On The Road With Missy

On the Road With Missy

My daughter called and wanted to take me to an antique shop and tea house in the general area of countryside nearby. We drove the secondary road and she suddenly saw a garage sale that she wanted to check. I was going to stay in the car and wait because it looked to me that the sale items were mostly linens and clothes. I looked around and spotted the winter preparations that were being accomplished on the side property. The woodpile had both stacked and scattered logs that had been cut and split. The long lumber awaited at the side. The old Farmall tractor was hitched to a wagon to transport the cut logs to the splitter. Someone has been very busy. She bought a new set of bed linens for $1.00 and a copper pot for $2.00. Well, she didn’t actually pay for it. The woman at the table didn’t even have change for a 10 dollar bill. Another lady who was nearby overheard and paid for Missy’s things. She said, “There! I’ve done my good deed for the day and now I don’t have to be nice to anyone for the rest of the day.”  That was our first laugh in our venture.

Further on down the road I spotted an old schoolhouse sitting high on a raised bank. The landscaped lawn was just too steep for me to climb, but it is one of the Endless Mountains Heritage architectural treasures. Further down the road I yelled, “Stop!” I saw an old car in the woods of the lofty bank to our left. It looked to be a Ford, perhaps a 1940 model like my first car. I couldn’t climb the high rise bank and there was no obvious way to get closer to see the front grill and headlights but I snapped my pictures anyway. What a huge tree there was behind and guarding it.

Further on down the road we found a nice pull off so I could take pictures of the wild blue Hickory, the yellow Birdsfoot Trefoil and the Queen Ann’s Lace flowers all at once as they were getting along so nicely. Chicory, is a perennial shrub whose root is often dried and ground with coffee. Queen's Anne Lace seems to be chicory's main cohort. Birdsfoot Trefoil aka Birdfoot Deervetch is used along roadsides to control wind and water erosion. 

We finally reached our destination and the sign in the door told that it was closed and the proprietors were on vacation until August 16. Sooooo, I took pictures of the old gasoline pumps that were lined up in front of the Old Birchardville Store and Tearoom. The pump didn’t tell me how much a gallon of gas cost when it was retired, or how many were pumped, but it did say that the cost was 18¢. We wandered through the welcome trellis to the garden and looked at the many varieties of flowers that were growing back there. 

I wanted to capture the steeple and bell of the 1812 church across the road. Wow! It hit me to realize that it was over 200 years old! if we hadn’t been getting a bit weak from hunger, I might have tried to wander through the graveyard and read some of the headstones. Well, we plan to come again and that will be another opportunity. 

As we went a little further down the road to find a turnaround, we spotted the produce stand. The pictures speak for themselves. Now I had some singles and change so we followed directions and shared a box of the little tomatoes. 

Click on image to view larger

Lunch was enjoyed at a place called “Ernies” and we sat at an old-style metal-top table with drop down sides, ate on Fiesta ware, and made use of the vintage salt and pepper and depression glass ware. Sadly, I didn’t bring the camera into the establishment because I discovered that the “powder room” was entirely hand painted, all ceilings, walls and doors, with a very nice garden scene showing trees and flowers. Next time. I’ll be back!

It was a wonderful expedition and we were both tired and ready for a nap when we returned home. Fun, escape, companionship, and LOVE! We definitely plan to be on the road together again.