The Seasons of Snug Hollow

Step into an Appalachian holler and walk through a full year, one day at a time.

The Seasons of Snug Hollow is a 365-day journey through the hills, creeks, meadows, and forests of Snug Hollow, a 290-acre refuge tucked in the Red Lick Valley of Estill County, Kentucky. Each day pairs a photograph taken on the land with a quote chosen to meet it: spring's first redbud and daffodils, summer's butterflies and evening skies, autumn's fog and fire-colored ridges, and winter's icicles, snowfall, and quiet.

The quotes come from writers who knew the land and its seasons, published before 1929: Appalachian voices like Emma Bell Miles, Horace Kephart, James Lane Allen, and Madison Cawein alongside Emily Dickinson, Henry David Thoreau, John Burroughs, Robert Frost, and more. Each season opens with a reflection from author Dr. Ryan Joseph Allen, and the year closes with his words on love.

Every photograph was taken on an iPhone and left exactly as the holler offered it, with no editing and no filters. The book is a reminder that beauty is waiting just outside the door, and that you don't need fancy equipment to see it.

Rooted in the author's family ties to Appalachia and dedicated in spirit to his grandmothers, this book invites you to slow down, open to a single page each day, and let the land speak. Read it day by day through the year, or wander through it like a walk around the labyrinth at the heart of the holler.

A gift for anyone who loves Appalachia, the changing seasons, nature photography, or a quiet moment of reflection each morning.