Denton Birchfield and his grandchildren putting in a fence post at Hampton Creek Cove. In the field beyond a barn where Denton's horses are stabled, a rock chimney marks the spot where he and Beulah, his wife of 39 years, lived until fire leveled their farmhouse. Monarch and viceroy butterflies flutter along the stream, sipping nectar from late summer flowers.
Blackberry canes are heavy with ripe fruit.
Several gates later, up where the road crosses the creek, there's evidence of recent work. A gravel-covered ramp leads to the edge of the stream above the culvert. Below it, clear water splashes through a structure of parallel locust logs. Three strands of new barbed wire fence define pastures above both sides of the stream. As the land slopes upward, pasture gives way to shrubby scrubland, then to forest, and the hills close round the cove's head.