Since 1973, when I first read one of my great-grandmother Lydia Jane Hart Hall’s diaries, I’ve wanted to find out more about her, her life, and her farm. She set me on this quest, and I wish I had known her.

I’m so very grateful to my painter/writer/blogger friend Katy Gilmore who urged me to do this project. Her “Workroom” gave me the opportunity and a welcoming community in which to begin writing these stories. You can see more of Katy’s work at her website katygilmore.com and at her blog “Her Spirits Rose…”

A huge thank you to my brother Kirt, a true steward of the past and of the land – you can see more about him at kirtlandcrumpclocks.com.  And thanks go also to my cousins for sharing tales and photographs and memories with me, to my mother, Janet Hall Crump for planting the seeds of love I feel for this farm on Whirlwind Hill, and to my family – Alex, Paul, and Mara – for supporting me no matter how preoccupied I’ve often been with my artistic pursuits.

Lydia Jane Hart Hall’s 1912 Yearbook and A Yellow Pencil, Carol Crump Bryner, 2012