Skip to main content

South Central Virginia Trip

Took a nice drive into South Central Virginia to get a few missing counties and found a few surprises.

Route: US Bike 1, US 158 Business (Oxford), US 158, US 158 Business (Henderson), NC 39, VA SR 719, VA SR 825, secondary NC Route, US 15, US 58/VA 49, US 15/VA 49, VA 49, VA 47, US 460 Business (Pamplin City), US 460, VA 122 Business (Bedford), VA 43, US 29 Business (Altavista), VA SR 668, VA SR 640, VA 40, VA SR 603, US 501, I-85, US 70, NC 98, NC 50.

Accomplishments: Clinched Appomattox and Bedford Independent City. Completed US 501 in NC, Clinched NC 39, along with adding new mileage for VA 49, VA 47, US 460, VA 43, and US 501 in VA.

Notes:

I've mentioned before that I would enjoy biking or in this case driving the various bike routes in North Carolina. The thought is that many of these routes follow secondary roads and there may be a lot of good finds along there. In Southern Vance County, that idea was justified. The tiny crossroads of Grissom has example of location signage that I had not seen before within the state. Green on white.

My first glance was that this was another old black on white location sign. (like the one I found recently for Rogers Store.)

Later along US 158 Business approaching Henderson, I came across this piece of roadside history.



I was amazed at the excellent condition of this former service center. It looks like this place probably had a little bit of everything: gas station, food counter, and service garage. I was amazed at the excellent condition of the wood shingles and the condition of the paint. (Possibly redone in recent years.) I would guess that the term 'Midway' means between Oxford and Henderson. Also, this alignment has been bypassed for at least 50 years. First by a two lane bypass of US 158 to the north, and later by I-85.

I was surprised at the amount of traffic on NC 39 north of Henderson. However, the traffic died down considerably on NC 39 north of Townsville. From Townsville to the Virginia Line a lot of NC 39 looked like the photo below.


The Clarksville Bypass is complete, and surprisingly US 15 remains routed through town. US 58 and VA 49 are routed on the new freeway south of the town. I was kinda surprised to see the end of the bypass controlled by a flashing signal (too difficult to get a shot), and I can foresee a number of accidents there.

Just north of the bypass on US 15/VA 49 North I came across what I call a Uni-Guide. It is the traditional Virginia destination guide found on highways after major intersections. The difference is that the shields and the guide sign are all one one sign. An interesting combination indeed.


VA 47 meets VA 40 in Charlotte Court House which was a charming small town. I walked around there a good 20-30 minutes taking some pictures.



VA 47 was a rural drive that mixed hollows with rolling farmland. Here is a pair of my favorite shots from the highway.


VA 43 starts as a pleasant rolling route south of Bedford to a curvy narrow highway in Southern Bedford County to Altavista.

All in all an enjoyable drive. 47 photos taken with two definite features out of it. Small towns of Virginia Series will cover Charlotte Court House and The Midway Service Center will find a home on Carolina Lost.-

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ghost Town Tuesday; Mannfield, FL and the stairway to Hell

Back in 2015 I went searching the Lecanto Sand Hills for the original Citrus County Seat known as Mannfield.  Unlike Centrailia in Hernando County and Fivay in Pasco County I did find something worth seeing. Mannfield is located in the Lecanto Sand Hill section of Withlacoochee State Forest somewhat east of the intersection of Citrus County Route 491 and Mansfield Road. Mannfield was named after Austin Mann and founded in Hernando County in 1884 before Citrus County Split away.  In 1887 Citrus County was split from northern Hernando County while Pasco County was spun off to the south.  Mannfield was selected as the new Citrus County seat due to it being near the county geographic center.  Reportedly Mannfield had as many as 250 people when it was the County Seat.  The town included various businesses one might include at the time, even a sawmill which was common for the area.  In 1891 Citrus County voted to move it's seat to Inverness which set the s...

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...

The mystery of Hawaii Route 144 and temporary Hawaii Route 11

The 1959 Gousha Road map of Hawaii features two largely unknown references in the form of Hawaii Route 144 and Temporary Hawaii Route 11.  Both corridors are shown running from the boundary of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park east to Glenwood via Volcano Village.  At the time Hawaii Route 11 was using the so-called "Volcano Road" which was constructed as a modernization of Mamalahoa Highway during 1927-1928.  This blog will examine the two map references and will attempt to determine what they might indicate.  The mystery of Hawaii Route 144 and Temporary Hawaii Route 11 Hawaii Route 11 is part of Mamalahoa Highway (the Hawaii Belt Road) and is the longest Hawaiian State Route at 121.97 miles.  The highway begins at the mutual junction of Hawaii Route 19 and Hawaii Route 190 in Kailua-Kona.  From Kailua-Kona the routing of Hawaii Route 11 crosses the volcanic landscapes of southern side of the Big Island.  Hawaii Route 11 terminates at Hawaii Route 19/Ka...