Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve

Author's Comments

The name alone stopped me the first time I saw it on a map. Banshee Reeks. Whatever you imagine from that, the place itself is quieter - wide meadows rolling toward Goose Creek, the Blue Ridge sitting low and blue on the western edge of everything. It is a pastoral preserve in the fullest sense, the kind of landscape that asks nothing dramatic of you. May is when I prefer it. The wildflowers come up through the meadow grass before the heat has fully arrived, and the mornings are still cool enough that the deer move late into the daylight. You will see them at the tree edges if you arrive at golden hour and stay patient. The light on those meadows in late May moves fast and is worth watching - it comes over your shoulder from the east and rakes across the grass, and for about twenty minutes the whole field goes luminous before settling into ordinary morning. The Blue Ridge sits there on the horizon regardless of season, but in October it goes a particular shade of smoky violet that reads well against the amber grasses. That is the other moment I have come back for. The county requires a free access pass, which keeps the crowds honest. Most days I have had the meadow trails nearly to myself, which matters here. This is not a place that performs for you. It is a place that simply continues, quietly, in whatever light you bring to it.

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