We have a map on the door of the Manor of the United States. When we go to a new state we add the decal of that state. Being on the border of Tennessee and Virginia we decided to take a drive north through Virginia and into West Virginia so we could add West Virginia to our map! We ended up driving 250 miles but made it to West Virginia and back. The drive was through beautiful farming country side of rolling green hills. The farms are all nice and tidy. Big new homes are interspersed. We couldn’t see where they do things like marketing. They seemed to be a long way from anything including schools. We passed through the Appellation Mountains. I say “through” because we went through two very long tunnels. The northern part of Virginia and the little bit of West Virginia that we saw were coal mining areas. The coal was close to the surface and excellent quality. Railroad lines were brought in and lots of money was made, big homes were built and up to 12 story building lined the streets. We saw coal in the railroad cars today so they are still doing some mining but the towns are a bit run down. Many of the tall buildings were gone and the big beautiful houses were in disrepair.
We had a couple of highlights along the way. The first one was the town of Bristol. This was Daniel Boone country. Bristol lies right on the border of Tennessee and Virginia. One side of the very nice old downtown is in Tennessee and the other side is in Virginia. Of course we had to straddle the middle of the road. Chris and Norm bought a golf club in one of the many antique stores to sell on Ebay. The best thing about Bristol is that it is the birthplace of country music and we love country music! The first nationally recorded music was done right here in 1927. Ralph Peer set up the Victor Talking Machine Co. and over 12 days he recorded 76 songs from 12 artists including the Carter family and Jimmy Rogers. The country music industry was launched. The Carter family and Jimmy Rogers were the first country singers to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Tennessee Ernie Ford is from here also.
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| Bristol - Bithplace of Country Music |
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| Mural with the Carter Family and Jimmy Rogers |
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| Chris and I with a foot in Tennessee and the other in Virginia. |
The second highlight was the town of Abington in Virginia. It was founded in 1778. We saw a cool looking tavern with the date of 1779 on it. The moss on the roof was about five inches thick. The main point of interest was the Barter Theater. The building started out as a church in 1830 but became a theater in 18 76. In the middle of the depression in 1933, 22 actors from New York were talked into coming down to Abington to perform in exchange for food. They were convinced that it was better to eat in Virginia than starve in New York. They offered tickets for barter. Milk, chickens, hams, etc. were brought in exchange for tickets. The actors were fed and the folks in town were entertained. It is the oldest continuously operating reparatory theater, showing more than one play in the same time period, in the US. The theater is in beautiful condition. It would have been fun to see “Nine to Five” this weekend. Many actors played here in their early days before they became well known. Kevin Spacey and Gregory Peck and many others have their picture on the wall. We had a delicious lunch in the Log House restaurant. It has been added onto over the years but the building was started in the 1780’s by Will. They don’t know his last name. It’s been a restaurant for 35 years. Little rooms go off every which way. It was a great day and we added our new sticker to the map!
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| The Barter Theater |
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| The Log House Restaurant |
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| Yummy Homemade Bummble Berry Pie |
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| We Made It to West Virginia |
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