Spruce Pine, NC

From Hillsville I traveled down the Blue Ridge Parkway to Spruce Pine, NC, leaving VA behind. Stopping on the way I visited Moses H. Cone Historic Site. Moses and his brother were German Jewish immigrants. They became famous for their textile ventures and became the largest producer of denim in the world in their time. For entertaining their family and friends they built a beautiful home on several thousand acres. The idea was to keep it as a natural getaway. Moses planted over 100,000 apple trees, while his wife planted rhododendrons. They developed 22 miles of carriage roads on their property. Those old carriage roads are now hiking trails and the home is a visitor center.

 

Looking off the front porch of the Moses H. Cone home.

Looking at the front of the home. The upstairs is closed except for tours on the weekends. We were there on a weekday.

While in the area we visited Linville Falls. These are the upper falls. Only about 2 hours or less from Asheville this is a popular place for day trips and picnics.

I guess I'm just like a kid and can't seem to keep clean, but the rest of the story about this is later.

Looking down on the lower falls.

Not far from the falls is the Linn Cove Viaduct and visitor center. From the visitor center you can hike underneath one end of the viaduct. Here is Max picking blackberries along the way.

Standing underneath the viaduct. Above is the 2 lane viaduct, the last part of the Blue Ridge Parkway to be built.

Looking across at the viaduct.

Now for the rest of the story....I eventually did get up to the limb where Max was sitting, but not before sliding down the hill first.

If you have never been on the Blue Ridge Parkway, it is a 454 mile National Highway running along the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is full of beautiful hills, valleys and curves.

The town of Spruce Pine is aptly named. All around the area are Christmas Tree farms. I have never seen more hills and fields full of Blue Spruce trees.

This was my view for miles along some of the highways. Miles and miles of Christmas trees.

The gap near Spruce Pine was originally used by the animals, such as deer and buffalo, as they migrated to different feeding grounds. Following the buffalo trails came the Indians. Next the pioneers followed the trail through the gap as they came west. But the most famous use of the gap, known as Gillespie's Gap, was on September 29, 1780, as hundreds of Patriot militiamen came through the gap on their way to King's Mountain, which is said to have been a decisive battle in the Revolutionary War.

Still a producing orchard, we stopped, but their crop of summer apples was destroyed. It does look like their crop of fall apples should be good though.

I grew up with the song "Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley, Hang Down Your Head and Cry.....", never knowing it was based on a real man and real story.

Knowing I would be close to the Appalachian Trail, I set a goal to hike at least a small distance on it before leaving the mountains. My first chance was rained out. But here I was again. It was raining on and off that day, but I did get a short hike on the trail. Someday I still want to go back and hike a larger portion.

Since we didn't even find the trail until the afternoon, we only hiked about 1 mi in and back out.

We drove to the top of Roan Mountain after the hike and found this sign next to the closed visitor center.

I would love to be back here in June when the Rhododendrons bloom.

Those are all Rhododendron trees, some over six feet high.

At the end of the trail was this viewing platform. All you can see behind us is sky.

The Hotel of the Clouds. Around the early 1900s this was "the place" for the rich and famous to come play. Built on top of Roan Mountain it was an all day carriage ride the 12 miles from the train depot.

Now, this is all that is left.

Old Time Fiddlers Contest

I know I am way behind in my blogging. Too much to do and not enough time to write about it. This was several weeks ago back in Galax, VA. The Old Time Fiddlers Convention was Aug 3-8. We were supposed to be leaving on Aug 3 to head to our next destination, but decided to stay over one more day just to attend the opening day of the convention. I wish I could have stayed for the entire week. Just walking around the area you could find people jamming together. All ages, all bluegrass and old time music. In the evening were the competitions. Monday night was the youngsters, age 15 and younger. But more about that later.

 

One group jamming. The young girl was seen in several other areas at other times, jamming with different people.

This was one of the youngsters in the fiddle competition. I believe she was around 8 years old.

 The winner of the bluegrass fiddle, ages 15 and younger was a 14 year old, but the big story was the 2nd place winner. I only have him on video and have yet to figure out how to make the videos small enough to upload. He was 5 years old and well deserved the 2nd place finish. If he continues playing, by age 14 he should be the best in the world. That 5 year old put many adults I've heard to shame.

 

These 3 teens were seen jamming at several locations.

Hillsville, VA and the Blue Ridge

Our next stop was Hillsville, VA, where we parked for a week out behind the VFW. The town of Hillsville has a townwide flea market 2x a year, Labor Day and Memorial Day. It is said to be the largest flea market east of the Mississippi. The VFW owns a large area which it rents out for the flea market and usually sits vacant the rest of the year. We showed them they could have other uses for the area, such as renting it to RVers. But Hillsville is right in the middle of the Crooked Road area. It is near Galax where the Old Time Fiddlers Convention is held, it is close to the Blue Ridge Music Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway and also nearby is Floyd Country Store, Floyd, VA. This is only to name a few of the places to go in the area. We actually extended our stay here because of so much to do.

 

We saw this Cottonmouth on the New River Bike Trail. Bertie ran over him before she saw what was on the trail. Then he was mad and ready to strike as I came up. I swerved to avoid him and almost knocked Max down, but we all survived. Needless to say my heart was pumping after the incident. He eventually slithered off into the grass so hopefully no other bikers had the scare we did.

Mabry Mill is considered to be the most photographed mill in the U.S.

Mt. Airy is the home of Andy Griffith and the basis for Mayberry, RFD.

There is even Floyd's Barbershop, just like in the show.

We paid to see Ricky Skaggs perform at the outdoor amphitheater at the Blue Ridge Music Center. It was nice all day so they did not move it inside. But of course once the music started, it also started to rain. Not just rain, but it poured through most of the concert. But Ricky Skaggs said if we were brave enough to sit out there in the rain, he would play, so he did. (underneath a roof of course)

You can see some umbrellas as you look towards the stage.

At Floyd's Country Store we met this guy.

All these sketching on the wall are of real people. After the artist sketches them, they then write down their story.

This is the story of the man earlier. He lives in the hills, plants corn the old fashioned way, and comes to hear music at Floyd's on Friday nights.

Crooked Road Caravan-Abingdon, VA

First I want to say how much I love it when I get a high speed internet connection. Yeah! Second, I am so frustrated with ATT cell service. I think I am the only one of our group who has ATT (most have Verizon) and I am usually the only one who has no service. And no service means no internet with my air card. Very frustrating. Well, now that that is said.... I have been on the Crooked Road Caravan all summer, but only now have I arrived at the real Crooked Road. It is a trail designed to take you to 8 different music hot spots. These music hot spots are all about Appalachian music, history and culture. Although I will not be visiting all 8 spots, I will get the chance to visit about half of them.

 

You see this sign along the roads and in all the venues.

Downtown Abingdon has wolf statues all over town.

 

The 'Pickin' Porch" is one of the Crooked Road venues, located in Bristol, VA. Every Thursday night they offer free music. This is a family group.

I don't think either of these kids were over 16.

At the Carter Fold on a Friday evening

Another venue along the Crooked Road is the Carter Fold. Started by the Carter Family, one of the original old time music groups. It is still in operation today, still run by the family members. Each Friday night they have music and usually where you find Appalachian music, you find dancers. They call it 'flat footing', but it is really a style of clogging. You will see people all ages, both young and old out dancing. I even tried it.

 

This is the cabin where A.J. Carter was born. It is now a museum located at the Carter Fold.

While out sight seeing we stopped at a store in Shady Valley. This sign was out front. We didn't understand all that it meant until a few days later we drove this road. The claim is 3 mountains, 1 valley and 489 curves within 12 miles of the store. The bikers come here in droves to ride these roads.

Even our GPS had a hard time keeping up with the curves in the road. I have driven lots of curvy mountain roads before and never have I been on a road like this. For over 30 miles you couldn't go faster than 20mph due to the curves.

At Shady Valley we found this drink. I guess it is a local variety since I've not seen it except in this area. It is a cherry soda, more like a cherry coke.

Between Shady Valley and Damascus we encountered this tunnel. Noted as the shortest tunnel, it is probably not more than 10 feet through.

You can climb up and walk across the top too.

And looking down! The road below was once a railroad track which was made into a highway once the trains quit.

One of the huge tourist attractions is the Virginia Creeper Trail. From the top of Whitetop Mountain down to Abingdon, it follows the old Virginia Creeper Railway route. Note it is a rail to trail, 34 miles of mostly downhill.

It was a beautiful trail.

I loved the sign with the train.

We intended to do some hiking on the Appalachian Trail, but it rained on the day we planned to hike. So as we were out and about we did run into 4 young (college age) men who had started on a 2 week hike just 4 days earlier. But one had gotten sick and they were out on the highway looking for a ride to the hospital for their friend. We took them and all their gear into the hospital at Bristol. As we said goodbye we asked that they let us know the outcome. We got an email back letting us know the young man who was sick was ok, but flew home and did not finish the hike. The other 3 returned to the trail and finished their 2 weeks on the Appalachian Trail.

You just never know what adventures await when you walk out your door.