Sharieland 03

(continued form Sharieland 02)

Heading toward Herman’s Mansion from the ridge discussed in “Sharieland 02”.

Reaching the mansion. Herman often made jokes about his home being “behind the eight ball” when things went afowl there, like with the Termite Terror of 1902.

Path on Eight Ball Ridge.

While starting up the path, I was rather startled to see what appeared to be a fairy home at the base of a tree to my right. Very unambiguous!

Forks in the trail. This is where the central “eight” can be entered. Alternately you can just walk in a big loop (straighter path to left), bypassing the very top of the ridge. Being quite superstitious, Herman always walked the “eight”, and in a clockwise direction according to legend. He felt this helped keep bad luck away from the house. Herman accomplished the ritual almost daily, more often than not accompanied by his loyal wife Ethel.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/behind-the-eight-ball.html

One could possibly even make an argument that Herman originated the phrase, “behind the eight ball”, meaning to be in a sticky situation. I’ll have to look up if croquet was played on the grounds per reference to “Eight Ball Croquet” in the above article. A ridge just north of the house, a kind of direct continuation of The Eight Ball (but with a distinct, separate peak) has since been nicknamed Cue Ball, but there’s no record of Herman’s family coming up with this appellation.

And now we return to what appears to be the meat of Sharieland just downhill from the mansion. This interesting cement container seems to mark a northern boundary. Did something like “Welcome to Sharieland!” use to be scrawled upon its front?

Eye Rock (my name) a little above the container.

More photos and text concerning Sharieland soon enough! It seems to be a big, big topic.