Barn Charm Tuesday - Floyd Co Barn

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Floyd County, along the Blue Ridge Parkway

To see barns from all over, visit

Monday Murals - Blue Ridge Parkway

If you look inside this bus you will see:

(click on photo to enlarge) Along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Floyd Co

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this little mural.

This bus that is built into a building of somesort is where we met Mrs. Hodges. This sits next to the old Kelley School House. We were over here investigating when Mrs. Hodges drove by and yelled out her window at us "They aren't open yet" so we walked over to her truck and started asking her questions about it. Evidently this place belongs to a man named Pate and he makes bbq and sells it out of the bus. I guess in the past he did this that is and is now in the process of fixing things up to re-open. The Parkway thugs have been trying to buy Pate's property too but Pate won't sell out. Good for him! (According to our new friend Mrs. Hodges).

I tried to find more info on this interesting place and couldn't find a thing. Maybe when he opens for business I'll know more.

Linking with Monday Murals

Friday Fences - Blue Ridge Parkway

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Floyd Co

Another thing the Hodges told us about the parkway was how the government came in and tore out all the natural split rail fencing and replaced it all with barbed wire. They complained of deer getting caught in it and don't particularly care for the barbed wire.

"Wal, I been livin' on this hyar mountain well nigh onto eighty yars, and I
been wonderin' what this mountain was fer. Now I know it's fer to put a
road on it."
—Mountaineer

Another interesting Parkway link HERE

Linking with Friday Fences

Well hey now, I decided to finally play along with Nancy and her Random 5...so here we go:

1) Got the boys room cleaned up spotless yesterday and moved Christian's room down to the basement for a little more privacy (the boys all helped out) and that is why I was absent in bloggy land.

2) Today I am going to work on the storage side of the basement. Why does that always become such a wreck? Going to finish my coffee first.

3) Excited that football season is starting and we go pick up the boys' gear in the morning.

4) Thinking of going to a baseball game tomorrow night, our little local Red Sox are playing.

5) Started reading Where The Heart Is. Loving it, had me hooked on the first page. Just finished Nora Roberts' Midnight Bayou. It was pretty good with a little ghosty plot. If anyone would like to read it, I'd be happy to send it to you! Just let me know!

Rurality Wednesday Blog Hop - Kelley School

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The Kelley School is right by the Hodges' farm from yesterday's post. In fact, it was here that we met Mrs. Hodges while we were poking around. She was headed to Burnt Chimney to feed/water some of her horses that she had to move over there, because of the Parkway. As beautiful as the Parkway is to tourists, the people who live on the Parkway do not feel the same way. The Government has been trying to get the Hodges off the Parkway and keep putting restrictions on their land to run them out. I didn't know this about the Parkway. Makes me like it a little less.

Here's a description from Waymarking about the school (which by the way was unlocked so we ventured around inside. I have to admit, it was a teency bit creepy in there!)

The Kelley Schoolhouse, located just off the Blue Ridge Parkway at milepost 149.1, is a great example of early education in this mountain area.

In 1877, the Locust Grove trustees bought land for a school from the Kelley family for $15 and built a one-room school. The school had no running water or electricity and did not get an outhouse until 1917.

Due to growing enrollment, a two-room schoolhouse was built on the lot, and it is this structure that now stands just out of sight along the Parkway. The school was still in operation when the Parkway was built. It closed in 1939 when the school system was consolidated.

The building became Pate's Grocery Store when Virgie Pate bought the property at auction. The Pates added electricity and living quarters. They sold the store in 1972 and it operated as Ye Old Country Store until the building was sold to the Parkway in 1984.

DIRECTIONS: From Virginia Highway 681/640, take the Blue Ridge Parkway South about two miles to milepost 149. Continue 0.1 mile to an unmarked crossroad, which is Kelley School Road. Turn right (toward the northwest) and go 250 feet to the building on the right, at the corner of Kelley School Road and Stuart Road.

Historic photos of the building and students can be viewed at the website listed below. A history of the school is contained in "Guide to the Blue Ridge Parkway", published in 1997 by Logue & Blouin, which is avaiable at stores and visitor centers along the Parkway.
Address:
Kelly School Rd at Stuart Rd
Floyd, VA United States
24091
WEBSITE

I also found some interesting reading about land acquisition along the Parkway RIGHT HERE and in CHAPTER 3 you can read about the people who lived along the Parkway. There's more interesting chapters there as well.

I also found this, THE KELLEY SCHOOL. It's long and in PDF form, but if you have time and love history like I do, you might want to read through that as well!

Linking up with Madge for Rurality Wednesday

Barn Charm Tuesday - Mountain Crest Farm

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On a recent trip along the Blue Ridge Parkway we met Mr. and Mrs. Hodges of Floyd County. They own Mountain Crest Farm and raise thoroughbreds. They invited us inside the barn to see the horses!

Such a nice, nice couple!

Linking with
And now something totally irrelevant to this post... Do you still use Google as your search engine? I think I might start using Bing. Google search seems to have gone downhill lately. I was googling the Hodges' farm and Kroger came up in the search. Kroger? Just curious if you've noticed Google search not being as great as it once was.

Random Smiles - Pittsburgh

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Somewhere downtown Pittsburgh.

Friday Fences - Shaver Family Cemetery

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This little, old cemetery sits right along the Blue Ridge Parkway, Franklin County.

Found this tiny bit of info on it in an EBook "Guide to the Blue Ridge Parkway"...might have to buy the actual book...it tells a bit about the history/significance of what is or what was along the Parkway, with mile markers.

"The family cemetery of the Rev. Daniel H Shaver (1860-1949) and his wives, Coredellia Wimmer (1861-1912) and Patra Mills (1878-1970), is located on the west side of the Parkway. Children and other family members are buried here as well."

Sadly I saw two infant graves belonging to the same parents :(

Linking with Friday Fences