This is one of those unplanned serendipitous photos you sometimes get when on the way to take a planned photo. I had been waiting for weeks for a heavy snowfall in order take a photo I had envisioned many months earlier. I needed at least 10inches of fresh snow and finally had the perfect conditions for that photo (see Photo Story 15). On my way to take the planned photo I turned onto Rock Edwards Dr., saw this photo op, stopped the car, rolled down my window, took this photo and went on my way. Probably the best photo with the least amount of effort I’ve ever taken. The Rock S. Edwards Farmstead is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Rock Savage Edwards was born in 1829 in Shropshire, England and emigrated to the United States when he was 28, working on farms in Ohio and Michigan to save money to buy his own farm, buying this farm near Benton Harbor, MI in 1860 for $420. In 1862 he enlisted to fight in the Civil War, was wounded in the battle of Antietam and was discharged in 1865. Returning home, he was able to raise enough money from agriculture to build a substantial house and barn (this photo) on the property. By the early 1870s the farm was producing orchards, a dairy, as well as fields of wheat, oats and rye. The 10inch snowfall sits undisturbed on the roof of the barn making this a picturesque winter photo of this historic site.
