Watching the change.

Fall in the Virginia mountains can be so colorful.  The greens of late Summer often get blended with brown induced by drought or insects.  Generally,  Fall is greeted by yellows and reds that continue to intensify until the Fall winds and/or rains strip the limbs.   I love to watch the change and pay particular attention to the variation associated with the aspect of the sight (orientation of the slopes relative to the compass) and elevation.

History Lesson; Price's Fork, VA

Since I grew up in the mountains of Virginia and my family and relatives were supposedly Scotch-Irish I just assumed most people around Blacksburg had similar heritage.  I learned I was wrong when I took time to read the historical marker in Price's Fork, a small community about 5 miles from Blacksburg.  I also visited with a high school class mate of mine, Jimmie Price, who pastors a church near Price's fork.  He gave me a short history lesson about the area and community: " We are obviously a rural, farming, coal mining, and stone-cutting community which sprang from the German-American and Colonial Heritage.  Our German-Immigrant ancestors had planted a frontier settlement by the year 1745-some 29 years before Colonel Wiliam Preston built Smithfield at present-day Blacksburg.  In recorded history, that settlement is known as 'The German New River Settlement.'  Price's Forks is the visible remainder of that early colony.  Price's Forks is said to be the oldest, continuous European settlement within and west of The Alleghenies in Virginia.  Saint Michael Lutheran Church on Merrimac Road; first church planted in that same region, circa 1745."

A visit to The Cellar

The Cellar Restaurant in Blacksburg has a lot of historical significance for me even though I had never eaten there before August 2010.  According to something on the wall it was started in 1963.

But I think of its origin being a lot earlier.  The entrance I remember is still a part of the current restaurant

but is one door to the left and was the doorway to The Blue Ribbon Restaurant which everyone knew as the Greeks.  It was operated by the family of my good school friend, Chris Kappas. Chris has been the operator of the Cellar  for many rears and , at one time, had another restaurant on College Avenue.

We found our first visit delightful and the food quality great with portions too big for our appetites.  But the dessert was special.  Chris was in and he came to our table for a visit.

This blog is more about Chris than his restaurant.  Chris and his family have always made me feel I would like Greece.  Chris is so positive and cheerful.  We grew up together but or early childhoods were very different.  I grew up in Blacksburg.  My dad went over seas to fight in the war (which fortunately ended before he saw combat).  Some of the war had been in Chris' homeland.  Chris explained to me one time, "do you remember seeing the newsreels in the theater with hundreds of children in the streets? I was one of those kids!"  So he and his family found refuge in Blacksburg.  I can't remember but Chris told me he had to learn English and so many new customs while I was starting school in my own culture.  He said I was always friendly to him.  I can't remember anything except that he was a nice friend. 

Chris married Maria  a few years his junior also from Greece.  We became instantly fond of Maria at our first meeting.  She seems so warm and gracious and Chris affirms that that is her true personality at about every time we visit. 

The Cellar is now a special restaurant to me but Chris has always been a special person and friend.  Downtown Blacksburg would not be the same if the Kappas family had not found their way to it.

Communities that remember.

Drive about 3 miles out  of Blacksburg on the Glade Road and find an amazing  collection of memorials to  military veterans and coal miners from the Sunnyside and Tom's Creek communities.  Some gave their lives but all listed served honorably.

For those who served in World War I, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam...

...and a unique and an appropriate memorial to those who served at a very tense time called the Cold War.

In addition to the military monuments are memorials to those who worked and died in the coal mines.

Remembering is a part of knowing who we are.

Shining Example

Marking History

This monument stands beside the Shadow Lake Road just out of Blacksburg off the Glade Road.

  The fort was built one year after the Draper's Meadow Massacre.  

Steppin' Out number 30

The Blacksburg community began a street fair, "Steppin' Out" thirty years ago and the 2010 version turned out to be one of the biggest and best. Over 200 vendors filled Main Street from College Avenue to Lee Street, College Avenue and the areas around the Farmer's Market.  

  The  Acoustic  Stage at Lee Street and the Main Stage at the end of College Avenue marked the ends of the boundaries of the event and kept the crowds flowing back and forth like tidal waves.  A Bluegrass band from Floyd County amused the crowd with an original, "Floyd Time" depicting the slower pace of life  in the neighboring county (see earlier blog, "Meandering Near Blacksburg" February '09).


Artisans included potters, jewelry makers, painters , photographers, wielders, basket makers, weavers, sand artists, chiefs and more.  This is a big event that maintains Blacksburg's small town feel.

Cozy Cottage filling the need.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Cozy Cottage is filling the need

We call the renovated Poff House, "The Cozy Cottage." We purchased and renovated the little house to provide a comfortable environment for family, friends, and guests.  We have tried to make the cottage a place where family and friends want to spend some of their vacation time visiting family members as well as  some of the natural and historical attractions in the area.  We've tried to furnish it with surplus and used furniture to keep it affordable for short-term renters.  Family comes first when it comes to use of the Cozy Cottage.  Friends of family can rent it for even less than the already competitive rates.

The living room  and master bed room has been furnished with antiques and family hand-me-downs to preserve the feel of an old but simple farm house.

A second bedroom has a bunk bed with a full size mattress on the bottom and a twin on top.

The Cozy Cottage actually has two featured living areas. One is the front porch furnished with Cracker Barrel  rocking chairs and a panoramic view of the mountains.

A carport was converted to a "family port" with vaulted ceilings and a flat screen television.

The Cozy Cottage is already serving its purpose.  Family has stayed there while visiting the grand parents.  Several families have spent some of their vacation in Blacksburg because of the house.   A family was there for the funeral of a loved one.  A family celebrated a daughter's graduation and a family used it as headquarters for a wedding.  One couple came to share Thanksgiving with their student family.  Couples shared the facilities on a football week end.  Our hope is that there will be many more memories made of family celebrations in this Cozy get-a-way.


Grandson Joshua McCulley is  developing a website,
http://www.cozycottagevirginia.weebly.com/ 
and we have this blog where we archive stories about people, places and events  around the area. A more personal family blog is  Curtis & Kaye Absher.com.  We hope you can visit either electronically or physically.

Blacksburg/ Livability

Here is an interesting link about my home town:  http://www.livability.com/cities/blacksburg

A Special Mail Carrier

Most of the time people are excited about getting their mail.  But in the case of my parents it is the mail delivery that is most special.  Their house is on a rural route so they want to see the mail lady, Kathy, drive up to the box.  The wave from the carrier is just like a cheery note that she may be delivering.  On special occasions, she may bring something to the door; it is not always packages and she may not stop at the door.  She has been know to set a flowery plant right on the coffee table or deliver a basket of muffins to the kitchen table.  The standard joke we always had about  a former mail carrier  was that he read the post cards.  Kathy probably doesn't have time to read the cards but she does note the volume of cards and asks about birthdays and special occasions.  She shows concern if she thinks there are a lot of "off season" cards that might be get-well cards.


We have a vacation house next door.  She automatically delivers any mail I might receive to my parent's house since she knows I'll be there when in town.  But the mail box next door is not useless since it is close to the road.  My parent's driveway is steep and snowfall can make it treacherous.  Kathy  knows that senior citizens, especially, like to get mail, so more than once she has put the mail in the box next to the road and called the house to ask the next person out to pick it up. Anyone else would have taken it back to the P.O. and delivered it when the roads were clear.


Carrying the mail has been a part-time job for Kathy.  Her other job has been to drive a school bus for special needs students.  We know that the USPS will replace her with someone to deliver the mail.  But if she needed to give up one job and keep the other, we are so glad that the kids will get to keep their caring driver.


This is a tribute to a lady that did not only  the job for which she was paid; but you couldn't pay her to be so caring, considerate, and kind.  We will miss the SUV and its friendly driver. I'm sure that Kathy didn't see her job as delivering envelopes and packages; she seemed to know she was delivering messages and gifts!

Graves Mountain Bluegrass Festival 2010

It isn't convenient to spend the nights at the Cozy Cottage and attend the Graves Mountain Bluegrass Festival but Syria , VA is only about 3 hours from Blacksburg.  The 2010 festival was number 18 for the Graves Family and experience shows. It shows in the quality of groups that came to perform, the general organization of the event and the large geographical pattern of attendees.  One group from England planned their U. S. vacation around the GM Bluegrass Festival and the main liners included Cherryholmes, Rhonda Vincent, and Dailey & Vincent.  But you didn't have to wait until Saturday night to hear outstanding bluegrass music.

A relatively new group , The Church Sisters,  opened the event with harmony that comes most easily from blood relatives.  Lonesomes Highway, Seldom Scene, Darren Beachley & Legends of the Potomac, and the United States Navy Band's "Country Current" Bluegrass Group gave the festival an enthusiastic start.

The crowd continued to grow to hear  Cherryholmes, Dailey&Vincent, and Rhonda Vincent  & Rage close the three day event.

The U. S. Navy Bluegrass Band represented the military in fine form, especially when they changed their approach of entertaining from the stage to entertaining in the pavilion when a violent spring storm struck the peaceful valley.

A memorable moment was when the Graves Mountain Memories performed by a group of entertainers including the songs writer, Carl Jackson.  The song recorded in rhythm an abstract of the 5 generations of Graves that have practiced hospitality at the base of the Blue Ridge.  Carl artistically profiled the beloved Mrs. Kate and Captain Jack,  the first generation to see the dreams of Jimmy and Rachel start to take shape.

The Friday program was recorded with Kyle Cantrell of Sirius/XM Satelite Radio as the Master of Cermonies. Friday features were: The Crowe Brothers, Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain, Audie Blaylock & Redline, Lou Reid & Carolina, The Lonesome River Band, and Russell Moore & IIITyme Out, plus

a regrouping of the above.

Jimmy announced that the 2011 program is already shaping up with the Rye Holler Boys and the U. S. Navy Band committed to be there.  It will be a long year to wait! 

Crows Nest Greenhouse

When we are in Blacksburg we like to visit the Crows Nest Greenhouses in Prices Fork.  It is located on Brooksfield Road just off State Route 685. Prices Fork is west of Blacksburg on SR 685.  They have agood variety of plants and a knowledgeable and helpful staff.

Ruritan Fish Fry

If you are in Blacksburg on the second Saturday of the month from May through October you can enjoy community fellowship and a fish fry at the Mt Tabor Ruritan Club's monthly event behind Slusshers Chapel in MT Tabor.  Dinner is served from 5 until 7 P. M.

His craft is Instrumental

  Clinton Smith is a multi-talented craftsman. When he got to most people's retirement age he just sat down; not to retire but to craft stringed instruments.  And that has been a major focus for him for the past 11 years.

In just over a decade he has made 111 fiddles, 20 mandolins,  and eight banjos. He hasn't just assembled the instruments from kits; sometime he has started with the tree. He does buy strings but even the metal frame of the banjos are crafted in Clinton's shop.  I asked where the metal frame came from, expecting he would tell me the name of a supplier.  His answer; "from an old car transmission."  He not only is a wood worker but a metal craftsman
as well!







Clinton carefully selects the wood for the sides of the instruments and crafts them on a historic band saw that his father gave him.

                                                                          




(The band saw came from the shop of a Mr. Long
for which the community of Long Shop (in Montgomery County, VA. was named.  The saw has the date of February 27, 1900 welded on it.)

Clinton researched the process of instrument making and settled on a pamphlet  that he refers to frequently. He made a template that is used for all of his full-size fiddles. The template actually works for the fiddles without "ears" which he calls the "guitfiddle."

A metal template is added to make the "ears" which are on most fiddles and violins.
In his research Clinton found that Stradivarius actually made guitfiddles as well as conventional violins. Guitar fiddles are describe as instruments played in medieval times







Clinton proudly shares that Jeff Michael of the Big Country Bluegrass Band plays one of his guitfiddles.  And when I sought more information about Jeff Michael, I learned he had recorded under the Hay Holler Records label from Blacksburg, VA.


According to Clinton the "Ears" on a conventional fiddle make a convenient place to make wood joints in the sides. Since the guitfiddle doesn't have those breaks, a long clear piece of wood is needed to surround the instrument.

 The back of each instrument  is a work of art.

The finished
instruments are as colorful as a bouquet of flowers, especially when displayed on one of his wife Ann's hand-made quilts.


In the picture you may be able to recognize a left-hand fiddle.  Clinton couldn't find a chin piece for the lefty so he made one and from then on he has made all the chin pieces.

Clinton says he doesn't play but likes to get his instruments into the hands of those who do. That seems to be working to; the banjo he showed me was the last one and it was waiting for its owner to pick it up; I didn't see a mandolin, and about 60 of his fiddles are making music.

About Grist Mill Wheels

I wrote an earlier blog about McDonalds Mill. Ensuing discussions focused on the actual grinding stone wheels because I wondered where and how they were cut. My sources of information were my Dad, Bill Absher, Clinton Smith, and Buford Long. Each had a reason to be somewhat knowledgeable on the subject; Dad because he grew up next to the mill and worked with a lot of craftsmen, Clinton because he is a long term resident of Brush Mountain, and Buford because his Dad and cousin had a hand in mill wheel production.

As I understand it, there are only two seams of stone that make top quality grist wheels; one runs along the ridge of Brush Mountain and the other might be in Africa.  Brush Mountain Mill wheels are supposedly the best in the U.S. and have been sent all over the country and may have been exported.

Buford's father, Gilbert Long, helped remove the overburden with a team of horses to allow the stones to be quarried. The stone is like a sand stone of sharp and hard quartz pebbles.  There were several families that knew the trade of hammering out mill wheels; Shealor, Surface, Saville, and Hurt were names I heard. Dad worked with the Surface brothers; one was Fred ( I had a class mate that may have been his son, Freddie , that was killed in a car accident soon after we graduated).

Billie Hurt is Buford"s cousin and as of last week was still alive in a rest home near Rocky Mount. Supposedly he is the last remaining gist stone cutter.

I had a class mate. Roger Saville.  I need to remember to ask him about Doug Saville who was supposed to have been one of the better known craftsmen.

Many used up or flawed grist wheels can be seen in the Brush Mountain area like the one Clinton Smith embeded in his stone wall to greet visitors to his home.

I asked Dad where the quarries were. His response: "I did know but it wasn't important to me at the time." That's one reason I'm writing this blog; to record information that didn't seem important enough when it was happening but helps us understand our history. Help by adding to this blog.

Blacksburg's, Beautiful, Bountiful, Blooms

A drive around Blacksburg can be a colorful cruise.

Brilliant Colors!

Great variety!

A red rhododendron.

And that's just a sample of the foliage along Harding Road!

Blacksburg Farmers Market

Interested in locally grown produce? 

You don’t have to wait until beans and ”taters” are in. You can find, salad greens, home canned produce, and baked goods as soon as  it opens at the Blacksburg Farmers’ Market.  Also available are grass-fed beef (have a healthy lunch at this booth), plants, flowers, as well as woodcrafts, candles, etc.  You might even find yummy fried pies, made right there on the spot! 

The Market is located at the corner of Roanoke and Draper Streets, just one block off Main Street in downtown Blacksburg. There you’ll find a new covered pavilion that  is open on Wed. 2-6 and Sat. 9-2 from April through October.

Clinton Smith's hidden talent.

Clinton Smith's talent is hidden only from the standpoint that you've got to know where you are going to find him. Do you know how to get to Sunny Side in Montgomery County, VA? If you do that is a good starting point.  Or do you know about Glade,  Longshop,  Nutter's Store? If you don't know about those reference points you'd better start with Prices Fork or Blacksburg, VA.

From wherever you start, to find Clinton and Ann you must drive up the side of Brush Mountain, through well managed timber that looks like a National Forest into the Smith clearing. From that point Clinton's talent is no longer hidden. The Smith house was built by Clinton out of logs he cut and sawed, rocks he gathered and "masoned" into walls. The house is a striking display of this man's many talents. I came to see the musical instruments he has made; I found so much more!

I intend to write more at another time, but for now I want to record  some things I remember. Clinton is 77 years old. He started making  instruments about 11 years ago after his declining health forced him  to look for a job he could do while setting down. He has made 8 banjos, 20 mandolins, and 111 fiddles( including a few "guitfiddles").

I want to write about Clinton's work but I also want to write about the man. I was awed by the man of many experiences and talents that has seen so much of life and has the excitement of a young man starting out on a new adventure. I think every day has been an adventure for Clinton.

He was the second born of ten children to Grayton and Ruby Hamilton Smith.  He had three brothers and six sisters. He worked at many jobs to make a living. He built houses, tried being a brick mason, operated a saw mill, made wood burning stoves and more.

I'm anxious  to write more about Clinton and his work in the future.  Clinton Smith is burned in my memory as one of the most unforgettable personalities I've ever met. I want to do justice as I introduce him to you.

Mountains dress for Mother's Day

I drove through the Appalachians the week before Mother's Day and I thought, "they are all dressed up for Mother's Day!" The variegated verde provided an eye easing backdrop for the ornamentation of the showy white locust blooms, and the occasional Palownia tree. I've learned to play a game with myself, trying to spot the Palownia blooms since a forester, Don Graves,  introduced me to the exotic tree. Palownia's light purple color stands out with almost inverted cones of color.
I understand the plant originated in China and is appreciated for its fast growing production of wood that has a high strength to weight ratio. It is an honored tree in the far East and its wood is valued for making musical instruments. Don told me that a timber buyer would visit a particular tree several times before purchasing it. The buyer would know how the trunk would be sectioned into usable wood before it was harvested.  It has been a tree of choice for mine reclamation purposes. With all the positive things, some say the tree is ugly after it finishes blooming. Leaves can be huge and some consider it an invasive specie.

The fringe of the forest are adorned as well with azaleas, rhododendron and redbuds. Redbud trees have mostly transitioned from its brilliant pinkish-purple to heart shaped leaves-appropriate for the season, no!

May we all honor our mothers or mother's memories with such a display of affection!

Back Road Trip and Back

There are many back roads but in Montgomery County there is the Back Road. We have a map in the Cozy Cottage that describes the county in the late 1700s and it shows the Back Road running along the base of Brush Mountain in a north west direction and somewhat parallel to a trail identified as the Indian Road.

State Route 785 roughly follows the Indian Road along the North Fork of the Roanoke River from Luster's Gate to Catawba.  Our Cozy Cottage is on Harding Road which is also  SR785 just out of Blacksburg

A circle trip covering both of these historic trails can make a  pleasant casual outing or fill an afternoon with photo opportunities of country scenes. It is a short trip towards town to the intersection of Harding and Patrick Henry Drive. Patrick Henry connects to North Main Street. By traveling north on N. Main you will find Mt. Tabor Road which connects with the Back Road.  While it is not clear where one road starts and the other begins , once you navigate the first big curve crossing Mill Creek you know you are on the Back Road.

A short circle can be selected by turning down Dry Run. But continuing down the road increases the photo opportunities.

Even the rare straight stretches can fill your lenses with colorful contrast...

... a brown bromsedge covered hill contrasts with the green

meadow...

... or if horses or homes attract your fancy, there will be something to add to your photographic album.

We started our circle back by turning down Gallion Ridge.   A surprise awaits on Gallion Ridge; a French B&B.

This gravel connector leads you to a panoramic view of the upper Roanoke Valley and directs you onto 785 at a point to get a good view of the Yost's log house and McDonald's Mill.

The road passes many marked and unmarked

 historic landmarks as it meanders towards

Luster's Gate. The old Grubb's House must have a

 lot of stories. It appears old enough to have

been there when the road was the Indian Road.

The log store was operated by Walter Bennet and Bax Johnson was often there according to my dad. This was a place to buy supplies or visit with Bax. You get the impression farmers didn't need many supplies!

You know you are making a circle when you see another non functioning mill that was fed by Mill Creek, the same one crossed near the start of the Back Road. The old map identifies it as Bennet's Mill.

This attractive home was formerly a school until consolidation. You can see it was well built as you observe the straight lines of the old school.

You can complete the circle by continuing on by the old cheese plant, up the mountain, around Ryan's Curve( or Craig's Bend) , passing the Bug Shop to Wrights Way and the Cozy Cottage.

There are many places of interest neither photographed nor described in this blog. That means we will just have to make the loop again!