Mini road trip: Roa, roa, roa...

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Yep, it's another long-weekend road trip, pegged to a stamp show. This one is in Roanoke, Virginia tomorrow (Saturday). On my way up there today, I made two stops in North Carolina.

The first one was at Pilot Mountain State Park. I've seen this isolated peak (monadnock) several times from Interstate highway 77 as it climbs the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge, but had never been there, so today I made a detour off I-77.

The visitor center near the base has exhibits about the history, flora and fauna of the area.

The native Americans who lived near here (the Saura) called it "Jomeohkee" (the "great guide"). The first European settlers, in the mid 1700s, called it "Mount Ararat" because it reminded them of the Biblical resting place of Noah's ark. I suppose its current name comes from its status as a "guide" to travelers, as with the Saura.

A road leads to an overlook which gives a closer view of the "Knob" or "Big Pinnacle". Note the birds that glide around it.

A trail leads from here to a loop around the Knob. However, no climbing is allowed onto the top.

 

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My second stop on Friday was about 20 miles up US-52 from Pilot Mountain, in the town of Mount Airy, North Carolina. This was the birthplace of actor Andy Griffith, best known for playing the sheriff of Mayberry, NC, in the 1960s TV series "The Andy Griffith Show". There's a statue of him and his fictional son Opie, near a museum about him and a playhouse named after him.

Mount Airy's Main Street has Mayberry-themed shops and restaurants.

*
This "Floyd's Barber Shop" is not the one that appeared in the TV show. That was on the RKO / Desilu "Forty Acres" back lot in Culver City, California, where the outdoor scenes were filmed.

The original "Star Trek" series used this back lot for some episodes, and so we have Captain James T. Kirk standing in front of Floyd's Barber Shop.

https://www.handitv.com/stories/when-star-trek-visited-mayberry

 

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Today, after the stamp show, I visited the Virginia Museum of Transportation, in the former freight station of the Norfolk and Western Railway.

This electric locomotive was used by "Roanoke's other railroad", the Virginian Railway. Both hauled coal from West Virginia to Norfolk-area ports, and both electrified mountainous sections of their routes. The two railroads merged in 1959, and a few years later removed the electrification.

This is the first Virginian electric that I've seen in person.

Here's a "critter" that I think once helped pull ships through the locks of the Panama Canal. Unfortunately its informational poster/sign has gone missing.

The museum also has an aviation section.

And a collection of classic and other interesting cars. Here's General Motors' first electric car, the EV1.

GM made them from 1996 until 1999, and only leased them. None were sold outright. In 2002, GM terminated the leases, recalled all the cars, and destroyed them, except for a few which they deactivated and gave to museums and engineering schools. See the linked Wikipedia article for details.

 

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Today I drove from Roanoke to Charlottesville via the Blue Ridge Parkway.

My longest stop was at the crossing of the James River. A double-deck bridge carries the Parkway on the upper level and a walkway below.

The walkway connects the parking lot and visitor center on one side with a canal lock from the 1840s on the other side.

In Charlottesville, I walked through the U of Virginia campus and met a grad-school classmate and his wife for dinner. Unlike me, they're both still working. He's a professor in the physics department (experimental high energy physics) and she's a research scientist in one of the engineering departments.

I learned that one of our classmates is now a quant on Wall Street, apparently making a lot of money...

 

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This morning before I left Charlottesville, I walked through downtown. This section of Main Street has been converted to a pedestrian mall.

I like this setup better than the one in Greenville SC which I showed you a couple of years ago, which kept cars flowing, along with streetside parking spaces, with less room for people to walk.

I made one non-food stop on the road today, in Lynchburg VA, whose downtown area rises upwards on the south bank of the James River. The steepest block is from Church St. to Court St. One way to ascend it without walking up a steeply inclined cross street, is via the steps of Monument Terrace.

Or, a block away, you can ride a public elevator:

No fare is charged. It's self-service like almost all elevators nowadays. The lower end is across Church St. from Lynchburg's City Hall, and the upper end is in a cluster of court buildings etc. on Court St. So there are natural traffic sources.

I once posted a picture of a more elaborate public elevator in Oregon, in one of the old photo contest threads.

Tonight I'm a bit northeast of Charlotte. I'll probably poke around there a bit on my way home, since I have to drive through it anyway.

 

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Johnny Gilbert: "This... is... Jeopardy!"

Contestant: "U.S. History for $400, Ken."

Ken Jennings: "This state was the site of the first gold rush in the U.S."

Contestant #1: "What is California?"

Ken: "Sorry, no."

Contestant #2: "What is Alaska?"

Ken: "Again, no. You're not going to buzz in, #3? OK then, it's North Carolina!"

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In 1799, John Reed's 12-year-old son Conrad skipped church to go fishing in a nearby stream, east of Charlotte. He found a heavy yellow metal rock. The family used it as a doorstop for three years. Then they found out it was gold.

This set off the Carolina Gold Rush. Until California entered the picture in 1848, North Carolina produced more gold than any other U.S. state. The U.S. Mint established its first branch outside Philadelphia, in Charlotte in 1837, specifically for minting gold coins.

Reed started the first commercial gold mine in the area in 1803. It operated until 1912. The property is now a state historic site with a museum, some preserved tunnels, and remains of buildings.

I was here about four years ago and enjoyed it so much I decided to stop by again on the last leg of this trip today (er, yesterday), instead of going into Charlotte. It was busier than I expected on a Tuesday afternoon outside of peak tourist season, because of two busloads of schoolkids. This must be a popular place for field trips.

Entrance to the tunnels:

Inside the tunnels:

Mill house chimney from 1854, and the reconstructed foundation of the 1854 mill house. The mill house was rebuilt several times, always using the original chimney.

Coins from the Charlotte mint:

I highly recommend visiting, if you're in the area and the weather is good. You can even pan for gold, which I haven't tried yet, and keep whatever you find.

One more stop, or rather a cluster of related stops.

 

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After visiting the gold mine (east of Charlotte), I continued around Charlotte and drove through the area south of it, known as the Waxhaws, which straddles the boundary between North and South Carolina.

Andrew Jackson, US President 1829-1837, was born in this area in 1767, although there is dispute over which state he was actually born in.

South Carolina's Andrew Jackson State Park is right up against the state line. It has a museum and monuments about Jackson.

However... along highway US-521 just north of the park, a back road turns off towards North Carolina. A few hundred yards past the state line, the road ends in a loop with a monument marking Jackson's supposed birthplace, erected by the NC Daughters of the American Revolution.

Jackson's name has been hacked out, probably by some South Carolinians.

Jackson's parents were Scots-Irish Presbyterian immigrants from Ulster (today's Northern Ireland). These Scots-Irish were the first European settlers in the region. In 1755 they founded the first church in upstate South Carolina.

This is IIRC the fourth church building on this site. Its cemetery dates to the Revolutionary War era. It has a monument to Andrew Jackson's mother, and the graves of Jackson's two brothers.

The brothers were born in Ireland, immigrated to America as toddlers with their parents, and died in the war. The mother died of cholera while treating injured soldiers in Charleston SC during the war.