Firmstone Manor & Longdale Furnace

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This beautiful old home sits next to yesterday's motel. Like I said yesterday, it is closed for a couple of months due to the partner's broken leg. I read the reviews I found online and for years they received wonderful reviews. I think it has been struggling in the last year or so. Probably because it is so much to run a house of this size and age! I also read that the owner rescues dogs and I think that the one in the photo is "Schnoopy" that I happened to see in an older review. I had the boys stand next to that great old tree just to show you how huge it is! I also read that they had intentions of turning the motel into cottages at one point. And remember, this is for sale for those that like a little hard work. What a wonderful old home this is...you can read its rich history HERE

Rubbish Tuesday - Old Motel on Longdale Furnace Rd

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On Saturday we took a little drive out to Clifton Forge. It was our first time to be on this side of the town, along Longdale Furnace Rd. This is just up the road from yesterday's motel. We stopped here to look at an old manor that has been changed into a B&B. Which I will show you tomorrow. The manor and this motel share the same property. We pulled up and didn't see anybody but the 1 vehicle parked there led us to believe that someone was home. Plus there were 2 dogs barking in the window of the B&B. Nick called out "hello" a few times and then an elderly gentleman came out explaining that the B&B was closed for the next couple of months because his partner broke her leg. We asked if we could wander around and he said that we were welcome to walk around the grounds. So we did and this is what we saw:

Ok, I have to tell you, this place gave us the creeps. Whoever said "Bates Motel" in yesterday's comments, that was exactly what we said when we were HERE! There was just something creepy in the air there! Linking with Rubbish Tuesday ...and for anyone who might be interested, the old man did tell us they were selling the manor and the motel ;)

North Mountain Motel

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Clifton Forge

...imagine my happiness when we drove by this gem! And yes, that is a canoe!

Random 5 Friday - Triangle Building in Clifton Forge

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Across the street from Jack Mason's Tavern (yesterday's post) sits this cool old building. This building was owned at the turn of the century by the successful black businessman E.F. Scott. He sold produce and operated a restaurant from this location near the tracks, ran a hotel in the upper stories and a barber shop next door...found that tidbit of info HERE along with histories of other Clifton Forge buildings.

Now let's get random!

1) Finished reading This Rock the other night and this passage made me wonder:

"Lucky the row is turned so the graves face the east," Hank said.
"Why do graves face the east?" I said.
"So the dead will be facing Jesus when he busts through the eastern sky at the Rapture," Hank said. He heaved a big rock out of the hole.
A church faces west, and a grave faces east, I thought. The worshipers and the dead always face east.

I had never heard of this before so of course I had to Google it the next day and found THIS.

2) Dalton is taking a Tech Ed class and studying about engineering bridges. He told me about this video they watched about a bridge called Gallopin Gertie:


3) Saw a series of photos about an abandoned amusement park in Berlin. Immediately thought of Halcyon @ Berlin 365. You can see the set of photos HERE

4) Watched an incredible video of an injured dolphin that was rescued by a diver HERE.

5) Looking forward to the St. Patrick's Day Festival on Saturday. We haven't missed a year since we moved here. It is easily my favorite festival!

Have a great weekend and check out more randoms at Nancy's Rural Journal :)

Oh one more: This Dick's Sporting Goods commercial stopped my boys in their tracks tonight:


They really have a great advertising team don't they?!

ABC Wednesday - I is for Identical

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Identical twins that is. Yeah, I'm not above pimping out my boys for the letter "I". I wanted this to be our last stop on the C&O Heritage Museum tour and couldn't find a way to "implement" (haha) these old carts and things that are outside of the freight depot I showed you yesterday.

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So that concludes our tour. Hope you enjoyed yourselves! Bye!

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Linking with ABC Wednesday

Ruby Tuesday - Freight Depot

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This is the old 1895 freight depot at the C&O Heritage Center. On the inside you will find all sorts of neat old things like:

(click on photo to enlarge) this operating model raiload that presents the key locations along the line, with descriptions of the reasons towns were built where they were and how they grew with the railroad. See that neat, huge grey building? That was the old Railroad YMCA. Sadly it was demolished. What a waste. You can read an interesting tidbit about the railroad and the YMCA HERE and I found these neat old pictures of vintage Clifton Forge postcards HERE

There's also cool old signs:

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Pretty ladies:

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And some knuckleheads ;)

Linking with Ruby Tuesday Too

Weekend Reflections - C & O Heritage Museum

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Taking you back to the C&O Heritage Center...I love all those colorful reflections! If I remember correctly, this train car was from the Vietnam Era. I remember Nick commenting on the military green and look to it.

Oh, and regarding yesterday's photo with the boys in shorts. Many of you commented on how cold it looks. I should have explained that that was last weekend and it was just a little cool starting out in the morning but turned into a pretty day. Not as cold as it looks! That pile of snow is left over from that big snow (almost 2 feet of it) a couple of weeks back. It's gone but a few parking lots still have a pile or two that refuse to go away! Today the sun is shining, the birds are singing and the temp will be in the 60's! Ahhhh spring!

Linking with Weekend Reflections....Happy Saturday! What fun things do you have planned for the day?

Ruby Tuesday - Little Red Caboose

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More from the C&O Heritage Center in Clifton Forge.

“A freshly red-painted train caboose had, for decades now, made its home on a green, little patch of the world outside of the one-room post office. Every small town that I had ever been to had had a caboose.”
― Laura Miller

Linking with Ruby Tuesday Too

Starting out cold today. 10 degrees! School is on a 2 hour delay because of ice. Kind of hoping they upgrade to CLOSED! ;)

Signs, Signs - The Chessie Corridor

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and a bonus:

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More from the C & O Railway Heritage Center. Confused? Back track to Monday and catch up! Linking with Signs, Signs.

ABC Wednesday - G is for Gadsby's Tavern Dining Car

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My favorite part of the train tour was the George Washington. Our tour guide was very informative but my memory is very limited so I'll put out there what I "think" is correct...the rest is up to you to Google it lol....so anyways, again, I "think" that she told us there were 3 of these George Washington trains. Each named after a tavern he frequented. This one is the Gadsby which is located in Alexandria. You can visit their website HERE . The other 2 are the Michie, which is in Charlottesville and has been on my list to go see for a couple of years...it's only a couple of hours away but it's just one of those things we keep putting off for another weekend. You can visit the Michie Tavern HERE and lastly is the Raleigh in Williamsburg which you can visit HERE.
The only one at C & O is the Gadsby. I don't remember if she told us if the other 2 are somewhere to tour.

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Luggage and hats. They actually have old hats in the hat boxes!

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The baggage car..

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Sink in the restroom. Notice the details!

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Pictures hanging of all 3 taverns.

And I think I mentioned before, you can rent this for parties! More info HERE

More tomorrow!

Linking with ABC Wednesday

Ruby Tuesday - The George Washington

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No fear, Braden and Dalton are at the controls....

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A couple of unruly passengers...

Lunch time!

About the George Washington:
The George Washington, first started as a heavyweight train in 1932, was C&O’s premier passenger train with the best service and sleepers. It ran from Washington to Cincinnati, with sections splitting off at Charlottesville to Newport News Virginia in the east, and at Ashland NC to Louisville Kentucky in the west. Through service was offered to Chicago west of Cincinnati via New York Central. The George Washington was completely upgraded with new cars in 1950. The Pere Marquette railroad merged into the C&O in 1947, and the C&O took control of the B&O in the 1960s (and eventually merged it in 1976), hence the presence of B&O cars in C&O trains toward the end of the George Washington’s streamlined era. Read more HERE , HERE , and HERE .

Tomorrow I'll show you more details inside! Linking with Ruby Tuesday

The Greenbrier Presidential Express

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Since the weather was in the 60's this weekend and sunny, we decided to go to the C & O Heritage Center in Clifton Forge.

The train above is the Greenbrier Presidential Express. This train was supposed to carry folks luxuriously from DC to The Greenbrier and back. The plan was initiated in 2011 and then cancelled in 2012 due to numerous issues.

Tomorrow I will show you some of the inside!

CLICK HERE to visit the Heritage Center, CLICK HERE to read more about the Presidential Express.