| « Previous | Home | Next » | HoJo NoMo Tuesday, June 13, 2006 |
 Perhaps one of the saddest things I have seen in recent years is the demise of a location that meant a lot to me in my teen years (and even earlier). At the crest of US 250 east of Waynesboro (and now where Interstate 64 passes through Rockfish Gap), the Skyline Drive (which is the road that runs the length of the Shenandoah National Park) meets the Blue Ridge Parkway (which extends from here to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in North Carolina/Tennessee) at Rockfish Gap. In my youth this was a thriving tourist spot with a large sprawling motel, a Howard Johnsons restaurant, a few gas stations and gift shops. In my last year in High School I helped to finalize the outfitting of a beautiful Holiday Inn with a fantastic view of the mountains and the valley below. Somehow, if I have this story correct, someone got control of virtually all of this property and has let it fall into a criminally negligent state of disrepair. The main building for the older motel burned and stands as a hulk (picture to be posted later), the Holiday Inn is no longer a Holiday Inn but rather some no name place with apparently very low occupancy based on what I saw there. And this Howard Johnsons, still displaying the distinctive colors and the windvane announcing the affiliation, is no longer. My sister waited tables here feeling rich if she made $10 in tips per shift, and I washed dishes here for a whopping $1.15 per hour (it was 1968). All of these places now stand in silent testimony to the unbelievable way some people treat their property. This is prime location! A major Interstate highway exchange and the entrance to two of Virginia's finest tourist attractions. I don't have the entire story, but whatever it is, it had better be good! | |
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Posted by forgingahead Archived under: Architecture, History, Places |
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