October Roadtrip Day 8-9..Farmville and Home

Day 8 Sunday 10/29/17

     Funny how quickly the entire day’s plan can change.  I checked two sites and both said rain all day, “possibly heavy at times.”  So much for doing ten miles today.  But, I’ll get back to that.

     The Civil War Museum in Appomattox didn’t open until 10A, so I drove back to the battlefield to check out some of the memorials before the rain arrived.  Just inside the park is a pullout and a short trail to the site where the last organized fighting took place.  The marker reads, “At this place the North Carolina Brigade of Brigadier General W.R. Cox of Grimes Division fired the last volley 9 April, 1865.”

     The trail goes further into the woods and loops back along what was Searles Lane, one of the main roads into town.  The trail runs a mile and a half.  It felt good to be walking since I didn’t know what was in store for the rest of the day.

     Across the street is the site of the North Carolina artillery. 

     There is also a small military cemetery.  Nine Confederate soldiers as well as one Union soldier were buried here.

     The museum was worth the visit and they had a great deal of information on the timeline of the battle, the surrender and what happened afterwards. 

      Noon and still no rain.  So, I hopped onto Hwy 460 and made my way towards the town of Farmville.  In 1795, the Upper Appomattox Canal was finished and the area that became Farmville was its western terminus.  Crops were floated down the canal to Petersburg, Virginia. 

     Fifty-five years later the Southside Railroad connected Petersburg with Lynchburg.  To bring the line through Farmville would require building an expensive bridge to cross the Appomattox River.  The town agreed to help subsidize the cost.  The bridge would span 2,400 feet and rise 125 feet.  In addition to the rail line, a second level was built for pedestrians and carriages. 

     C.O. Sanford, the railroad's chief engineer described is as, "There have been higher bridges not so long and longer bridges not so high.  But, taking the height and length together, this is perhaps the largest bridge in the world."  

     Three days before the battle in Appomattox, a Confederate force was tasked with taking control of the bridge so the army and its supplies could get across.  Federal forces were sent to stop them and destroy the bridge.  Confederate Major-General Rosser’s men won the day and captured both the bridge and eight hundred Union prisoners.

     The next day Lt. General Longstreet attempted to burn the bridge to prevent the Union troops from following the Confederates across.  He was partially successful and did manage to damage a few spans of the railroad bridge.  He was stopped before he could destroy the carriage level as well, allowing the Union forces to catch Gen. Lee’s army in Appomattox.

      As for the bridge, Norfolk Southern abandoned the line in 2005 and gave the land to the Virginia State Department of Conservation and Recreation.  The bridge and thirty miles of the old rail bed are now High Bridge State Park.

     The original plan was to ditch the car downtown and walk the four and a half miles of rail trail to the bridge.  Due to the weather, I chose the shorter route.  There’s a parking area just under a mile from the bridge. 
   

    As you might suspect, the views were spectacular.
    

    The supports for the original bridge...

    Fortunately, the rain was fairly light through it all.  The “heavy at times” began on the dive to the Days Inn, my home for the night.  I had definitely made the right decision and not tried to do the ten miles.

     

  

Day 9 Monday 10/30/17

    This was just a drive day to get home.  I was up and out with the sunrise.  The single goal, to either get through Atlanta before the worst of the afternoon traffic, or find something interesting to do along the way and drive through after rush hour.  It was all Hwy 15 south to I-85 around Oxford, NC.
    Passing through Drakes Branch, Virginia I passed the Trinity Gospel Church and had to double back.

   Considering gas is cheapest in South Carolina, I waited to fill up until I had just crossed the border.  I saw this curious castle across from the gas station...

    From what I've found on line, this was a video game casino which opened in the late 90's.  The state of South Carolina sued over the legality of video game gambling and won.  It closed within a year.  You can read all about the case here.
    I did make it to the outskirts of Atlanta around 3P.  The folks on the radio warned of accidents slowing both sides of the perimeter.  No sooner had I committed to going through downtown when they reported another accident up ahead and everything ground to a crawl.  Be it ever so humble, there really is no place like home.

Dave 11/17

PS: Surprisingly, I have nothing booked and no adventures planned in the near future.  I'm sure I'll find some interesting places to go.

October Roadtrip Day 7...Lost in Virginia

Day 7 Saturday 10/28/17

     With some driving to do, I left the Motel 6 shortly after sunrise.  Hwy 11 south got me started.  Cutting through the Bridgewater College campus brought me to Hwy 42.  One bonus of leaving that early, I beat the homecoming crowd at the college.

     Hwy 42 south brought me to Natural Chimney’s Regional Park.  The place was crowded with RVs and very little signs of life.  In the back of the park site sits its namesake.  The spires range from sixty-five to one hundred-twenty feet tall.

    Five hundred million years ago this was all underwater.  Between the forces of erosion and seismic upheaval cylindrical holes formed in the sandstone.  The holes filled with sediment and hardened.  The sandstone eventually eroded away, leaving these columns.

    I didn’t stick around very long in the park.  I worked my way back to what I thought was Hwy 42 and continued south.  As expected, I was driving through farm country and not thinking anything of it. 
    Suddenly I came to an unexpected T intersection with Old C&W Railway Road.  A half mile or so further I came across what looked like an old train station.  The side of the building read Staunton, which actually was on my AAA map, but it looked like it should have been a much bigger place, and much further down the road.  

    Fortunately, there are plenty of resources available on line about abandoned rail lines.  The Chesapeake Western Railroad, aka Robert E. Lee's Railroad, had its own tale to tell.  It all began in 1871 with the Washington, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad which was to connect Washington DC to Cincinnati, through Harrisonburg.  Some of the grading work was completed around Harrisonburg before the project was scraped.  Twenty years later it was revisited as a line connecting the coal fields of West Virginia to Bridgewater and on to Harrisonburg.  That would be the C&W Railroad.  It was extended to Stokeville in 1902.  The Stokesville section was shut down in 1930.  The rest was eventually bought out by Norfolk and Western Railroad and is still in use today.   But why was it nicknamed Robert E. Lee's Railroad?  After the Civil War, Lee returned to Virginia.  A few years later he took a position as Spokesman for Shenandoah Valley Railroad, which was later bought out by the Chesapeake and Western Railroad.
     While I do enjoy an unexpected history lesson, I still had no idea where exactly I was.  The roads had numbers, but they weren't on my map.

    

    Eventually, I found myself in deep forest and passed a sign telling me I was just miles from the West Virginia Border.  I knew I wasn’t anywhere near where I thought I was.  With minimal connection on my phone(first world problems) I wasn’t getting enough clear information from google maps either.  I just knew West Virginia was in the wrong direction.  So, I backtracked to the last intersection and made my best guess. 

    Ten minutes later I came across Natural Chimneys Road…again.  Eventually this would being me back to the actual Hwy 42 south.  I followed it until Goshen where I picked up Hwy 35, crossing this bridge that’s been standing since 1890. 

    When I came to a stretch of road called Goshen Pass, I pulled off and took a few shots of the Maury River.

     Eventually, I came to Hwy 11.  I’ve driven this stretch before and the last time I stopped into Natural Bridge State Park. I thought about revisiting it, but the lot was jammed full, so I drove on. 

     But, I did stop at a place called the Pink Cadillac Diner, and yes there is a pink Cadillac out front.  It was your basic diner, but with 50’s memorabilia on the walls and a juke box in the corner complete with 45s. The foot was noting special, but Brittnay took good care of me.

     I'd gone a mile or so when I passed this curiosity.  It's the vision of Mark Cline.  Like me, he's a sucker for odd roadside attractions.  In the 1990's he created this space and started filling it with dinosaurs, pirates, leprechauns, giant bugs and space aliens.  Unfortunately, it all burned down in 2001.  You can see more of what's inside here.

     Hwy 11 brought me to Hwy 130.  Driving through Glasgow, I pulled off for an overlook of the James River and the valley below.

     Further down the road I saw two bridges side by side and people walking around.  One bridge was fenced off for the railroad.  There was also a set of stairs under the tracks and over to the footbridge.  

    

      Eventually, I did make it to the Super 8 in Appomattox for the night.  After ditching my stuff in the room I worked my way out to Appomattox Courthouse.   In 1865, this was a quiet community.  That all changed in April when Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia met Union General Ulysses S. Grant's army in one of the very last battles of the Civil War.
      Lee's army had been tasked with protecting the Confederate capital of Richmond.  Grant's army laid siege and one by one cut off Lee's supply chain.  After ten months, Lee informed Richmond he could no longer protect the capital.  Lee's best hope for continuing the war was to head southwest and try to link up with General Johnston's Army of  Tennessee, currently in North Carolina.
     Grant knew this and as Lee worked his way west, so did Grant, always keeping his army to the south to block Lee's escape.  Lee had a supply train waiting for him at Appomattox Courthouse.  He just needed to get there.
      They battled on April 6th, at a place called Sailor's Creek. It slowed down the Confederate Army and resulted in the surrender or capture of 7,700 men.  It also allowed an advance for of Union troops to arrive at Appomattox Station first and capture the supplies.  
      Two more battles on the 7th and Grant sent Lee a note suggesting he surrender.  Lee declined, but asked for his terms.  
      By the morning of April 9th, Lee had become fully aware of his situation.  Lee sent a note to Grant hinting of surrender, but asking for his terms.  Grant wrote back asking where he would like to meet.  A ceasefire was arranged and they agreed to meet in the home of Wilmer McLean.  Ironically, McLean had moved here from Manassas, site of the first battle of Bull Run four years earlier.  
     

 
     The two men met in the parlor and Lee asked Grant to write out his terms.  Remembering a recent meeting with President Lincoln, none of the Confederate soldiers were to be punished.  They were to simply lay down their arms and go back to their homes.  Lee asked if the men could keep their horses.  Grant agreed and the surrender was signed.   Grant's army even fed the surrendered Confederates.  He also told his own troops, to keep any celebration low key.  The surrendered troops were not to be humiliated.
     This of course didn't end the war.  General Johnston surrendered his army a week and a half later.  The last of the Confederate forces would surrender in May.
      

October, 2017 Roadtrip Day 5...Along Hwy 219

Day 5 Thursday 10/26/17

      One of the reasons I chose the Hendersonville Super 8 was its location.  The motel is right off the interstate and right on Hwy 219.  Everything I wanted to do was right off that road.  It made for a pretty easy day.

      My first stop was a place I had read about, Beartown State Park.  The trail through the park is only a half mile, but it’s all on elevated walkways and boardwalks.  I could have gone around the barricades, but didn’t feel the need.

     A half hour north is the turn off for Hwy 55.  About seven miles west is the parking area for the Falls of Hidden Creek.  The trail is a fairly easy mile and a half to the lower falls.  But first, the Upper Falls, coming in at a mere twenty-five feet.

     The Middle Falls clocking in at forty-five feet.

     And finally Lower Falls, the second highest in West Virginia, coming in at sixty-three feet.

    I lingered for a while as the light changed, as well as the light refracting off the water, causing the prism of colors to shift.

    

     I keep driving north, pulling off in the town of Buckeye.  There’s a parking area with access to the Greenbriar River Trail.  The entire trail runs 77 miles along the abandoned Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad line that once carried ore and timber between the towns of North Caldwell and Cass.  The line was completed in 1900 and the last freight train to use it was in December, 1978.  The line was officially abandoned. 

     I have no idea how far I walked, but turned around after forty minutes.  The trail curved along with the river.  I kept going until it curved enough to bring the trail out of the shadows.

 
      A municipal park in Marlington...

   

     Passing through the town of Slatey Fork, I passed this curious bridge.  It certainly looked like an old covered bridge.  But, it was actually built in 2005 and is named Sharp’s Kissing Bridge.  It was built by Ken Gibson for his uncle Dave Sharp because he always wanted a covered bridge.  

     Seen along the road...

     I pulled into the town of Elkins late in the afternoon, found the Super 8 and settled in.