One of my favorite things about talking with R.B. is that, in the middle of an ordinary conversation, he’ll suddenly drop a small piece of Fearrington history—something quietly charming that explains why a corner of the property looks exactly the way it does. This week, during a meeting about some of our favorite photographs, he shared one of those stories, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it.
We were looking at an image of the allée along Camden Park, that beautiful stretch where the trees on either side grow together in a gentle arch. R.B. mentioned that years ago, on a trip to Europe, he and Jenny fell in love with an allée of trees that created a natural cathedral of branches above the path. When they returned home, they decided to recreate that feeling here at Fearrington. So they planted the line of oak trees on either side of Camden Park—young, slender saplings then, with a dream for what they might one day become.
That was more than thirty years ago. Now those trees have fully grown, rising up and over the road in the most graceful way. I drive through that allée every morning on my way to work, and again each evening when I head home. And truly—every single time—it stuns me. It feels like entering another world for a moment. A quiet, shaded, beautiful one.
We recently captured it on camera, and I’m thrilled to share it with you. I hope you love it as much as I do—and that next time you pass through, you feel that same bit of magic R.B. and Jenny brought home from Europe all those years ago.
