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Labor Day Weekend Trip - Northeastern NC (and just a bit into Virginia)

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Joe Babyak, of NC Road Videos Fame, came up for a video and photo road trip Saturday. Since Joe hadn't spent time in the Northeastern part of the state - and I wanted to visit the two free small river ferries that I had not crossed. It was a good opportunity to roadtrip and visit some of the backroads of North Carolina.

Route: I-540 - US 64 - US 264 - NC 39 - US 64 - US 64A/Business - US 64 - US 64A/Business - US 13/17- Woodard Road - NC 308 - NC 45 - US 158 - Woodard Road - US 258 - US 258 Business (Franklin, VA) - US 258 - US 158 - US 301 - NC 46 - NC 48 - NC 581 - NC 58 - US 64 - I 540.

For the flickr set of the trip - Go here.

The first stop was at the old US 64 bridge over the Tar River. I have this bridge featured on Carolina Lost, but I figured to show Joe, and also revisit for the first time in nearly five years.



The former alignment of US 64 here - now called Quiet Waters Road - appears to still have some remnants of the white center lines used years ago.

Our next stop was the small town of Nashville. We ended up taking photos there for about 30-45 minutes and also spent time talking to some of the folks in town - who were very eager to tell some history about various buildings and goings on.



We skipped Rocky Mount on US 64 Business in order to see a few other areas. Just east of Rocky Mount on US 64A. Were two great candidates for Carolina Lost.


We then decided to take some photos of Robersonville.

There is really not much to town - although the former Bank of Robersonville building is unique. In the top photo it is the tall yellow brick building on the left. The building is three stories and taller than the rest in town and also is very narrow - almost looking out of place and ready to tumble down compared to the rest of town.

We also learned that there is a short 'Truck' NC 903 that bypasses the downtown.

After lunch, it was on to the first of the two river ferries. First, a great shot I like of the tiny crossroads of Woodard, NC.

The Sans Souci Ferry crosses the Cashie River. Like the Elwell Ferry over the Cape Fear, Sans Souci is a two car motorized cable ferry.



The next small town we stopped at was Colerain - which is on NC 45. It is also the Eastern Terminus of NC 42.




Parker's Ferry - which is the last of three river ferries in North Carolina - is located north of US 158 and Winton. Of the three ferry routes - this is one of the more remote routes as most of the road to and from the ferry is gravel. Parker's Ferry crosses the Meherrin River.


We briefly entered Virginia and hung around the city of Franklin. On Business US 258 there is a cutout for US 58 and of course we grabbed a shot of it.

Franklin was the largest of all the town's we stopped in along the way. Amazingly, it was the most quiet of all of them.


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