Alan Garner

It had been years since I last vis­it­ed the home of my heart, the only place where I can breathe freely. Con­icville is in Shenan­doah Coun­ty in the Val­ley of Vir­ginia, bor­dered by the Alleghe­ny Moun­tains. It con­sists of a church, a ceme­tery, and a scat­ter­ing of hous­es and farms. In 2012, I trav­eled to meet my 98-year-old cousin. His farm had recent­ly been des­ig­nat­ed a Vir­ginia Cen­tu­ry Farm, land that has been in the same fam­i­ly for a hun­dred years.