaks line the winding island streets, creating a picture-perfect image worthy of a Faulkner tale. St. Simons Island is dotted with exceptional historic sites and attractions from the St. Simons Lighthouse Museum − a working lighthouse built in 1872 − to the Bloody Marsh Battle Site where, in July 1742, British and Scottish soldiers protecting colonial Georgia defeated a larger Spanish force in a battle that helped end Spanish incursions outside of Florida. On the island’s north end, Cannon’s Point Preserve contains middens dating back to 2500 B.C. Fort FredericaNationalMonument (which preserves archeological remnants of the local British colony and its defence against Spain) and historic Christ Church, Frederica (one of the oldest churches in Georgia with worship held continuously since 1736) are also located on the island’s north end. History buff or not, you won’t want to miss Christ Church’s picturesque and somewhat haunting grounds. The Museum of Appalachia in Clinton, Tennessee (I-75; Exit 122), is a living history museum where you can “let the past touch your soul.” Visit a pioneer farm village that channels the voice of the South Appalachian folk through the artifacts and stories they left behind. Roam the 26 hectares of picturesque land and experience a rural Appalachian community complete with 35 log cabins, barns, farm animals, churches, schools and gardens. Discover a vast collection of folk art, musical instruments, baskets, quilts and Native American artifacts. 34 | www.snowbirds.org
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