Jeffrey Whittle

Place of Light: Chestatee River, Appalachia

Place of Light: A Water Memory

The Chestatee River is 33 miles long and lives in the Appalachian Mountains of Georgia. The source of the Chestatee is small spring near Blood Mountain. The name of the river comes from the Cherokee Indians.

I waded into the Chestatee River a few days after my father died. Summer of 2021. I’d sat with him for days and nights while Covid ravished his body. We talked, we sang and we were silent together. I’m a figurative artist and I draw a lot of portraits from life, including several that I’ve made of my father over the years. My sketchbook was with me but was resistant. It seemed somehow sacrilegious, performative, pretentious or else a cliche: the artist son sketches his dying father.

But I did draw him and I cried doing it – which was a new drawing experience for me.

Jumping into cold bodies of water is something that I learned from my dad. We swam many times in the River together. My family owns a few acres up there. We fished off the banks and camped there at night, with the sounds of the river drifting in and out of our conversation.

Rivers are a natural metaphor for the journey of life. The passage of time. Water is often associated with the unknown, the unconscious and sometimes the feminine. Water is the central symbol of baptism.

I was in the water for hours – swimming and floating – being aware that I have a body. Grief creates a mental fog but sometimes generates an emotional clarity as well.

The loss had made me unsure about almost every part of my life and I no longer trusted myself with any decisions. Except the big ones. Those were coming into focus now.

The Chestatee River is 33 miles long in the Appalachian Mountains of Georgia. The source is near Blood Mountain. The name is Cherokee and it means “place of lights.”