Mount Airy NC and the Mayberry Days Festival

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? )