Two Blacks

Blackhouse Arnol

As a counterpoint to the blog post about two whites, this one is about two blacks. We were out for the day in yet another remote area on the Isle of Lewis and Harris in the Outer Hebrides. To be fair, beyond the town of Stornoway where we are staying in an Airbnb flat, everything is a remote area. Absolutely everything. The entire island only has 20,000 people spread over almost 1,000 square miles. That works out to be an extremely low population density of one-tenth that of Virginia. While driving, we became rather concerned about the rapidly advancing weather front that overtook us. Heavy rain and dark clouds. Dropping temperatures. Little to no visibility. Strong wind blowing the rain across the road. And black as if the sun had been switched off. Black number one.

Black number two included none of that. Our driving destination was a site managed by the Historic Environment Scotland (we are members). They do work not unlike the National Park Service in the US. This site had a historic building that we wanted to tour (inside, out of the rain). The building is a rebuilt and furnished example of a rather common farmer's home 150 years ago. The building's floor was flagstones and packed earth, the walls were stacked stone, and there was a central hearth for the peat fire. There was no chimney for the smoke to escape through. Instead the smoke made its way through the thatched roof. Awfully pungent smell. This led to the soot blackening of the interior which may also have contributed to the adoption of the name blackhouse. Black number two.