My favorite season of the year has arrived, as autumn begins to spread across the countryside.
The season has a number of names, including "autumn," which comes from Middle English and is said to mean "maturity or decline," as trees and plants have reached the end of their growing season for the year. It is also known as the autumnal equinox when the sun crosses the equator and the number of hours of daylight and dark are equal.
The season is perhaps best known to locals as simply “fall," no doubt from this being the season that leaves fall from the trees.
The cooler weather of autumn is especially refreshing this year after all the high humidity and hot temperatures we endured during this summer, which NOAA says was the hottest summer on record. When I was growing up on our small hillside farm on Atoah, autumn meant a reduction of some of the chores of summer while crops were growing and had to be tended to. Of course, they were replaced by more firewood-cutting, as winter would arrive in a few short weeks.
As I have reached my “autumn years,” this season seems to mean more to me than ever. I feel the strong pull of the woods beckoning me to get out and wander among all the brilliant fall colors, for I know that my days of being able to do this are numbered. The woods are more inviting now than in summer – for as the colder weather approaches, the worry of snakes, nests and pesky gnats are gone.
Also after leaf fall is over, distant views are beginning to open up that were not visible in summer.
There is what could be described as a season within a season, called "Indian Summer." The earliest known use of this term was in 1778 by the French-American writer John de Crevecouer in New York.
"Indian Summer" is described as a period of warm or mild weather following the first frost and cold snap of the season and can arrive as early as September or as late as November. As to how "Indian Summer" got its name, there is the theory that it had to do with the last spell of warm weather when settlers and Indians alike gathered in such crops as corn before the bitter cold and snow of winter set in.
It was the last chance to prepare for the onset of a long, hard winter.
Marshall McClung is the historical columnist for The Graham Star. He can be reached via email, mcclungs@email.com