Mount Airy NC and the Mayberry Days Festival

Aimee, where did you get the idea that I hate mustard? I like it on both hot dogs and hamburgers, as well as the pot roast sandwiches that my mother used to make for me during my embryonic years.  
 
Correction: Make that my larval years. I didn't eat all that much as an embryo.

love the trip report.

What amazes me is that so many of the towns look like they cleared everyone out so you could take a photo.

Where are all the people?????  Kind of scary/creepy almost.

Pam, your guess is right on the mark. In each case, they heard that I was coming, so everyone packed up and got the hell out of town ( can't say that I blame them! ) 

If I remember correctly I think Bob calls his car 'Godzilla'--maybe it looks more like Godzilla than any of us know.  :)

nocarolina


Aimee, where did you get the idea that I hate mustard? I like it on both hot dogs and hamburgers, as well as the pot roast sandwiches that my mother used to make for me during my embryonic years.  

Hot Doug's. You wouldn't touch your Salma Hayek.

The problem at Hot Doug's was that they put spicy mustard on my sandwich when I was expecting yellow mustard, and I don't care for the spicy stuff. And I did eat it, after all, despite the presence of the unwanted condiment. Next time we're there ( and I'm sure there will be a next time there for the Contingent ), I'll just have to remember to be specific about my choice of mustard.

Heading south out of Huntington on WV Hwy. 152 ( former US 52 ), I passed through the town of Lavalette. A popular local eatery in town is Hazelett's Triple H Drive Inn, which the Sterns mentioned in 500 Things to Eat Before It's Too Late. They gave a thumbs up to the cole slaw that Hazelett's uses on their chili-slaw dogs. Since I had just had breakfast, stopping for a dog really didn't work for me, but when I pass that way again in the spring, I'll definitely be sampling the goodies there.

This is Wayne WV, the home of Ballard's, my favorite brand of country sausage. It's only available in the Appalachian region of the US.

A couple of random views along southbound 152...

This four-lane stretch of US 52 opened to traffic back in the 1990s, and, because the mountains really limit the available space for new highway construction, 52 crosses the Tug Fork River into Kentucky and then immediately crosses the river back into West Virginia; not once but twice within a six mile stretch. The speed limit on the WV side of the Tug Fork is 65 mph, but it's only 55 on the KY side, so it gets rather confusing trying to keep track of the legal limit.

The next two photos were taken from the aforementioned stretch of 52, showing the north side of Williamson WV, which is located in a beautiful river valley.

This railroad underpass leads to downtown Williamson, which promotes itself as "The Heart of the Billion-Dollar Coal Field".

Here's one of the more unusual structures that I've come across in my travels. The Coal House in downtown Williamson dates back to 1933, and is built totally of bituminous coal.

Williamson is the site of a Norfolk Southern Railway ( formerly Norfolk & Western ) railroad yard that's one of the largest in the eastern part of the country.

This long-closed general store dates back at least to the 1920s, possibly further back than that. The lack of front windows was a fairly common feature in Appalachian country stores back then, as was having rural buildings raised up off the ground on concrete blocks. Until about 40 years ago, the Appalachian region had no shortage of small mom n' pop general stores such as the one that my late aunt and uncle used to own in eastern Kentucky, but today virtually are of them have been replaced by modern gas station / convenience stores.  

I forgot to mention that the name of the store's owner, which is located just above the faded Coca-Cola sign, was Virgil Hatfield. The infamous Hatfield-McCoy feud took place near Williamson , and there are still lots of Hatfields living in the area.

By now it was early afternoon and time for lunch, but over the years I've had a great deal of trouble finding an acceptable place to eat in this area. There's a few McDonald's and Hardee's in this part of the state, but that's certainly not what I was looking for. Near the town of Gilbert, I noticed that a new restaurant had opened, so I decided to give it a try.

My lunch was the country steak with mashed pototoes and gravy, pinto beans, cornbread and a Pepsi. I wish I could say that I enjoyed this meal, but frankly, the food here isn't very good. The country steak was a frozen pre-breaded item with very little flavor, the mashed potatoes were instant, and the gravy was from a jar. The pintos and cornbread were okay, but they sure weren't like what my mother used to make. Oh well, you don't know about a place until you try it... 

No dessert? What'd they have to offer? Those prices are criminally low!

Next time we go to Doug's we can get the condiments on the side. Mmmmm, Hot Doug's!!!

Why didn't they put the white peppery gravy on your steak?
 
eta Loving the pictures, as usual. Keep it up!

Those prices may have been low, but, IMO, that's meaningless if the food is not up to what you consider acceptable standards. In the case of Wally's, the food was mediocre at best, so I don't see the low prices as any kind of bargain. Thanks to my increasingly fuzzy memory, I can't remember if there was any dessert offered or not.

Aimee, apparently the brown junk from a jar is the only kind of gravy that they had. It sure wasn't what I was expecting.

Across the road from Wally's is the entrance to Trail #12 of the Hatfield-McCoy Trail System.

Here's a couple of random shots along southbound US 52...

This is the small town of Iaeger in McDowell County. As you can tell, this town has seen better days.

Several miles past Iaeger is this great old swinging footbridge, which, unfortunately, has deteriorated over the years to where it isn't safe to cross anymore.

I was tempted to cross the bridge in order to get photos from the other side of the creek....

... but this quickly changed my mind about that.

Bob, sorry we didn't make it up to see you at Mayberry Days. My mom just got new neighbors in Myrtle Beach who are from Mount Airy. I will find out more later.


Dennis in Cary

This one's for my fellow railbuffs...

An old trailer serves as the post office in the tiny mountain community of Premier.

As you enter the town of Welch, the studios of WELC ( 1150 on your AM dial ) can be seen on the left.

This street is "old" US 52, approaching downtown Welch. The current 52 bypasses the town by passing above it on a mountainside route.     

Enroute to the southern WV city of Bluefield, Hwy. 52 passes through the town of Kimball. Most of the buildings in town have been demolished over the years; this handsome structure is one of the few left.

One of the more impressive railroad bridges along 52... 

Near the town of Bramwell is this long-abandoned Pure Oil gas station that dates at least as far back as the 1930s. Pure built thousands of these blue-roofed "cottage style" stations during the '20s and '30s, and many of them are still standing. In fact, the Roadfood-reviewed Blue & White Restaurant in Tunica MS is located in a former Pure station of this design. This station is rather unusual as it has five service bays; two was the norm in those long-ago days when gas stations still performed car maintenance.

Just ahead is the entrance to Pinnacle Rock State Park, located along US 52 in Mercer County WV. The park is located on top of a 2,700 foot-tall mountain.

The centerpiece of the park, which opened in 1938, is this enormous stone pinnacle which was created by millions of years of erosion. The top of the pinnacle is roughly 3,100 feet above sea level.
                        www.pinnaclerockstatepark.com

I've always been amused by the name of this drugstore, which is located just south of downtown Bluefield on ( what else? ) US 52.

nocarolina


This one's for my fellow railbuffs...

 

Great picture of the diesels but any idea what's the wires are for going up the right side of the hill? Keep people from climbing up to the trestle bridge?

LeadBelly, I hadn't even noticed those wires until you pointed them out. They might be some kind of utility lines, otherwise I have no idea what they are.

Until the 1980s, if you wanted to drive from Bluefield WV into the neighboring state of Virginia, you had to make the long, winding trip on two-lane 52 up to the top of imposing East River Mountain, seen in this photo. The WV / VA state line is on top of the mountain, and, as I know from experience, it takes a full hour to get to the top and then back down on the VA side. Fortunately, the '80s brought a major change to Bluefield's travel situation...

... and this is it: the East River Mountain Tunnel, which I-77 and US 52 use to bypass the time-consuming mountaintop route. The drive that used to take an hour can now be made in less than a minute.

Hey, whaddaya know? We're finally out of West Virginia ( took long enough, huh? )