Olde Mill Golf Course - Backroads Tour

By Bob Heafner © 1983-2012

Issue: May, 1983

The southern portion of Carroll County, Virginia is dotted with small farms, beautiful evergreens and rolling meadows with streams cascading through them. This month our BACKROADS column will describe a tour through a portion of this area. We didn’t choose this area for its historical significance, although it has its history. It was chosen simply because it is so breathtakingly beautiful. We recommend you take this drive as soon as possible and we guarantee you’ll be glad you did.

Our total trip will cover 16.6 miles and will bring us back to our starting point. From beginning to end we will be gone less than an hour. However, you may wish to allot more time. There’s much to see and if you happen to be a golfer, it might take all day!

We are purposely not telling very much about the scenery this month. This way, every turn of the road brings you an unexpected enjoyment of this countryside. If you would like to relax, unwind and get away from it all, this is the place to go.

BACKROADS tours always make a complete loop back to the point where we started. The underlined numbers at the beginning of each paragraph indicate the total number of miles we've traveled from our point of beginning. The numbers in parenthesis ( ) indicate the distance from the last point of interest that we passed.

00.0 (0.0) Beginning at the intersection of US 58 and State Road 638 we will go west on US 58 (toward Hillsville, Virginia.) About a mile up the road we’ll pass the Laurel Fork Rescue Squad and Delmer Nester’s store, both will be on our right. [State Road 638 is also known as the Dugspur Road north of US 58 and the Bellspur Road south of US 58. This intersection is approximately seven miles west of the Blue Ridge Parkway at Meadows of Dan, Virginia and fourteen miles east of Hillsville, Virginia.]

01.1 (1.1) Turn left off US 58 onto State Road 645. We’ll be heading toward Stone Mountain Church.

03.1 (2.0) This beautiful lake with the arched bridges crossing it is a part of the Olde Mill Golf Course. It is an 18 hole championship course and it is open to the public. I am no golfer but friends of mine who are, tell me it ranks with the very best. There’s no doubt it’s got to be one of the prettiest courses anywhere.

04.4 (1.3) Here we turn right on to State Road 644. This is a gravel road but it is in good condition and offers some wonderful scenery.

05.1 (0.7) At this stop sign there is a view of a farm in the valley with a trout stream running through it. Here we turn right onto State Road 640.

06.6 (1.5) Turn right onto State Road 643.

07.8 (1.2) Here’s another stop sign, we’ll go left continuing on State Road 643.

09.5 (1.7) Pavement begins here and 643 turns right but we’ll go straight on State Road 647.

10.1 (0.6) Here we come to another stop sign, where 647 dead ends into 640. We’ll turn right onto State Road 640.

10.9 (0.8) Turn right onto state road 648, it will turn right and state road 650 will go straight. We will turn right and stay on 648.

11.4 (0.5) At this intersection, we will bear right and continue on State Road 648.

12.2 (0.8) At this stop sign 648 goes straight and 643 turns right. We go straight on 648.

14.5 (2.3) At this point 648 dead ends into US 58 and we turn right.

15.5 (1.0) This is where we turned off US 58 onto State Road 645 at the beginning of our tour.

16.6 (1.1) We’re back where we started at the intersection of US 58 and State Road 638 in Laurel Fork, Virginia.

I hope you take this tour in the near future. It is such a beautiful area, I’m sure you will enjoy it.