Wendell Berry cited in "Your Life is a Palimpsest"

Every plot of land has a story. Wendell Berry called the land a palimpsest. That’s a great word, and I had to look it up. A palimpsest is a writing tablet that has been erased and used again. Though in one sense, it’s a clean slate, you can still see the residue of the tablet’s previous use.

There was a time when the story of the land and its use would be passed down from generation to generation. I would love to have such knowledge of the land where I live. But what I know about the land where my suburban community now sits is only what I have experienced in the short time I have lived there, plus what I have been able to learn from public records.

via www.kevinscottwrites.com