SENIORS TOUR ABBEVILLE SC

We arrived at Mr. Z's RV Park on Wednesday and got settled in for a week or so.  This is a nice little park of eleven sites, nice and quiet.  I left that evening and went to, our friend, Sandy's home to go with her to Bible study and for dinner.  Gary opted out to rest up from the driving!! 
Thursday we met up with her again to go on a Senior Center bus tour of Abbeville, SC, stopping for dinner at Yoder's (Amish) restaurant.  It was a Great day!! 

Abbeville history stretches back into the early 1700's.  It was settled by a group of French Huguenots. It was incorporated in 1832, and later played a key role in the Civil War.  It is called the "Birthplace and Deathbed of the Confederacy".  It is located near the Georgia state line to the west.

We spotted the Trinity Episcopal Church first and trotted off to that.  It was built in 1842, with the cornerstone for the building being laid in 1859.  The cemetery on the grounds holds both Confederate and Union Soldiers.

You can definitely see a need for more restoration!!

Walking back from the church, we stopped to take pictures of a former Livery Stable.



It had a new roof, but the outer walls looked to be original.

 

Returning to the square of downtown, we stopped in the shops to check out the antiques and to see what we just might have to have???



Facing the square, we found what at one time was a municipal building, but is known historically to be the Opera House.  Traveling theater groups performed here in the early 1900's, with such stars as Sarah Bernhardt and Jimmy Durante.  After closing in the 1950's, it was completely restored in 1968 and now boasts live theater once again 

 

Gary standing with Sandy in front of the Opera House



Stage set for current play, "Pump Boys and Dinettes".

Private viewing boxes are located on both sides of the stage.

Viewing box on the left of stage

 

Viewing box at right side of stage,
with stairs to reach upper level boxes, behind entrance to box..

Sandy admiring flowers at the entry.

Leaving the Opera House, we checked the exterior of the 26-room historic hotel across the street.  We were running short on time for meeting back at the bus, so we did not go inside.  Next time through we will as we heard that it was lovely and has a wonderful restaurant in it.  It first opened for business in 1903, closing in 1972, and reopened in 1984 after a full restoration as the Belmont Inn. 



No, Gary, you can't ride!!

We picked up some rocky road fudge and peanut butter fudge to use for snacking at our card playing evening back at Sandy's house.

 

Now we are off to Yoder's (Amish) Restaurant for some fine family dining!!  Were we ever hungry!!

 

We had a fun night introducing Bo, our bus driver, to our Five Crowns card game, while Brenda, Edna and Gene visited.  Bo's hooked!!  So we are trying to find the two new games that we have somewhere here in the motorhome.  But where??

 

Friday night we got together again after we ran some errands and picked up groceries for our week here.  Edna decided that she really liked the game as well.  It will be interesting to get together again and try it with five or six of us playing!!

 

Not bad for a couple days of activities.  After church today, eight of us went to Grecian Gardens for dinner!!  Awesome food!!  I told you that we will not get any dieting done here!! 

 

Take care and stay tuned.

FIRST STOP NEAR CHARLESTON WV then on to MOUNT AIRY NC

 

Our first night stop was near Charleston WV at the Mardi Gras Casino.  We were parked at the outer edge of the parking lot as per their instructions.  Now it is all uphill if we plan to leave the motorhome!  Sounds like good exercise for both of us. 

 

 

We did find the walk worth while when we saw the price on their burgers!!  We'll save the lunchmeat, cheese, veggies and fruit in the motorhome for another day.

 

Day two was on through the rest of WV and then Virginia and the mountain tunnels.  Wonderful scenery in spite of the rain!!

 

Victor, this sign brought back a few memories!!  Do you remember??  The Scout trip when Mr. Beck drove our blue van back to Bluefield where we had previously had lunch at McDonalds - - -

Hope you appreciated his dumpster dive!!

 Day two ends at Mayberry Campground at Mt. Airy NC.  It looks nice and is clean and an easy access with full hook-up.  Sounds good to me!!

A drive into Mt. Airy to see the lay of the land finished our day.  Mt. Airy was where Andy Griffith grew up.  We hunted up his childhood home which he lived in from 1935 to 1966.  It is available to rent for anyone wanting simple living while in the area.

 

We continued to drive around town checking out Wallie's Service Station and the vehicles of their day.

The next day we went on to the Andy Griffith Playhouse, Museum and the Siamese Twin Museum.  Unfortunately for us the Playhouse will not be open while we are here and we are about ten days too early for their annual Mayberry Days. 

The Andy and Opie sculpture is a newer attraction near the street.  

The school that Andy attended, where he first experienced performing on stage, has since been torn down to make way for the Playhouse and Museums.  The Museum was full of photographs, shows playing on TV monitors, clothing (including the suit from Matlock), and the desk, chairs and other items from the sheriff's office in Andy Griffith Show.  All very interesting.

 

We then parked near the downtown historic district and walked the streets. 
We were surprised by the size of the town and wondered what their industry is to support this large of a community.  We asked at McDonald's when we got our ice cream treat for the day and the gal said that there were many "meels" that have since been moved to Mexico.  I asked what kind of "meals" only to realize that she meant mills.  There were textile mills as well as furniture manufactures to name a few.  The move of those mills to Mexico put about ten thousand people out of work!  Thus the Society for the Arts used the connection to Andy Griffith to build a tourist town.  It has helped, but not near what they needed to put ten thousand back to work. 
We found this sock knitting machine in the window of the Renfro outlet store, a symbol of days gone by. 

We had stopped in an art gallery to find many drawings and paintings by local artists!!  We got to meet the former owner of the shop, Steve, when they found out that we full time RV.  Guess he and his wife are seriously thinking about doing the same. 

We went on to Barney's Café' for a break and a soft drink where we found Steve again.  So we chatted more about full timing.  Wishing them safe travels, we moved on about town.

Many crafty things, candy and many toy stores.  Enough to make a full day for us.

After leaving Main Street, we drove up and down other streets and the town is on many hillsides.
We found this Bed & Breakfast,

many churches and homes built from the granite from the local quarry.

 

 This house was part granite with some stained glass windows, one main window below.

 

 

As we drove out looking for the North Carolina Granite Quarry here in Mt. Airy, it was obvious from this home that it is granite territory!!

 

Finding the quarry, we got out and took pictures through the fence.  It was difficult not to have the fence distort the picture.  But I managed some!!  It was fun to watch the activity.  We could tell from the sound that they were busy.



Note the numbers on the huge slabs.  Wonder if that means they have removed over 50 thousand slabs?

By this time we were whipped.  Time to go home and kick back.  Hope you enjoyed this as much as we did!! 

 

We will be moving on to Lexington SC tomorrow to meet up with our friends there.  They are busy planning activities for the week and we are looking forward to it!!

 

Stay tuned.

BITS AND PIECES FROM W.V. AND OHIO

I thought it was worth showing a few pictures that were omitted from the WV trip in last Blog.  We saw this neat Back To School buss in Elkins. Notice the K's in the words back and school.  Then notice the brake lights in the second picture!!  Unique!!

When pulling out of the gas station we noticed a few bikers at the Days Inn across the street.  Notice the Model Mustang on the trailer attached to one of the bikes!!  Interesting!!

We got back to Salem in plenty of time to offer our grandson a ride to his school for a football game where his band was to play.  Not wanting to stay for the game, I got pictures during their practice instead.  They were probably closer and better anyway!!

He is playing cymbals.  We are glad that he does like marching band as he needs the extra curricular activity and friends.  As much as he texts on the phone and talks on the computer you can tell that he enjoys his friends.

The next day was Gary's Class of '63 Luncheon at BB Rooners.  They do this once a month for anyone in the area.  Danny Engle, owner of BB R was a fellow classmate also.  He treated all to appetizers.

Danny was feeling much, much better since his open heart surgery, and spent more time talking with classmates.  Thanks Danny!!

Audrey returned to the doctor for a progress check and to get a date nailed down for the last surgery.  He is finally saying the first of November!!  That put the crunch on us to get things done around the motorhome so that we can get it moved south to be out of the weather change that will be coming up soon.  We feel this move is necessary since we will not be able to leave the area for parts south for the whole winter until the first of December at the earliest.

 

So Gary got busy on the cabinet he has been making and got the stain and urethane on so that it could be put in the motorhome.  Finished!! And full now!! Our shoes now have their home, as well as many other things that had been sitting about.  It looks good.

 

Fits in pretty well also!!  Great job!!

And just in time to pull out tomorrow morning for the trip to South Carolina to store it.  We will return to our sons house for the rest of the fall stay in Ohio.  Be back by the first of October. 

Check back in and see what else we can find to do.  Love to all.