The Mountain Laurel
The Journal of Mountain Life

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from the
Heart of the Blue Ridge


Backroads

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By Bob Heafner © 1983-2012

"Never take the main roads, they're the future with their stores, offices and service stations. Always travel the backroads. You can see the future tomorrow but backroads are the past and someday they may be gone. On backroads you can see old weathered barns with wagons and horse drawn hayrakes. There are meadows fenced with old chestnut rails and creeks that bubble and cascade over rocks that have never known polution. There's a part of our heritage on our backroads that no pen or camera will ever capture. There are cows wading in a creek, sharing a 'deep hole' with native trout. You may have to stop occasionally to let a mother grouse herd her little ones across the road or a deer might stop grazing in a roadside meadow long enough to watch you go by. The old timer you'll pass will throw up his hand and if you've got time, he'll stop and talk 'a spell.'

You'll not get anywhere in a hurry on a backroad, but only the future's in a hurry. Backroads are part of the past and what they offer most is time, time to enjoy the present and get a glimpse of times gone by."


Each month The Mountain Laurel featured a self-guided BACKROAD tour of out of the way places of beauty in the Blue Ridge. So often, visitors to the Blue Ridge Mountains only travel the Blue Ridge Parkway or Interstate highways and never get to see the really pretty places that are hidden away on mountain backroads. As residents who love and appreciate a stream gurgling through a glade or a deer standing in a roadside meadow or an old weathered barn tucked away in a mountain hollow, our BACKROAD column allowed us to share our favorite places with you.

Display # 
Title Created Date Author
Danville and Wytheville Turnpike - Backroads Tour March, 1983 Written by Bob Heafner
Buffalo Mountain Presbyterian Church - Backroads Tour April, 1983 Written by Bob Heafner
Olde Mill Golf Course - Backroads Tour May, 1983 Written by Bob Heafner
Old Union School - Backroads Tour June, 1983 Written by Bob Heafner
A Day In The Heart Of The Blue Ridge - Backroads Tour August, 1983 Written by Bob Heafner
Big Reed Island Creek - Backroads Tour September, 1983 Written by Bob Heafner
Woolwine, Virginia - Backroads Tour October, 1983 Written by Bob Heafner
The Leverings of Orchard Gap - Backroads Tour November, 1983 Written by Susan M. Thigpen and Bob Heafner
Tory Creek - Backroads Tour December, 1983 Written by Bob Heafner
Franklin County, Virginia - Backroads Tour January, 1984 Written by Bob Heafner
Mayberry, Virginia - Backroads Tour February, 1984 Written by Bob Heafner
Grayson County, Virginia Courthouse - Backroads Tour March, 1984 Written by Bob Heafner
Vesta, Virginia - Backroads Tour April, 1984 Written by Bob Heafner
Bell Spur - Backroads Tour May, 1984 Written by Bob Heafner
Kibler Valley, Patrick County, Virginia - Backroads Tour June, 1984 Written by Bob Heafner
Newbern, Virginia - Backroads Tour July, 1984 Written by Bob Heafner
Mortimer and Edgemont, North Carolina - Backroads Tour August, 1984 Written by Bob Heafner
Indian Valley, Virginia - Backroads Tour September, 1984 Written by Bob Heafner
Fall Color - Backroads Tour October, 1984 Written by Bob Heafner
Mountain View Mission School and the Langhorne Slave’s Graves November, 1984 Written by Bob Heafner
Callaway, Virginia - Backroads Tour December, 1984 Written by Bob Heafner
Pine Creek Church - Backroads Tour January, 1985 Written by Bob Heafner
The Old Wildcat Road - Backroads Tour February, 1985 Written by Bob Heafner
Valley of the Cross - Backroads Tour February, 1985 Written by Bob Heafner
Glendale Springs, North Carolina - Backroads Tour March, 1985 Written by Bob Heafner
Whitetop Mountain, Virginia - Backroads Tour April, 1985 Written by Bob Heafner
Roscoe Willis' Store - Backroads Tour May, 1985 Written by Bob Heafner
Bearwallow Gap - Backroads Tour June, 1985 Written by Bob Heafner
Linville, North Carolina - Backroads Tour July, 1985 Written by Bob Heafner
Robert Childress’ Five Rock Churches - Backroads Tour August, 1985 Written by Bob Heafner

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