The Mountains Keep Calling Us Back

This past week found us right back in the North Carolina mountains.  The occasion was that we had a chance to go with Judy's mom and dad, and we jumped at the opportunity.  This time we stayed in an almost new Hampton Inn, and boy, were we impressed.  The service, facilities, and amenities were impeccable.  Even the continental breakfast looked superb, but we passed it up to locate some local fare, which turned out well.

The next two pictures show the view from the front of the motel.  Judy and I had this same view from our room.  The nice lady at the front desk also told us to look out at night to see three mountaintop crosses that were illuminated by solar lights.  Didn't get a picture of that, but we viewed it each night.

We had our first dinner and breakfast the following morning at old favorite Shatley Springs.  This time we sipped a little water from the old spring which is reputed to have healing properties.  Since I wasn't ailing at the time, it's hard to say if it works.

Judy and I had eagerly awaited another visit to the Ashe County Museum, housed in their old 1904 courthouse.  This is the view of Mount Jefferson from in front of the museum.  We enjoyed a good long visit this time and talked at length with the curator, who answered all our questions.  The kind lady volunteers shared their knowledge about the history of Shatley Springs.  They gave us a copy of the testimonial of the man who discovered those springs, who was healed of a painful skin disorder after every other remedy had failed and doctors had given up hope.

Judy and her parents on the front steps of the old courthouse.

Like many other places, Ashe County is featuring Civil War history during this sesquicentennial (150th anniversary).  There had been a recent reenactment among many other planned activities.

This mural, one of many in West Jefferson, shows the old Virginia Creeper that once traversed these mountains, with whistlestops in many small towns.  This one was done by Stephen Shoemaker, guru of mountain mural makers.  He reportedly delights in hiding something in everything he paints.  We saw one of his paintings in the museum that had a feather hidden.  Another train painting showed an ominous skull far below a trestle.  I wonder what's hidden in this picture.  Click on it to enlarge and search, if you like.

This mural is on the north side of the Ashe County Cheese Factory, the largest in North Carolina.

These cows welcome visitors to the cheese factory.  We had all been there before, so we didn't take the tour.  If you've never been there, it's interesting and worthwhile.

After supper at Smoky Mountain Barbecue on our second night, we cruised the backstreets of West Jefferson for a while.  We happened upon this wonderful town park, which Amanda later recalled we had taken her to years before.  Who could forget this slide, the highest and longest I've seen at a public playground?

HOLY GUACAMOLE!!!

On our way back to a walking trail in Jefferson, we stopped off at the Dairy House for ice cream/milkshakes.  Then we walked off ALL the calories!

Here are some downtown scenes from the old railroad towns along the Virginia Creeper's route.

I didn't want to tell you in advance, but the previous four pictures are from a diorama in the Ashe County Museum.  It is still a work in progress, carried out with painstaking care and attention to authenticity by a group of at least a dozen local artists and artisans.  The finished display will be some 30 feet long and will show some of the railroad towns as they would have appeared in different eras, from the 20's through the 50's.  Actual events and characters from local history and anecdotes are added whenever possible.  The depth of detail is astonishing.  Here is the preparation area for the remainder of the project.  The curator of the museum told me that the artisans generally gather on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings and share coffee and anecdotes as they work.

You may click on the picture below for an interesting summary of the Virginia Creeper's history, from the boom years to its eventual demise.

We did much more on our trip that I didn't take pictures of.  We located the old Greenfield Campground and the former Lee's Lodge (now an art school) which Jack and Thelma recalled from days gone by.  We visited some other places that Judy and I had been to on our trip in July.  If you'd like to see more pictures of those, visit my July blogs.  Thursday, we returned home refreshed, having avoided the Labor Day traffic, enjoying fine dining and the very best of company throughout our journey!