My Hometown 

My hometown is Middlesboro in southeastern Kentucky.  In the late 1880's an English company called The American Association filled in a swamp at the confluence of the Stoney Fork and Yellow Creek streams flowing out of the west of the valley just thru the Cumberland Gap.  It was modeled after the industrial city of Middlesboro on the northeast coast of England.  It is as far southeast in Kentucky as one can get.  

The sandstone rocks contain veins of iron ore.  It was to be an iron center.  A worldwide financial crisis ended the dream and ended the first of several boom and bust economic cycles.  The rocks and minerals are from the Pennsylvanian period of Earth's history.  The primary industry has been coal.
The town lies at the southeast edge of an ancient meteor crater.  Long rumored due to the circular nature of the valley floor it is now proven positive by the recently discovered presence of shocked quartz.
It is a relatively small town having a 2005 posted population of just under 12,000.
Like many such towns in Appalachia the young get schooled then leave for better opportunity elsewhere.  The old sometimes return to the land they love.
In the late spring of 2004 my wife and I needed to spend a large amount of time there in caring for an ailing relative.  Our residence did not afford the space to do much in the way of art media experimentation so I resorted to watercolor as that, and drawing, require the least work area.  These watercolor images are the result of that homecoming after very nearly 40 years absence.