Radford Ghost Story near The Blue Ridge Parkway and More Blue Ridge Discovery Happenings!

 My Artwork

Mountain Sunset   Original Oil Painting has been Sold

Prints on Paper or Canvas Available at     KENDALL KESSLER ART

Evening River Motion   Original 16"x20" Oil Painting   $670

Prints on Paper or Canvas Available at    KENDALL KESSLER ART

THINGS I CAN'T EXPLAIN

I mentioned before that I am a very skeptical person and always look to logic and science to explain phenomenal happenings.

I also check people's motivation regarding their supernatural experiences.  Does the person gain money from people's belief in their presentations?

Over the years people have built up a legend around Houdini as if he really did perform magic.
If you research his life you will find out that he did not consider any of his tricks to be supernatural and could explain each one of them.  He did go around and expose mediums that claimed to be in contact with the dead.

I also mentioned that I have had three strange occurrences in my life that I cannot explain, but I forgot about this one.

Ghost at My Piano

I come from a family that has many artists and musicians.  My grandmother and great uncle attended Peabody Conservatory and both taught music.  My grandmother believed everyone should play an instrument and practice every day.  She did not consider the arts to be an educational frill.

I have been working at my Art all my life.  I cannot remember a time that I didn't spend time drawing and I didn't like coloring books.  I wanted to make my own drawings.

I also enjoyed music.  My mother wanted us to take lessons but she didn't make us take lessons.

When I was twelve I decided to take lessons and it was one of the best decisions of my life.  I play every day and it is a wonderful experience.  There have been times that I didn't play every day but I recently have gotten back to it and do my best to play everyday.  My fingers are not as good as they used to be so I am working hard to improve my technical skill.

A few months ago when I was playing I could have sworn that I heard soft foot steps behind me as I played.  Since I am so skeptical I just considered the sound to be a  trick of my mind.

It happened a number of times the next few days and now I don't hear them.  I would like to think my grandmother was there with me!  Who knows!

Life with The Bird and Word Man - Clyde Kessler

In addition to The Mount Rogers 40th Naturalist Rally on May 9th and 10th, there is a Farm Days outing coming up on May 21st through 23rd!  This great event will be at Matthews Living History Farm Museum !

The event will include educational demonstrations and programs for kids!  Come on out!

Peaks of Otter on The Blue RIdge Parkway and The Mount Rogers 40th Naturalist Rally is Coming Soon!

My Artwork

Now that the weather is finally warming up I am thinking about all the beautiful spots on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  The Peaks of Otter resort is high on my list and I have a number of paintings that were done from that beautiful place.

Here is the lodge.  I am especially pleased with the dreamy reflections in the water and the serene mood in this painting.

Peaks of Otter Lodge      Original 16"x12" Oil painting        $484.00

Prints on Paper or Canvas Available at    KENDALL KESSLER ART

Color Swirl over The Peaks of Otter is my favorite one of the series.  I have sold a number of prints of this colorful vista.   The original painting is still available!

Cloud Swirl over The Peaks of Otter    Original 18"x 24" Oil painting  $864.00

Prints on Paper or Canvas Available at      KENDALL KESSLER ART

Craftsman  Original Oil Painting has been Sold

Prints on Paper or canvas are available at       KENDALL KESSLER ART

Craftsman is my tribute to the great mountain people I have come into contact with through my husband.

The Peaks of Otter

The Peaks of Otter has drawn settlers and travelers for more than 8,000 years.  The community began in 1776 when Thomas Wood came down from Pennsylvania and settled there. 

The wife of one of Wood's descendants opened her home as the area's first lodging for travelers in 1834.

By the late 1880s the Peak of Otter was home to 20 families, a school, church, and resort.

In the mid 1900's it was selected for special attention as the National Parks Service developed recreation sites along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Abbott Lake was constructed and the resort opened in 1964.

I got this information from the Peaks of Otter online website.

Life with The Bird and Word Man  - Clyde Kessler

My husband is still hard at work uploading over 2,000 bird files to Cornell University.  He hopes the research he has been doing on the wildlife of this wonderful mountain region will be of help to future generations that seek to preserve his homeland.

The Mount Rogers 40th Naturalist Rally

The 2014 Rally will be May 9 & 10.

Friday Night Speaker -  Nancy Lee Adamson PhD, Pollinator Conservation Specialist - East Region, The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. An Introduction to Native Bees and Other “Beneficial” Arthropods of the Mid-Atlantic - learn about common native bees we can support by protecting and planting pollinator habitat.

The program will highlight nesting habits of some of the 500 species of native bees in Virginia, as well as other pollinators, predators, and parasitoids that benefit from pollinator habitat.

Friday night entertainment - Ronald and Ellie Kirby will be bringing in the evening with some traditional old time tunes.

DOOR PRIZE! - David Richert has offered a free afternoon consultation on forest management as the friday night door prize.

Radford City Ghost Story near The Blue Ridge Parkway and Clyde Kessler poems published in Rose Red...

My Artwork

Pink Wave   Original 30"x40" Oil Painting            $2425.00

Prints on Paper or Canvas Available at   KENDALL KESSLER ART

I thought it would be a good idea to put up a Spring painting.  Pink Wave was inspired by the beautiful Cherry blossom trees at the Radford Public Library.

View from Bridge at Wildwood Park   Original 30"x40" Oil Painting   $2425.00

Prints on Paper or Canvas Available at    KENDALL KESSLER ART

Wildwood Park is becoming more beautiful each Spring Day!

Radford City Ghost Story

I had no idea there were so many ghost stories in Southwest Virginia!  Here is another one!


A Former employee of Macados on main street in Radford wrote about a ghost story in 2005.  The restaurant is modern and beautifully decorated on the outside but there is an old basement section with two pantries. 

In one section there is a window with glass that is not visible from the outside.  The restaurant was once The Radford Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Supposedly there is a woman dressed in grey in the downstairs section and employees are told not to talk about her.  Articles fly off the shelf at times and one cook says he did actually see her.  They were face to face and then she faded away!

I got this ghost story from ghostvillage.com

Life with The Word and Bird Man - Clyde Kessler

My husband is really tearing up the publishing turf these days!  He just published two poems in the online magazine Rose Red!  This is the third issue of this publication that he has had work in! 


Yea Word Man!

It is an interesting coincidence that one of the poems he published is about ghosts since I have been having a great time researching local ghost stories!

A Mount Juliet Ghost
Clyde Kessler

An old lady drowned in Nashville.
She was almost ghost of the year, blind.
Somebody heard a twanging in the oaks
and said she’s home by the soul’s voice
dreaming a tree that walks through stars.

None of a moonrise’s gold could fetch
her mind in a séance. A photographer
leased her apartment above a salon,
threw his best camera at a cop car,
it struck and killed a deputy by no luck.

You see vengeance spelled with a flood
is still the soul prying itself from hate.
You can build a new house in Mount Juliet.
You can throw parties that marry you off
imprisoned. The old lady walks you home.