Our Valley

Our Valley

11 Plus, the votes are in! Best Of The Valley starts on Page 30.

May 22, 2015

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OUR VALLEY

Friday, May 22, 2015

Harrisonburg, Va.

Our Valley 2015 Best Of The Valley Page 4

Inside

Pages 30-42

Page 5

Editor’s Note .................................................... 3 Highway Grew From Warrior Path ................. 4 Geology Shapes Valley’s Road, Economy ...... 5 Once The ‘Main Drag’ .................................... 7 U.S. 11 Paves Way For ‘Turkey Capital’.......... 8

Page 7

Good Eats On The Drive ................................12 Schools, Churches Support Kids ...................14 Truck Stop Culture Thrives ............................15

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Remains A Highway To Success ................... 20 Tourist Courts Served Road Weary ..............24 Yard Crawl Uniquely Route 11 ..................... 29 Roadside Attractions And More .................. 44

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End Of The Road ........................................... 46

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Page 29

Harrisonburg, Va.

OUR VALLEY

Friday, May 22, 2015

3

The Valley’s Main Street

L

ong before anyone had dreamed of cruising a paved stretch of asphalt in a muscle car, let alone doing 70 mph on an interstate, the Valley served as a means of transportation, allowing Native Americans to easily move north and south in between the mountain ranges to the east and west.

In Virginia, U.S. 11 traces the age-old route once part of the Great Valley Road, also referred to as the Warriors Path, Great Indian War and Trading Path and the Seneca Trail. Rather than one trail, it was a network of ancient Indian pathways with many branches.

By the late 18th century, as European settlement continued its expansion, the Shawnee, Iroquois and other tribes who often traveled along the Warriors Path to access Valley hunting grounds, largely had moved westward.

In the early days of the Republic, the Valley Road would finally begin to live up its name, although still a bumpy ride by all accounts. Eventually, civic-minded offi-

cials and others who saw the need to enhance the commercial prospects of the agricultural breadbasket that the Valley had become pushed to improve the road. A toll-road system, established in the years before the Civil War, paid for the cost of building and maintaining the new Valley Turnpike, a system that would last until the 1900s.

By that time, the advent of the automobile meant better paved roads were needed. In 1926, U.S. 11 would officially come into existence. With its creation, came motorists by the thousands, who in turn would lead to entirely new creations. Suddenly, tourist courts and cabins, restaurants and inns began to line the route to cater to this new brand of tourists.

In spite of Interstate 81, the turnpike to this day retains vestiges of its early 20th century heyday and remains a vital link between communities large and small. So much so, that Route 11 continues to serve as the Valley’s Main Street.

— Jerry Blair, city editor, Daily News-Record

Photo Courtesy Heritage Museum, Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society

Before the road known by various names, including the Great Road and the Valley Turnpike, became a paved highway designed for automobile traffic in the 1920s, it served the central Shenandoah Valley as a means of transportation and fostered commercial enterprise. Pictured in this undated photo is a farm where a United Bank building now stands on South Main Street — U.S. 11 — in Harrisonburg.

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OUR VALLEY

Friday, May 22, 2015

Harrisonburg, Va.

Route 11’s Lineage Dates To Warrior Path

By ELAINA SAUBER Daily News-Record

HARRISONBURG — Long before the first automobile’s invention, a stagecoach ride up the Great Road would depart from Staunton at 5 a.m. and arrive in Winchester at 1:30 p.m. — the next afterYou pass over noon.

For cennaked ridges of turies, the limestone rock, route largely through followed by ravines which today’s U.S. it is astonishing 11 was little more than a anyone ever dirt trail that though[t] of degraded into a treachusing for a erous bog for path, up and wagons with down hills each rain or almost snowfall.

But that perpendicular. didn’t deter Philadelphia scores of lawyer Henry Gilpin families from Pennsylvaon his 1826 nia and surjourney on the rounding Valley Road states from migrating to the Shenandoah Valley to find idyllic scenery, abundant limestone and arable soils — via a route known then as the Warriors Path.

Used by the Iroquois, Shawnee and other Native American tribes for cen-

“

Photos Courtesy Heritage Museum, Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society

ABOVE: Horse-drawn buggies park on North Main Street, now a portion of U.S. 11, in Harrisonburg as seen in this photo from 1907. Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church is on the right. RIGHT: By the 1920s, the influence of the automobile is evident as seen in this photo of a parade along Main Street at Court Square in downtown Harrisonburg. turies, what would become known as the Great Wagon Road was widely used by pioneers in the 1700s and 1800s seeking cheap, fertile land.

Unlike the acidic soils in Virginia’s piedmont and coastal plain, the Valley’s pasturelands nurtured high production diversity, with major crops including hemp, wheat, corn, flax, barley, oats and rye, according to Warren Hofstra’s “The Great Valley Road of Virginia,” which details the region’s land-

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scape and development throughout history.

By the turn of the 19th century, however, it became apparent that the Valley Road needed improvements to better accommodate visitor traffic, and, perhaps more importantly, the shipment of goods and produce farmers exported to surrounding regions.

Taking a stagecoach up the Valley See LINEAGE, Page 6

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OUR VALLEY

Harrisonburg, Va.

Friday, May 22, 2015

5

Location, Location, Location Geology Shapes The Valley’s Road, Agriculture, Economy

By ELAINA SAUBER Daily News-Record

HARRISONBURG — Harrisonburg’s nickname, Rocktown, is appropriate in more ways than one.

For centuries, the route that would become U.S. 11 served as a corridor between looming mountain ridges that led pioneers from nearby states to the Shenandoah Valley’s rich, arable soils beneath surfaces often rocky with limestone. But those bountiful soils are not a random occurrence; they developed from millions of years of erosion, which ground down the mineral-rich limestones into the earth, and is responsible for the Valley’s still thriving agricultural industry.

It wasn’t only ag, though, that reaped the benefits of the Valley’s geology. Its karst terrain — a landscape formed in limestone and characterized by caverns, sinkholes and closed depressions — also fueled a thriving

tourism economy that began in the 19th century for travelers captivated by the region’s caves and other naturally formed sites.

An Epoch Story A shallow, tropical sea blanketed much of North America more than 400 million years ago, with sediment forms such as sand, mud, silt and clay accumulating on its floor. Combined with myriads of seashells and organic matter, the sediment thickened to form countless layers of sandstones, shales and limestones, according to James Madison University geology professor Steven Whitmeyer.

The Appalachian Mountains formed when Africa collided with North America around 300 million years ago to create Pangaea. The rock layers cracked and folded into jagged mountain ridges by the impact, in the same way a rug folds when pushed inward, Whitmeyer said.

The Allegheny and Blue Ridge mountains surrounding the Valley are mostly

Austin Bachand / DN-R

Owner Jim Yancey points out inactive formations May 5 at Melrose Caverns, just off U.S. 11 See GEOLOGY, Page 10 north of Harrisonburg.

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OUR VALLEY

Friday, May 22, 2015

Harrisonburg, Va.

Early Bumpy Road Paved Way For Macadamized Turnpike By The Mid-1800s Lineage

FROM PAGE 4

from Winchester to Natural Bridge in 1825, Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar of Germany wrote extensively of his travels while exploring North America, which were included in Hofstra’s book.

He described the ride as being “in every respect very uncomfortable” as the stagecoach rolled through unforgiving terrain “for a considerable distance on rocks; on the road, a great many loose stones were lying.”

A year later, Philadelphia lawyer Henry Gilpin also documented his experience on the Valley Road, claiming it was “the worst road in the universe.”

“You pass over naked ridges of limestone rock, through ravines which it is astonishing anyone ever though[t] of using for a path, up and down hills almost perpendicular,” he wrote.

Birth Of The Toll Road In March 1834, the General Assembly author-

ized the Valley Turnpike Co. to build a 68-mile turnpike from Winchester to Harrisonburg, which would closely follow the path of the original Great Road.

A second charter in 1837 was issued for 25 more miles of roadway from Harrisonburg to Staunton, making the 93mile turnpike’s total cost around $425,000, according to data from the Valley Turnpike Museum at the Hardesty-Higgins House in Harrisonburg.

That would translate to around $9.3 million today.

Local men worked by hand, smoothing roadbeds, straightening curves, building bridges over streams and crushing countless rocks for the road, using a new stateof-the-art roadbuilding

technique.

The 22-foot-wide turnpike was one of the first in the U.S. to use macadam, invented by Scotsman John Louden McAdam in the early 1800s. It consisted of three layers of compacted, various-sized stones laid on a sloped subgrade, with side ditches for drainage, according to the Turnpike Museum, and was widely heralded for permitting travel in wet weather.

But with the turnpike came the dilemma of how to fund it, leading to tollhouses that sat along the route every five miles.

According to the museum’s records, female gatekeepers primarily headed toll collection, holding out a long-handled dipper for travelers to drop money

into at each stop.

In 1840, the cost of traveling the entire turnpike was $4.38, or about $78.40 in 2007 dollars, although some tollgate keepers also accepted eggs, bread and other items in lieu of coins, according to “The Heartland: Rockingham County,” written by Harrisonburg resident Nancy Hess.

By the 20th century, an annual toll cost $3.50.

A ‘Crucial Artery’ In 1800, Hofstra said, “there were more than 400 flour mills in the lower Valley alone.” Wheat yields in the Valley were roughly double those of the rest of the state, leading to its reputation as the “Breadbasket of the Confederacy” in the Civil War. The Valley Turnpike, he wrote, was a “crucial artery” for both Union and Confederate troops during the Civil War for transporting food, clothing, ammunition and medical supplies. During his Valley campaign in 1861, Gen. Stonewall Jackson raided the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad engines from pro-Union Martinsburg, pulling them down the turnpike with horses, according to Valley historian Don Silvius.

“Jackson stole the engines and refitted them with different gauges and rails of different sizes, to use on the Confederate railroads,” Silvius said.

But with the Burning of October 1864, led by U.S. Gen. Philip Sheridan, many mills, barns and farms in Rockingham and Shenandoah counties were destroyed to weaken Confederate resistance in the Valley and threaten its economy.

Decline Over Time While the Valley Turnpike had a reputation as the “best paved extensive road in Virginia,” according to Hofstra, the widespread use of the automobile by the early 1900s made tolls unpopular among travelers, and car tires damaged the turnpike’s macadam surface.

The Valley Turnpike Co. could no longer finance the turnpike through tolls, and in 1918, the Valley Pike became a free, public road as part of Virginia’s new state highway system. After uniform signs and highway route numbers came into use around 1925, the Valley Turnpike officially became U.S. 11.

Traffic along Route 11 decreased considerably after the construction of Interstate 81 in the 1950s and ’60s, but what it’s lost in traffic, it has gained in tourism.

The Valley Turnpike Museum recently earned recognition as a site on the Wilderness Road. The marketing initiative focused on cultural heritage along historic Virginia roads, funded by the Virginia Tourism Corp., Tobacco Commission and various other agencies, according to Brenda Black, director of tourism and visitor services in Harrisonburg.

Dedication for the museum’s recognition will take place in July, she said.

“We basically did a collective effort of research for 10 years,” Black said, adding that last month, “we actually launched the website, brochure and everything.”

Contact Elaina Sauber at 574-6278 or esauber@dnronline.com

Harrisonburg, Va.

OUR VALLEY

Friday, May 22, 2015

7

‘The Main Drag’: Valley Commerce Sees Lifeblood In U.S. 11

By RYAN CORNELL

somewhat over the decades, U.S. 11 and its connection with the region remains inseparable, said Carrie Chenery, execHARRISONBURG — U.S. 11 has its utive director of the Shenandoah Valley fair share of alternative monikers.

Partnership.

Harrisonburg residents refer to it as “[With] Route 11 Chips in Mount Main and Liberty streets. Others in Jackson,” she said, “their logo and symRockingham County call it Valley Pike bol is iconic around the world, and those and Lee Highway. who visit Virginia, I think, inherently And for the businesses and mer- also associate it with the Route 11 corrichants who rely on it for dor.” their customers, it’s reThe Shenandoah ValThis was the main garded as the lifeblood of ley Partnership is a pubdrag. It was so busy their living. lic-private economic deyou couldn’t get Melinda Bare, co-ownvelopment organization across the road, you er of Glen’s Fair Price comprising five cities couldn’t find places to and seven counties from Store in Harrisonburg, recalled a time when Shenandoah to Rockpark and there were Main Street was, well, bridge. people walking all the main street, back in Because U.S. 11 often over the sidewalks. the 1950s before Interruns parallel to I-81, it state 81 connected to the has the ability to tap Melinda Bare, city and the mall drew co-owner of Glen’s Fair into interstate comshoppers away.

Price Store in Harrisonburg merce, Chenery said, “This was the main and “its reach throughdrag,” she said. “It was so out the entire commonbusy you couldn’t get across the road, wealth from top to bottom really proyou couldn’t find places to park and vides an advantage for the heart of the there were people walking all over the Valley.” sidewalks.”

Throughout its history, the highway Since those days, business has has been one of the major arteries of the slowed, she said, and she’s “hanging in Valley, said Frank Tamberrino, presithere.” dent of the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Still, while the traffic has diminished Chamber of Commerce.

Daily News-Record

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Daniel Lin / DN-R

Harrisonburg High School senior Becky Holmes (center) looks for masks with the help of her mother, Becky Holmes (left), and Glen's Fair Price Store co-owner Melinda Bare on May 14. According to Bare, North Main Street — as U.S. 11 is known in the city — was the “main drag” in the 1950s, before the interstate siphoned traffic away from downtown and consumer shopping habits changed.

“In Harrisonburg,” he said, “it’s become a … very centralized road for commercial activity.”

Tamberrino mentioned the “motor mile” of auto dealerships south of the city as an example of an economic de-

velopment generating “significant tax dollars” for the community.

And despite the interstate providing another route for Valley drivers, he said See COMMERCE, Page 43

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Friday, May 22, 2015

OUR VALLEY

Harrisonburg, Va.

U.S. 11 Helped Build Turkey 'Capital' Turnpike Instrumental In Rise Of Central Valley’s Poultry Industry

By PRESTON KNIGHT Daily News-Record

Nikki Fox / DN-R, File

President Barack Obama laughs as his daughter, Malia, 14 (right), refuses to pet Cobbler, a turkey from Craig Miller’s Rockingham County farm, during an annual “pardoning” ceremony for the Thanksgiving turkey Nov. 21, 2012, as Steve Willardsen, president of Cargill’s turkey processing business, stands with the bird.

HARRISONBURG — The Shenandoah Valley is dotted with examples of residents who have stepped up to beautify or show off the place, from painting large murals, getting trash out of Blacks Run and securing funds for improved sidewalks, among others.

But only 10-year-old city resident Gerald Harris gave the area turkey statues.

In 1951, responding to a Spotswood Garden Club’s “How to Beautify Your City” contest, the Lucy F. Simms School student proposed erecting monuments to identify Rockingham County as the nation’s turkey capital, according to newspaper reports.

“The turkey center of America is Rockingham County and Harrisonburg,” Gerald wrote. “Why not capitalize on this by

erecting these monuments?”

Harris, who died in 2005, was the son of the late Austin St. Clair “Dick” Harris, and current city resident Mary Carlotta Newman Harris. He often visited family in Washington, D.C., as a child, said Ruth Toliver, his cousin. “[H]e seemed mesmerized at the statues which stand at the four corners of Memorial Bridge,” Toliver said of visits to the nation’s capital. “This could have been the inspiration for his entering his drawing into the contest. … We were all excited and pleased that his submission proved to be the winning entry. I think he was awarded $10 and a frozen turkey.”

The statues went up in 1955, and they still stand today in an appropriate place: Along U.S. 11 at Rockingham’s borders See POULTRY, Page 9

Harrisonburg, Va.

OUR VALLEY

Friday, May 22, 2015

9

Lohr: Route Still Key For Valley’s Small-Scale Farmers Poultry

FROM PAGE 8

with Augusta and Shenandoah counties.

Without the roadway, the Shenandoah Valley poultry industry, and agriculture overall, would not have taken off.

“One of the big advantages of this area has always been its proximity to large population centers in the Northeast and eastern parts of the country,” Virginia Poultry Federation President Hobey Bauhan said.

“We’re strategically positioned to provide poultry products to a large part of the country.”

Two components are necessary to pull off a turkey capital feat: Infrastructure and people who can do something with it.

Fortunately, the Valley had no shortage of farming pioneers who put the Valley Turnpike to good use.

Leading the way was Charles Wampler Sr. — known as the “Father of the Modern Turkey Industry” — who was the first to incubate and hatch turkey eggs without the hen. In 1922, he started the country’s first turkey hatchery and transformed the trade.

He founded Wampler Foods in the 1920s. In 1998, when Wampler’s son, Charles W. Wampler Jr., retired as chairman, what was then known as WLR Foods Inc. was the seventh-largest poultry company in the nation.

And there’s also Robert B. Strickler, who in 1939 came on board to a company eventually called Rocco — an abbreviation of Rockingham County — to manage the business started by four others. The family owned it until selling to Cargill in 2000.

“We’ve been preachers, growing soybeans, corn teachers and farmers ever and hay. Mrs. Lohr wantsince we came out of Penn- ed to name it Good Earth sylvania,” said his son, — after the Pulitzer PrizeRobert H. “Twig” Strickler, winning novel from 1931 86.

— but learned a place in He said there’s “no Richmond beat her to it. question” the road system “It did seem a little connecting the Shenan- more appropriate,” she doah Valley to said of the evencity markets in “It was a three- tual name. “[The the Northeast lane road, one of location] is very played an inteconvenient and the few threegral role in handy. It’s close lane roads I building his fato the interstate, ther’s business, could drive on in too.” and area agri- my youth. ... [I]t And that’s a culture in generbit how today’s was a main al. farmers feel: I-81 north-south Otherwise, is the most imroute.” lower costs for portant connecgrain in the Midtor, supplanting — ROBERT H. ‘TWIG’ west would have U.S. 11 decades STRICKLER made that part ago. Plus, as of the country more roads were practically the only one constructed over time, and producing poultry, he said. properly maintained, be“It was a three-lane ing alongside a major road, one of the few three- highway was not a prereqlane roads I could drive on uisite to fruitful farming. in my youth,” Strickler Visibility just isn’t as said of U.S. 11. “Like [In- important to the agriculterstate] 81 today, it was a tural industry as it was main north-south route.” when the Valley Turnpike To the chagrin of his came along. wife, Lorraine, he has oth“When 81 opened, it er memories of U.S. 11, took traffic off 11, but it too. didn’t affect farming any,” “If you had a car fast Gary Lohr said. “Motels, enough, you could outrun etc., they all had to be a state trooper,” said closed up.”

Strickler, who grew up on a 200-acre farm six miles north of Harrisonburg. “If you like fast, and some of us did at the time, it was a fun place.”

He now marvels at how the poultry industry has exploded over time.

“It’s hard to find a capital of a nation anywhere in the world that doesn’t have a Kentucky Fried,” Strickler said.

Meanwhile, at the aptly named Valley Pike farm on U.S. 11 near Mauzy, Gary and Ellen Lohr do a little bit of everything on 250 acres, raising chickens and beef cattle, and

But U.S. 11 does still have meaning for the future of agriculture as it becomes more diversified. The Lohrs, for example, run a pumpkin patch in the fall that attracts large crowds.

Their son, Matt, a former member of the House of Delegates and commissioner of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services under Gov. Bob McDonnell, gives the Valley Turnpike the feel of a piece of nostalgia that’s still very relevant.

“When you go up and down, you see roadside stands, produce … it gives you a little more of a smalltown feel,” he said. “For small-scale agriculture, it offers that opportunity to be able to have that connection.”

Contact the Daily News-Record at 574-6200

Mike Tripp / DN-R File

One of the first sights to greet travelers on U.S. 11 in Rockingham County is a turkey atop a pedestal near the county line.

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Friday, May 22, 2015

OUR VALLEY

Harrisonburg, Va.

More Than 4,000 Caves In Virginia Geology

Austin Bachand / DN-R

Jim Yancey, owner of Melrose Cavern, walks around a natural underground karst feature May 5. All area caves are formed by water eroding the limestone, which creates voids underground.

FROM PAGE 5

sandstone, which is harder and more resistant to weathering and erosion. Most of the Shenandoah Valley floor, however, is rich in limestone and shale deposits — which erode much easier from slightly acidic rain and groundwater.

Over the millennia, water entered cracks in the underlying limestone, dissolving out channels in the rock that eventually grew larger to form cave systems and underground streams. Many caves can be found on or near Valley Turnpike today, such as Melrose Caverns east of Linville and the now-closed Crystal Caverns at Hupp’s Hill Civil War Park in Strasburg.

When caves grow too large, they can collapse into sinkholes. But it’s nearly impossible to track sinkholes before they develop because of the vast number of cave networks in Virginia, JMU geology professor Scott Eaton said, explaining that the Valley’s subsurface resembles “Swiss cheese.”

According to the Virginia Speleological Society, more than 4,000 caves have been identified in Virginia — and it’s one of only six states with more than 2,000 known caves.

“They’re everywhere around us,” Eaton said. “We live in a karst environment — we’ve been doing it for hundreds of years.”

A Rocky Economy The Valley’s extensive cave systems helped fuel its economy over the years. In 1804, a hunter discovered today’s Grand Caverns, which opened commercially to the public in 1806 as America’s first show cave.

Warren Hofstra, a history professor at Shenandoah University in Winchester who wrote “The Great Valley Road of Virginia,” noted the iconic popularity of Natural Bridge, a 90-foot limestone arch that was once a cave, during the 19th century.

“Niagara Falls and Natural Bridge were the two most important destinations for sightseeing and touring,” he said, which allowed for various inns and taverns to be sprinkled along U.S. 11 to accommodate tourists.

Hofstra’s book highlights President Thomas Jefferson’s opinion of Natural Bridge as “the most sublime of nature’s works.”

By the turn of the 20th century, touring See GEOLOGY, Page 11

OUR VALLEY

Harrisonburg, Va.

The Travelers Lounge in New Market at U.S. 11 and U.S. 211 catered to tourists visiting nearby Endless Caverns, an example of how geology played a role in the economy along U.S. 11.

Photo Courtesy Heritage Museum, HarrisonburgRockingham Historical Society

By 1900, Caverns ‘A Big Attraction’ Geology

FROM PAGE 10

caves had maintained its reputation as a popular pastime, said Stewart Mercer, owner of Elk Run Mining Co. in Harrisonburg. “Going to caves was a big attraction — you would get dressed up to go,” he added.

But limestone has also proved profitable as a commercial product — just ask Robert Frazier, the owner of Frazier Quarry, which is one of the largest family-owned stone product retailers in Virginia. In 1915, the company got its start as Betts Quarry, and became a known resource for buildings, roads and ag lime production. Because it’s expensive to transport large amounts of rock long distances, Frazier said the quarry’s market range is around 25 miles.

But it was the expansion of JMU’s campus that helped regenerate the popularity of local limestone as a building material. A popular type of limestone is bluestone, named for its dark blue-gray color, which resulted from its forming at the bottom of the tropical sea over millions of years, where sunlight couldn’t penetrate. Most limestone, having formed in shallow waters, is already bleached to a

lighter color.

The Forbes Center for the Performing Arts is a prime example of the bluestone used on campus, and is just one of 23 buildings at JMU made from the material. Others include the Rockingham County Courthouse on Court Square and Thomas Harrison’s home on Main Street.

An increasingly popular use for limestone is the produce of ag lime, which is distributed on farmland to bal-

ance soil pH levels, Frazier said, adding that limestone high in calcium and magnesium are the most suitable.

“We ship lime over to the Chesapeake Bay,” he said.

“Ag lime is a big product; whether we’re doing it or somebody else, it’s coming out of all the native limestones of the Shenandoah Valley.”

Contact Elaina Sauber at 574-6278 or esauber@dnronline.com

Friday, May 22, 2015

11

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OUR VALLEY

Friday, May 22, 2015

Harrisonburg, Va.

Spots Along U.S. 11 Keep People Eating

By AMELIA BRUST Daily News-Record

HARRISONBURG — From fried pickles and quality seafood to local bands, the restaurants on U.S. 11 trade on their individuality, especially those along the more rural stretches of the highway.

Some have weathered the economic changes

while others are just beginning to break through.

Driving along the road in Harrisonburg and northern Rockingham County, privately owned establishments are the norm, and the more unique the better.

No one could mistake the prancing pigs and neon sign of the Bar-B-Q Ranch on the North Valley Pike

27 White Picket Trail Mt. Crawford,VA (540) 564-1322

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for any other institution.

Owner Faye Bland, 84, reopened the business in 1984 and still goes to work nearly every day.

“You’re married to it seven days a week,” said Bland, who said she prefers not to take days off. Milkshakes, pulled pork sandwiches and the plethora of figurines around the restaurant make customers feel like they’ve traveled back in time.

But Bland is not averse to adapting.

“This has been here 67 years. You’ve got to change a little bit,” she said.

Despite the sparse development on the area of the highway, Bar-B-Q Ranch has managed to weather two recessions thanks to local clientele and Bland’s willingness to understand changing needs. The menu expanded, the restaurant offers Wi-Fi and her daughter created a Facebook page to help get the word out.

“I think if we were in town closer we’d do better,” Bland said. “But it’s been here so long, we’d never want to move it.”

People have asked her to open a second location but she said the single business is all she can handle. Although Bar-B-Q Ranch does not have any major competitors nearby, Bland would be open to some more dining options on North Valley Pike, as that section of U.S. is known, or at least a grocery store for last-minute supplies.

“I’ve always heard the more restaurants you got the better you do,” she said.

Dropping the restaurant’s carhop service did not negatively affect the business, but travelers are still patrons. The truck stop at nearby Interstate 81 exit 251 brought in new customers while vacationers at Massanutten Resort often stop by, she said.

Many James Madison University students also

Nikki Fox / DN-R

Bar-B-Q Ranch owner Faye Bland, 84, makes change for a customer during the lunch hour April 21. do not discover the restaurant until their third or fourth year, she said, but are happy when they do.

At this point the business is mostly sustained by

word-of-mouth, and Bland just hopes to keep clocking in each day for as long as she can.

Further up the road, another family-run establishment is thinking about how the next generation will manage things. At The Blue Stone Inn, co-owner Janet Olschofka, 62, described the Lacey Spring business’ three phases since the family purchased the property in 1949.

When Ernest and Katherine Olschofka bought the restaurant and cabins — decades before I-81 would siphon tourist and truck traffic away from U.S. 11 — it was the most popular time for motels along the north-south highway.

Throughout the 1970s the restaurant was the primary revenue source and second-generation owner, Karl Olschofka, turned it into a pizza, subs and beer joint. Local baseball teams See RESTAURANTS, Page 13

OUR VALLEY

Harrisonburg, Va.

Daniel Lin / DN-R

Diners share a meal May 2 at the Blue Stone Inn in Lacey Spring.

Restaurants

FROM PAGE 12

that would come in after games largely supported it, said Janet Olschofka, Karl’s daughter-in-law.

But by 1977, when she joined the business as a waitress, the cabins were already on their way out and the third generation, her husband Mike Olschofka,

was ready for something new.

“My husband had grown up with the beer See RESTAURANTS,Page 19

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OUR VALLEY

Friday, May 22, 2015

Harrisonburg, Va.

Schools, Churches Stick Together On U.S. 11 Efforts Benefiting Children Foster Sense Of Community

By AMELIA BRUST Daily News-Record

HARRISONBURG — When Lacey Spring Elementary School opened on North Valley Pike in 1989, it was met with a community in need of more classrooms. New housing was built around the area and students were pulled from Plains and Linville-Edom elementary schools to fill the building.

But as for the rest of the road north of Harrisonburg, development is few and far between, with

more houses than businesses dotting the highway.

Both Donna Robinson, principal of Lacey Spring Elementary, and her predecessor, Larry Huffman, agreed the school plays a role in holding the small community together.

“It’s really the only tie to the community,” Robinson said.

The school receives support from more than 20 businesses, churches and nonprofits around the area, from the Lacey Spring Post Office and the

Blue Stone Inn less than a mile along the road, to MillerCoors well to the east near Elkton. But administrators said that what has been especially helpful is the school’s proximity to churches like Mount Tabor United Methodist, Grace Mennonite and Fellowship United Methodist.

“It’s brought some people into our community and into our church,” said Kay Gentry, pastor at Mount Tabor United Methodist at 8335 North Valley Pike. “It’s worked out well for us.”

The church sits about a half-mile southwest of the school, while Grace Mennonite is separated by a single field on Lacey Spring Elementary’s east side. The sites have even

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Austin Bachand / DN-R

Members of Mount Tabor United Methodist Church, including Jenny Miller, Bruce Brinn, Dale Boyers and Dallas Alkire, pack lunches for Lacey Spring Elementary School students April 23 at the church. been designated as emergency shelters for students.

Before Grace Mennonite acquired its building at 209 Lacey Spring Road just off U.S. 11, it was a church plant at the school, according to lead pastor Richard Early.

“We started there because we wanted to be involved with the community and a number of people at the school became a part of the church,” he said.

By holding their meetings in Lacey Spring Elementary’s gymnasium, Early said Grace Mennonite became “interconnected with some of the teachers” and the congregation

“

learned about the school’s needs.

The churches all participate in the school’s snack bag program, which supplies children from low-income households with healthier snack options to take home each weekend.

Brenda Robey, school guidance counselor, estimated that to fill the nearly 50 backpacks with snacks each month costs between $250 and $500 but Gary Shell at Fellowship United Methodist said some months go over.

“We just felt there was a need and a lot of children who are involved with the free and reduced lunch program get meals at school. … We were concerned about them going all We started it and the weekend, not outpouring of food and knowing what items ... has just been they would have,” said Shell. phenomenal.

The church is Kay Gentry, pastor, on Fellowship Mount Tabor United Road, less than a mile east of U.S. Methodist Church

11 near Linville.

Groups rotate filling the backpacks each month, which then get delivered anonymously every Friday during the school year. Mount Tabor joined the program in April because, as Gentry said, “volunteers said they wanted to do more.”

“We started it and the outpouring of food and items … has just been phenomenal,” she said. The church purchases some items while individuals make up the difference.

Each of the churches also supplies coats, school supplies and other miscellaneous items to Lacey Spring Elementary throughout the year.

“Occasionally, they’ll call us if they have a special financial need. As we’ve grown we’ve become more involved in the things they do,” Early said. “We’re a community church and the majority See SCHOOLS, Page 16

OUR VALLEY

Harrisonburg, Va.

Friday, May 22, 2015

15

Natalie Barnes of Mount Solon, a server at Joe’s Griddle & Grill, carries orders to the kitchen from the Showalter family of Sangersville on April 23 at the restaurant south of Harrisonburg.

Daniel Lin / DN-R

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HARRISONBURG — For the thousands of truckers and travelers who drive on U.S. 11 each day, the Valley’s truck stops appear like brightly lit oases, each with the promise of cold drinks, warm food and warmer showers available 24 hours a day.

It’s at these truck stops where drivers refuel — both their gas tanks and their bellies — and pause their journey from point A to point B.

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A framed picture on a wall inside the travel center shows an aerial shot of the truck stop in the 1950s. Not far from the photo’s foreground is the interstate, which can be seen ending at the Harrisonburg exit.

A truck driver for nearly 40 years, John Crider of Moorefield, W.Va., said he stops by the truck stop “at least

Daniel Lin / DN-R

Clyde Crabb of Buchanan, a driver for Howell’s Motor Freight, fills up his tank April 23 at the Harrisonburg Travel Center. every other day” on his route hauling chemical limestone to West Virginia and Tennessee.

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Harrisonburg Travel Center regularly for the past 10 years to get his coffee See TRUCK STOPS, Page 17

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OUR VALLEY

Friday, May 22, 2015

Harrisonburg, Va.

‘There To Help Each Other’ Schools

Austin Bachand / DN-R

Deb Cline, a bus driver for Lacey Spring Elementary School, delivers snack packs on April 24 to the school put together by area churches.

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FROM PAGE 14

of our people are involved with them.”

The same goes for Mount Tabor, despite the fact that most of the congregation’s youth members are now all in middle and high school. Gentry said school families still attend her church’s events or fundraisers, and vice versa.

“It’s good for the community. It shows that we are there to help each other,” she said. “We’ve adopted them and they’ve adopted us.”

Building new relationships with outside groups can be difficult for the small school, especially when, as Robinson said, so much attention is paid to academics and student interaction.

The school opened with nearly 400 students but as of Sept. 30 had only 249.

The last redistricting saw 123 students move to Cub Run Elementary School in 2008.

Starting a new church in an underdeveloped area like North Valley Pike could have posed problems for Grace Mennonite in 1997, but Early said the founders felt having a connection like the elementary school would sustain them despite the lack of growth in the area.

“I just think that it shows that churches and schools are important parts of a community’s life, especially in a rural area like this. They kind of go hand-in-hand,” he said.

Contact Amelia Brust at 5746293 or abrust@dnronline.com

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Daniel Lin / DN-R

Steve Schifflett of Mount Solon, a truck driver with Organics Recycling, signs a fuel receipt from Harrisonburg Travel Center manager Drema Hutchison.

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FROM PAGE 15

and a meal at the restaurant, Joe’s Griddle & Grill.

“I very seldom go through without stopping,” he said. “It’s a good place to kick back and unwind a little bit sometimes.”

The manager of the truck stop, William May, took over in January when Holtzman Oil Corp. purchased Cline Energy, the previous owner of the truck stop.

May described the travel center as a “home away from home” for truck drivers and said its trucker’s lounge has proven especially popular.

“If there’s a race or a football game on, that place is packed,” he said. “People don’t want to listen to it on the radio, they want to stop and watch it in person … just like you or I would if we were at home.”

He said the travel center services about 400 to 500 trucks a day. He said his goal is for the truck stop to pump a million gallons of diesel fuel a month — right now, he said, their monthly average is between 500,000 and 600,000 gallons.

Before turning to repair a malfunctioning scratchers machine, May points to a pallet of jugs.

“See, this is the additive that everyone has to add to their trucks with the new clean-burning diesel they gotta carry,” he says. “We’re putting that out at the pumps because the drivers literally have

to load that jug to the truck, sometimes a couple jugs at a time.”

Upon closer inspection, a label on a jug reveals that they’re filled with DEF — diesel exhaust fluid — made with 65 percent water and 35 percent urea.

“The funny thing about that is, you know what that is? Well it’s pig piss,” May says. “It makes the exhaust as it cycles through in a diesel truck, it makes it burn cleaner. Who would’ve thought you could burn pig piss?”

Working The Graveyard Shift Near the point where U.S. 11 crosses above the interstate, at the exit for Mauzy and Broadway, an illuminated tower marks the spot for the Liberty gas station and 7-Eleven store, the last place to fill up before leaving Rockingham County.

Drivers in search of a Burger King sandwich or a pack of smokes stream through its doors during the day, though the truck stop isn’t much calmer at night.

After ringing up an order for $40 on gas pump No. 1, Amanda Wimer greets the next customer.

“Good morning,” she says from behind the counter — it’s 1 a.m. on a Thursday.

Wimer works the late night shift, from midnight to 8 a.m., five nights a week.

“We can go a half-hour, 45 minutes where there’s no customers, and we can See TRUCK STOPS, Page 18

18

OUR VALLEY

Friday, May 22, 2015

Harrisonburg, Va.

Mountain Dew ‘By Far’ Tops Among Soda Sales Truck Stops

FROM PAGE 17

go half an hour where it’s just constant traffic,” she said.

“There’s no rhyme or reason to it.”

As the overnight shift worker, Wimer helps unload a truck that brings in new doughnuts, sandwiches and fruits to the store each night.

“And between that and the customers and the coffee, I stay pretty busy,” she said.

The beeps of the cash register are the only sounds heard in the store other than the deep rumble of the building’s air conditioning system.

Just then, a customer asks her how much farther it is to Pennsylvania.

She tells him it’s about three or four hours.

“I get a lot of people coming through here who have no idea what state they’re in,” Wimer says later. “Especially, in the middle of the night where you have one person driving, one sleeping and one practically sleepwalking. They’re out of it.”

Dan Deavers of Criders slips into the store for a cup of coffee.

The truck driver, who trans-

ports books from RR Donnelley in Harrisonburg to Pennsylvania and brings back paper, said he probably stops at the store about three nights a week.

He’s become one of the familiar faces that Wimer has come to recognize.

“I gotta come in and make sure she’s awake,” he joked.

Wimer said the job has affected her sleep schedule.

“I’m to the point where I can’t sleep more than three or four hours at a time and I’m always tired,” she said. “It’s just become a way of life.”

The Big Shot When it comes to truck stops, Pilot Flying J is the No. 1 company in the U.S., says Sean Manning, shift manager for the Pilot Travel Center north of Harrisonburg.

Pilot has more than 650 locations in the country, while Love’s — the No. 2 company and their main competitor — has more than 330 stations, according to their websites.

Harrisonburg’s Pilot station, on U.S. 11 near Exit 251 for I81, has a bit of everything, from souvenirs of the Old Dominion

and truck accessories to Subway sandwiches and Cinnabon snacks.

Manning, who’s worked at the truck stop since it opened in August 2012, said more than a thousand customers enter its doors each day, including about 140 who use its showers.

“There’s a lot of variety to this job,” he said. “Nothing’s really the same every day.”

At any given time, he said, between 25 and 30 people work at the truck stop, not including the deli crew at Subway.

Manning said the top overall product sold at the truck stop is cigarettes — he said the station orders about 1,700 cartons, or 17,000 packs, a week to replenish its supply — the best-selling soda sold is Mountain Dew “by far” and the biggest seller for candy is Peanut M&Ms. “It’s interesting. You get a lot of travelers who are just going long distances from all over the country,” he said. “We get truckers who are driving from Alaska and back for the week, so you just get a wide variety of people.”

Back at the Harrisonburg Travel Center, May credited in-

Daniel Lin / DN-R

Daniel Elizondo of Mission, Texas, a driver with Southern Texas Freight, fills up a drink at the Harrisonburg Travel Center on April 23. dustries such as Cargill and White Wave Foods for contributing to the traffic on U.S. 11 that keeps his business alive.

“You hear all those clichés about truck drivers being the backbone of the supply chain of America,” he said. “It’s really true. These guys work really

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OUR VALLEY

Harrisonburg, Va.

Friday, May 22, 2015

Emphasis On Individuality Connects With Customers Restaurants

FROM PAGE 13

joint situation,” Janet Olschofka said. “I think he thought of it as a thing of the past and he wanted to go forward with changing it.”

After marrying in 1981, the couple moved toward a dinner-only menu of steak and seafood, per Mike’s cooking preferences. Aside from the new offerings, the creation of Interstate 81 starting in the late 1950s and mid’60s near Harrisonburg and points north and south also contributed to a shift in customers.

“There are probably a few pockets of people here that still think of us as a beer joint, and then there are people who don’t even know we exist,” she laughed.

Blue Stone Inn is equidistant from Harrisonburg and New Market on North Valley Pike, approximately nine miles from each location.

Olschofka said the clientele is largely from New Market and Mount Jackson in the north, and from Harrisonburg, Staunton and Waynesboro in the south.

She guessed people keep coming back for the great food and good service.

“When they come in they’re greeted very warmly, they’re made to feel comfortable and welcome,” she said. “You put those two things together, with a fair price, you’ll get your customers.”

Down in Harrisonburg, where North Valley Pike becomes Main Street, the emphasis on individuality and connecting with customers holds true. It is the reason Paul Somers, owner of The Golden Pony at 181 N. Main St., does not expect a chain to crop up downtown anytime soon.

“There’s something a little more special about Main Street,” he said.

“I’ve seen restaurants come and go on this short strip.”

After the Blue Nile restaurant

Austin Bachand / DN-R

Martin Rees (right), manager of The Golden Pony, serves Susan Ricciardi (left) and Whitney Stewart (center) of Boston on April 23 at the Harrisonburg bar. and bar closed in October, Somers got the opportunity to give the space a second life. He signed the lease on Nov. 28 and The Golden Pony officially opened for the MACRoCk festival on April 3-4.

He credited the turnaround to community support from former Blue Nile patrons, friends, neighbors and other downtown businesses.

“I think if you can find a way to inspire people in a certain way that nobody else is capable of achieving with that community, and they’re just going to be incredibly dedicated to you,” he said.

An Indiegogo campaign raised $21,972 in a month, which Somers used to improve the basement sound equipment. The online fundraiser doubled as a marketing campaign and helped Matchbox Realty’s deci-

sion to give him the lease, he said.

“The amount of legitimate traction I think that we have with the community here is found and it’s meaningful and it’s long-lasting,” said Somers, a 15-year veteran of the restaurant industry. “Never once have I seen a place have this kind of an opening.”

Although The Golden Pony’s menu replaced the Blue Nile’s traditional Ethiopian with standard American fare, Somers believes people will still make a special trip to visit the restaurant.

“It’s much nicer to offer a nice menu like we have but people were just so excited about the space that they were willing to make the effort,” he said.

Contact Amelia Brust at 574-6293 or abrust@dnronline.com

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OUR VALLEY

Friday, May 22, 2015

Harrisonburg, Va.

Route 11 Still A Road To Prosperity Valley Pike Sees Growth In High-Tech Ventures

By VIC BRADSHAW Daily News-Record

Vic Bradshaw / DN-R

Mike Goertzen (left), program manager for Serco PGPubs Classification Services, and Joel Geisert, information technology manager for the site, stand in front of the company’s office in the Harrisonburg Technology Park just off U.S. 11.

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HARRISONBURG — For decades, the Valley Pike has been the region’s road to prosperity, a pathway for commerce and trade that helped the area grow.

Interstate 81 carries far more cars and trucks than U.S. 11 now, but the highway remains at the forefront of the region’s economic growth because of the technology zones established along it and other high-tech businesses that call it home.

It wasn’t always that way, though. Brian Shull said tech wasn’t an emphasis 17 years ago when he started his job as Harrisonburg’s economic development director.

“It was not much of the economy when I started,” he said. “Manufacturing, agriculture and retail were the main components of the economic base.

“As [James Madison University] was continuing to grow, and the other universities as well, we

recognized the great talent that was being developed here and it was all being exported after four years. We felt that if we put a strong effort into attracting tech jobs here, we could retain that local talent.”

The city developed its Harrisonburg Technology Park — one of the first such sites in Virginia — on Mount Clinton Pike just off U.S. 11 in 1998, Shull said, and established its Downtown Technology Zone in 2005 for smaller tech businesses. Rockingham joined the tech-park movement in 2006, creating what is now known as Innovation Village @ Rockingham on 365 acres on U.S. 11 that adjoin the city’s tech park.

The tech industry’s presence has grown locally over the past two decades. According to the most recent available data from Richmond-based Chmura Economics & Analytics, 2,885 of the 60,261 jobs in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County in the second quarter of 2014, or 4.8 percent, were classified as high-tech positions.

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you’ll find people working in hightech locally (think Merck & Co. and MillerCoors Shenandoah Brewery outside Elkton or WhiteWave Foods and Eastern BioPlastics in Mount Crawford, for example), but they are areas targeted for intense development by leading-edge businesses.

Maurice Jones, Virginia’s secretary of commerce and trade, said there’s value in creating such tech zones.

“When you get a cluster of techbased enterprises with lots of tech jobs,” he said, “it helps attract talent to an area and keep talent in an area.”

That’s not the only reason to have tech businesses concentrated in an area, according to Carrie Chenery, executive director of the Shenandoah Valley Partnership, a regional economic development organization. She said like minds thrive when they’re together.

“Innovation and technology for companies is strongest when they’re with their peers,” she said.

“Companies like that success and find new opportunities when they’re able to cluster together See PROSPERITY, Page 21

OUR VALLEY

Harrisonburg, Va.

Friday, May 22, 2015

21

Tech Tends To Attract More Tech Prosperity

development and site head of the California-based company’s local laboratowith like minds.” ry, said the company has 40 employees, most of whom have doctorate deTech Assets grees.

Tech has a reputation for attracting George Anas, Rockingham County’s more tech — think about major hubs, director of economic development, said such as the Silicon he thinks SRI can be Valley or Boston or used directly and indiI never felt like I was Seattle. While they rectly to attract new part of my community. tenants to Innovation don’t hold delusions that the Shenandoah Village. He’s discussed ... The culture here is Valley is going to join attending trade shows incredible. I want to that list, local and with Kodukula to lure be part of what’s state officials think companion compagoing on here. the presence of comnies. panies such as SRI “Who does SRI Chiedo John Shenandoah Valley work with? We need and Serco PGPubs to talk to them,” he Classification Services can help sell said. “Is there a benefit to having other technology businesses on the someone they work with right next area. door in Rockingham County? I bet SRI, the lone tenant at Innovation there would be.”

Village, does research for major pharOn adjoining property to the maceutical companies, the National south, Mike Goertzen, program Institutes of Health and the U.S. De- manager for Serco’s local operations, partment of Defense. Krishna Kodukula, executive director of strategic See PROSPERITY, Page 22 FROM PAGE 20

“

Austin Bachand / DN-R

Chiedo Labs employee Eric DuVon copies information from a device onto a whiteboard at the company’s of fice May 6.

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Harrisonburg, Va.

Opportunities Tied To Nearby Higher Ed Prosperity

FROM PAGE 21

said his company soon will have 185 employees, mostly scientists or engineers.

At its Harrisonburg Technology Park site, the company performs initial research on more than 95 percent of the utility patent applications filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, classifying the content of the application into one or more of 250,000 possible categories, and providing examiners and the public with critical information to consider in their analysis.

Shull said Serco is a valuable example when a company official claims a business needs to be closer to Washington, D.C. “Serco is a large contractor with many facilities,” he said, “but they’ve found that a Harrisonburg location for their patent and trademark office has been a big asset for them and a great area for them to attract workers.”

The JMU Factor The area’s higher-education institutions — Eastern Mennonite University,

Bridgewater College, Blue Ridge Community College, and especially JMU — also can be attractive to prospective technology companies. They provide ready access to research partners and potential employees.

“Harrisonburg’s technology opportunities are closely tied to innovation at James Madison,” said Chenery. “I also think they’re tied to existing businesses with technology and innovation to sectors like agriculture, manufacturing, et cetera.”

SRI actually began its local operations on JMU’s campus while waiting for its facility to be built, and the company maintains a partnership with the school. Kodukula also is on Bridgewater’s board of trustees and is providing his expertise to aid EMU’s project to expand its Suter Science Center.

More members of Serco’s workforce are JMU graduates than any other school, Goertzen said, and Bridgewater is fourth on the list.

Then there are the tech businesses started by the graduates of local colleges.

Chiedo John founded Chiedo Inc., the parent company of Chiedo Labs, in 2012 as

Austin Bachand / DN-R

Chiedo Labs employees (from left) Eric DuVon, Ricardo Fearing and CEO Chiedo John work in a conference room at the company’s office May 6. a JMU student. His company helps clients plan, design and develop websites and mobile applications, operating out of Moseley

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Harrisonburg, Va.

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23

Company Official: Firms Attracted To Quality Of Life Prosperity

FROM PAGE 22

lower here than in major urban areas.

That doesn’t mean their local workers aren’t paid well, though.

Kodukula said the average salary at SRI is about $85,000.

Lower costs can provide a competitive advantage. John said New York and California are among the top three geographic sources of Chiedo Labs’ revenue.

“We’re not aggressively hitting New York and California,” he said, “but we’re cheaper than the companies up there.”

Geography is a factor for Serco’s and SRI’s local operations.

Serco is headquartered in Reston and the local office does work for the Alexandria-based USPTO. Harrisonburg, Goertzen said, is convenient to both.

Similarly, Kodukula said SRI’s office is located “within a couple of hours drive time to a lot of our primary contacts, clients and partners.”

The region itself and the local lifestyle also play an important role. Company officials said the area’s outdoor recreation opportunities, rural nature, lack of traffic and other factors contribute to a quality of life that’s difficult for

Theater, within the city’s Downtown Technology Zone.

He and his four other employees are JMU graduates, and five of its students have interned there in two years. He said the university’s computer science department provides graduates with a skill set he can work with.

“When I was rapidly hiring,” said John, Chiedo Inc.’s president and CEO, “I was confident that we could train those individuals up in regard to the web development field. JMU was a prime resource when I needed to expand.”

Valley’s Value Other sections of America and even Virginia have more technology businesses, so what’s the attraction of the Valley?

Well, the price for one.

The company leaders and economic development officials all said this area allows them to more cost-efficiently do the same thing they’d be doing in another location.

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many higher profile areas to match.

John said he and his employees love spilling into downtown to work remotely in coffee shops and restaurants or to relax after work, and he extolled the area’s cultural assets and close feel.

“I grew up in Fairfax and Prince William County,” he said, “and I never felt like I was part of my community. It was just like I was passing through.

“The culture here is incredible. I want to be part of what’s going on here.”

Kodukula said he probably has to interview twice as many people to fill a vacancy than he would in a major urban area, but he has no trouble finding exceptional scientists who embrace Valley life. They like the slower pace and smalltown environment.

“I think it boils down to quality of life,” Goertzen summarized.

“Think about a five- or 10-minute commute versus an hour and a half. You have hours of extra time to spend with your family or doing what you enjoy.”

Contact Vic Bradshaw at 574-6279 or vbradshaw@dnronline.com

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Mike Goertzen, program manager for Serco PGPubs Classification Services, sists at his desk in the company’s Harrisonburg Technology Park office just off U.S. 11.

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OUR VALLEY

Friday, May 22, 2015

Harrisonburg, Va.

Tourist Courts: An Oasis For The Motoring Public Car Gave Rise To Wave Of Tourism, Need For Services

By VIC BRADSHAW Daily News-Record

HARRISONBURG — Kermit Early still recalls when a man from Covington met with his father and asked if he’d be willing to turn the land he owned across from his dairy farm south of Harrisonburg into an oasis for travelers.

It was the mid-1930s, and the late O.K. Early became convinced that the

Pure Oil Co. representative was right, that a tourist court, restaurant and service station could be a viable business as America’s love affair with the automobile blossomed.

Like many entrepreneurs with land along U.S. 11 and other major thoroughfares of the day, Early used company-provided blueprints to build cottagestyle lodging along with the eatery and a service station.

“At that time, that automobile started being more reliable and people were traveling then,” Kermit, 92, recalled recently of the birth of the business then

called the Pure Village Cottages. “There was a need for those vehicles to be serviced, and overnight stays.”

Flash forward nearly 80 years and virtually all of the quality independent tourist courts and motor lodges that once lined America’s highways are gone. However, a very small number — such as the Pure Village Cottages, or as the business is known now, The Village Inn — have managed to remain alive and well.

Co-owned and managed

by Kevin Early, the third generation to run the family business, its 37 rooms

Daniel Lin / DN-R

Fred Wilkerson (right) of Harriston and Ina and Jerry Baker of Broadway visit the lunch buffet May 4 at The Village Inn south of Harrisonburg. and restaurant — a later addition — stay busy even as major hotel brands line interstate highway exits because of the family’s continuing investment in and attention to detail at the motel. It’s one of 11 Harrisonburg properties to earn a three-diamond quality rating, the highest in the market, from AAA. “It’s our baby,” Kevin Early said.

Travel Patterns Change Automobile use grew over the years, but the creation of the interstate highway system pulled many vehicles from what previously were the nation’s major north-south and east-west byways.

Dining and lodging establishments, mostly national chains, grabbed the prime real estate at interstate exits.

Going from on the main drag to off the beaten path, most independent tourist courts suffered. Some have been demolished; others converted into apartments or offices. Some are franchise motels. Some focus on long-term guests or

cater to a lower clientele than they once did.

“When the interstates came through, they got forgotten in many cases,” recalled Tom Jackson, the Harrisonburg owner of Jackson Hotel Management, who started his career at his parent’s 23room tourist court and restaurant in Winter Haven, Fla., and was named Virginia’ Hotelier of the Year in 2014. “Most of them just went by the wayside, got in poor shape, started renting to construction workers who didn’t have expense accounts, and the next phase was long-term guests.”

When Interstate 81 opened, he noted, the late Tommy Tucker remodeled the back of his Belle Meade hotel — now a Motel 6 — on South Main Street to make it look like the front and capture the eye of travelers from the highway.

The Village Inn remains a family business, which Jackson said is about the only way a quality independent can compete in today’s lodging landscape.

“To be successful in a hotel like that, it has to be a family business,” he said. “If you’re not there making your own living out of it and making your own internal salary, it’s not going to happen. At most of the places like that it’s the second, third or fourth generation running the business.”

Branding plays a major role in consumer decisions nowadays, and they have plenty of options. Reginald Foucar-Szocki, a professor in James Madison University’s school of hospitality, sport and recreation management, said 5 million hotel rooms are in the United States at this time, and the big chains have a variety of product lines to appeal to different types of travelers.

Marriott, Hilton and other big players have national advertising campaigns, offer reward programs that encourage repeat business, and usually provide consumers with a consistent product from city to city. Independents, See TRAVEL, Page 26

Harrisonburg, Va.

OUR VALLEY

Photo Courtesy The Village Inn

ABOVE: O.K. Early, founder of what is now The Village Inn, also operated the Valley Lee Court. The long-gone tourist court was across from what is now the entrance to the Rockingham County Fairgrounds, just south of the present-day Harrisonburg city limits on U.S. 11. RIGHT: Ernest Olschofka (right) and his son, Karl, sit in front of the Blue Stone Inn Restaurant and Cabins in 1949, the year the family purchased the business in Lacey Spring. Third-generation owners Mike and Janet Olschofka still operate the restaurant but the cabin business was abandoned in the late 1980s.

Photo Courtesy Blue Stone Inn Restaurant

Friday, May 22, 2015

25

26

OUR VALLEY

Friday, May 22, 2015

Harrisonburg, Va.

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Foucar-Szocki said, “are more of a hit-or-miss,” and some consumers have safety concerns because they enter their rooms from the parking lot instead of a lobby.

Repeat business is vital for a small, independent motel to survive, but there’s also a niche of traveler who prefers to avoid chains or might prefer such properties for nostalgic reasons.

The Internet enables businesses like The Village Inn to broaden its marketing reach, and review websites such as tripadvisor.com or yelp.com let travelers know that it’s something out of the ordinary as it’s consistently among the highestrated properties in the area.

Daniel Lin / DN-R “Because of social meAs of early May, renovations are dia,” Foucar-Szocki said, “in nearly complete at The Village some sense the playing field Inn, an independently-owned is leveled if your ratings are and operated inn located off consistent and that beU.S. 11 south of Harrisonburg. comes public knowledge. If According to Reginald Foucaryou go to TripAdvisor or Szocki, a professor in the James Yelp and read the reviews, Madison University school of the Village Inn just sounds hospitality, sport and recreation charming. Those types of management, websites such as things allow it not only to be competitive but to flourish.”

TripAdvisor and Yelp help operations such as the Village Living Without Lodging Inn “not only to be A truncated remnant competitive, but to flourish.”

of the tourist-court era also sits along U.S. 11 in Lacey Spring.

The Blue Stone Inn Restaurant and a group of rental cabins were built there in the 1920s, co-owner Janet Olschofka said, and Katharine and Ernest Olschofka bought them in 1949.

A 1950s-style postcard heralded the business: “In the heart of the scenic and historic Shenandoah Valley of Virginia is a modern and complete tourist camp well and favorably known to those seeking good accommodations at moderate costs.”

The restaurant at the site remains a local favorite, but the lodging is no more. A few cabins have been razed; demolition has been pondered for the rest, which sit unused behind the restaurant.

Janet and her husband, Mike, represent the third generation of Olschofkas to own and operate the restaurant.

Mike took charge of it in 1976, she said, and his father Karl continued renting the cabins for about 12 more years.

“We ran the restaurant; we wanted nothing to do See TRAVEL, Page 27

OUR VALLEY

Harrisonburg, Va.

Friday, May 22, 2015

27

Cabin Use Waned By Mid-1960s As Interstate, Chains Siphoned Away Travelers Travel

missed a winter of doing a project.”

Nowadays, Kevin said, the rooms all have 32-inch flatscreen televisions with DVD players, whirlpool tubs, a refrigerator, a microwave, a coffeemaker and free wireless Internet access. The pool has a hot tub.

When the gas pumps were removed in the 1960s, Kermit recalled, he changed the name to The Village Inn.

FROM PAGE 26

with the motel rooms at all,” she said. “It was too much work, not much income.”

Janet said that from what she understands, the cabins provided a good percentage of the revenue from the property through the 1950s and 1960s, but the restaurant had overtaken them as the prime moneymaker by the mid1960s. Still, the cabin income wasn’t bad into the late 1970s.

“We had regulars, some hunters, and once in a while people coming down 11,” she recalled of those days, “but nothing like it must’ve been in ’50s and ’60s, before 81.”

Change, Service Vital South of the city, back in the day, O.K. Early was becoming a tourist court mogul. In addition to the Pure Village Cottages, Kermit Early said his father made a deal with Shell and built the Valley Lee Courts across from what is now the entrance to the Rockingham County Fairgrounds.

Kermit took charge of the business when he got out of the U.S. Navy in 1947 and remains involved in it — he mows the grass.

The Village Inn has remained relevant partly because the Earlys have spent the money necessary to remain rele-

Family Affair

Daniel Lin / DN-R

LEFT TO RIGHT: Kevin Early, his father, Kermit Early, and sister, Karen EarlyWilliams, pose for a photo in the dining room of the family business, The Village Inn. The inn and restaurant south of Harrisonburg has been operated by three generations of the family since O.K. Early was persuaded to open a tourist court, restaurant and service station in the mid-1930s to cater to the tourist trade made possible by the highway and America’s budding love affair with the automobile. vant and competitive, something O.K. placed a premium on from the beginning.

They once attached garages to the cottages, then converted the garage spaces into rooms, then had the cottages removed and began building out the existing motel.

A pool was added when that became a customer expectation. Tucked underneath the restaurant is a small confer-

ence room available to rent.

The facade has undergone a major renovation this spring to increase the property’s curb appeal.

“We were always upgrading,” Kermit said while reflecting on the business in the restaurant dining room in April. “You always upgrade, every year.”

Added Kevin: “I don’t think, good times or bad, that we’ve

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The other key factor to the Village Inn’s continued success is service. Kevin Early said its roughly 30 employees have earned their reputation for keeping rooms clean and guests happy, and he estimated that about 75 percent of its guests are repeat customers.

“I guess it’s vindication of what we’re doing here when a guest has checked out and has enjoyed their stay,” the 53-yearold JMU graduate said. “When you look at our reviews on TripAdvisor, it’s vindication that we’re doing something right — and we’ve getting those reviews on a property that’s 79 years old and not a new big box, where it’s so much easier.”

Foucar-Szocki said maintaining high standards, providing good service and building strong relationships with guests are necessary for small, independ-

ent properties to survive, and he lauded The Village Inn for its success in all three areas.

“I really appreciate anybody who enjoys what they do and does a great job at it. The constant feedback I’ve heard from that property is just that,” he said. “They’re good at what they do and have a passion for the service industry and are just a role model for outstanding customer service.”

Kevin Early said The Village Inn has several competitive advantages, as far as he sees it.

It’s in a pastoral setting, away from the noise and traffic of an interstate exit. It’s different and reminds many people of simpler times.

And while its online reviews are just as strong, it’s less expensive than the other properties it benchmarks itself against.

Karen Early-Williams — his sister and fellow co-owner — said one more factor is important.

“You take it personally. It’s your family’s name tied to it,” said Early-Williams, a retired U.S. Forest Service employee who works the front desk two days a week. “We want to see it grow and improve and have a good name.”

Contact Vic Bradshaw at 574-6279 or vbradshaw@dnronline.com

28

OUR VALLEY

Friday, May 22, 2015

Harrisonburg, Va.

Photos Courtesy Dave Ingram

ABOVE: A view of the bridge over the North River south of Mount Crawford in the 1930s while U.S. 11, also known in that area as Lee Highway, was being rebuilt. RIGHT: A view of Mount Crawford from the middle of town looking south with the highway under construction in the 1930s. BOTTOM: An undated photo of the Bar-B-Q Ranch north of Harrisonburg on U.S. 11.

LEFT: The Hinegardner Garage, seen in this undated photo from the 1920s, served motorists on the Valley Turnpike on the south side of Harrisonburg.

The garage stood where Panos Restaurant is today.

Photo Courtesy Heritage Museum, Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society U.S. Department Of Transportation / Federal Highway Administration

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OUR VALLEY

Harrisonburg, Va.

Friday, May 22, 2015

29

Yard Crawl: Social Media Fuels Growth Of Miles-Long Sale

By KELLY CLARK Daily News-Record

WOODSTOCK — It’s 43 miles long and stuffed with goodies. It’s not the world’s longest piñata — it’s the annual Route 11 Yard Crawl.

The daylong yard sale returns to Shenandoah County on Aug. 8. Vendors, residents and tourists from around the state and the country will converge from New Market to Stephens City to buy and sell antiques, clothes, furniture and other products.

Cheri Wright, executive director of the Shenandoah County Chamber of Commerce, said the sale will attract 2,500 to 3,000 shoppers, “and that’s probably on the low side.”

She said the sale has expanded every year since starting in 2005.

“It’s slowly grown from being just upper [U.S.] 11 to now extending toward Rockingham County,” she said.

Wright said the recession of 2008-09 and its lingering effects helped fuel that extension.

“If anything, I think that helped boost it because people are really stretching their dollars,” she said. “It helped it grow and put it on the map.”

The Harrisonburg-Rockingham County Chamber of Commerce declined in March to let the crawl extend farther south this year, citing traffic and safety concerns.

U.S. 11, which has been trekked by Native Americans, Civil War soldiers and countless others over the centuries, runs through the main streets of Shenandoah County’s six incorporated towns, thus allowing some stores to attract shoppers right to their front doors.

In addition to being a miles-long openair marketplace with 100 to 150 vendors, Wright said the Yard Crawl can also be a “girl hangout” or a scavenger hunt de-

pending on each shopper’s goals.

“Some people are trying to find the original Declaration of Independence behind this ugly picture,” she said.

Jenna French, Shenandoah County’s tourism director, said her office provided most of the Yard Crawl’s advertising during its opening years. Now, it has ceded the bulk of promoting the event to the people buying and selling in it.

“We don’t do much anymore,” she said.

“Social media has propelled advertising forward. [Visitors] will all tag their friends so they’ll see messages like, ‘Hey so-andso, this is the event I was telling you about.’”

The sale has indeed seen an increased following on social media, with the number of “likes” on Facebook growing from 3,233 on April 6 to 3,352 as of May 4. It also boasted 49 Twitter followers as of May 4.

Wright said word-of-mouth is also a valuable tool in bringing shoppers to the crawl and possibly to return visits to explore the area.

“People come into the county and say, ‘Oh, my God, this is beautiful. I’ve never seen this before,’” she said. “Then they invite everyone to come.”

French said the tourism office helps coordinate with law enforcement and the Department of Public Safety to make sure buyers and sellers stay safe throughout the day. It also wields calls year-round from Valley residents and visitors eager for information on the event.

“We get calls as early as January from people who want to mark the date and plan their trip,” French said.

One Yard Crawl sponsor, the Strasburg Emporium, has sold antiques, jewelry and furniture in the Valley since the late 1970s and is preparing for its first real foray into the county’s biggest shopping event.

Michael Reilly / DN-R File

The Route 11 Yard Crawl, which got its start in 2005, attracts as many as 3,000 shoppers during the daylong event every August to sales all along U.S. 11 in Shenandoah County, starting in the New Market area on the south end of the county.

John Wright, of no relation to Cheri, helps maintain the collectibles in the emporium, which was purchased by former Fisher Auto Parts chief financial officer Paul Mott in February after former owner Leo Bernstein died in 2008.

Wright said he wants to attract Yard Crawl shoppers from Northern Virginia.

“We’re really the first town they come to [in Shenandoah County],” Wright said.

“Having people right out front will let [shoppers] know we’re participating.”

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Wright said he and manager Shelby Collins are also increasing the emporium’s social media presence not just to attract Yard Crawl visitors but also a new generation of antique shoppers.

“Part of being an antique mall in a new economy is being part of the new economy,” he said. “When people bring new items in, she’ll take a picture, say what booth it’s in and put it on Facebook.

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OUR VALLEY

Friday, May 22, 2015

Harrisonburg, Va.

bestEats best Downtown Restaurant:

Local Chop & Grill House best Food Truck:

best Jeweler:

Best

2015 of the

Valley

Jack Brown’s Beer and Burger Joint best Happy Hour:

Clementine best Ice Cream:

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Jack Brown’s Beer and Burger Joint

best Place To Bike:

Local Chop & Grill House

Hillandale Park

best Vegetarian:

Court Square Theater & Clementine

best Place To Fish:

Little Grill Collective

best Karaoke (Tie):

Mossy Creek

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Tilted Kilt & Valley Lanes

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Bluestone Vineyard

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Edith J. Carrier Arboretum

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Clementine

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Billy Jacks Wing and Draft Shack

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Purcell Park

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Clementine

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El Charro Mexican Restaurant

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Clementine

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Joshua Wilton House

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Clementine best Place To Take A Date:

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Clementine

Alley Cat Tattoo

best Entertainment Value (Tie):

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Bella Luna Woodfired Pizza

The Studio Hair Salon & Day Spa

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Lynda Bostrom (visual) Mike Davis (music)

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James McHone Jewelry

Little Grill Collective

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Jack Brown’s Beer and Burger Joint

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Edith J. Carrier Arboretum

The Yellow Button

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Purcell Park

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OUR VALLEY

Friday, May 22, 2015

31

Clementine Takes Eight Awards RIGHT: Elizabeth Haworth, Steve Whisnant and Jonathan Paulo, faculty members at James Madison University, enjoy a meal on the patio at Clementine in downtown Harrisonburg. Clementine won Best of the Valley awards for outdoor dining, appetizers, atmosphere, place to be seen, place to take your family, happy hour and tied with Court Square Theater for entertainment value.

BELOW: Members of the Gordon family have lunch at Clementine in downtown Harrisonburg on May 6.

Photos by Austin Bachand / DN-R

Local Chop And Grill Wins Best Downtown Restaurant For Fourth Year

By MATT GONZALES Daily News-Record

W

hile comfortably reclined on a rose-colored sofa in the basement lounge of Clementine — known to many as Ruby’s — Mike Comfort, its general manager, learned that the restaurant was the big winner of the Best of the Valley awards.

Voted on by Daily News-Record readers, the downtown restaurant hauled in eight awards, receiving top honors for: outdoor dining, appetizers, atmosphere, place to be seen, place to take your family, happy hour, and tied with Court Square Theater for Best Entertainment Value.

Local Chop and Grill House was the other big winner in the food category, adding three awards to their proverbial trophy case: Best Steak, Best Place to Take a Date and, for a fourth straight year, Best Downtown Restaurant.

In Clementine’s six year history, it has never before racked up

eight awards in a single voting period.

“It feels really good,” said Comfort, of the recognitions, before revealing the award that stands out to him. “Best place to bring a family … that’s the [award] I really take to heart.”

He explained, Clementine is widely perceived to be a restaurant that caters to college students. But according to Comfort,

the business is aiming to appeal to an older generation: the parents and families of said students.

“We’re trying to get the students to want to bring their parents to Clementine when they’re in town,” added Comfort.

If the past six years are any indication, Clementine has proven to transcend demographics, appealing to individuals of all ages.

And one way restaurant representatives accomplish this is through community involvement.

One step into Clementine, or to experience Ruby’s on a given evening, is like walking into an establishment that appeals to all senses with its routine live music shows, monthly art exhibits — displaying works from local artists — and, of course, the social interactions.

As Comfort said, Clementine is an establishment that offers up something for individuals with different tastes and styles — old and young, families and singles — which is a reputation derived from its menu.

“The menu is set up to be very eclectic,” said Comfort, noting how the restaurant sources many of its ingredients locally. “And we change our menu three times a year, which I think keeps it fresh.”

Local Chop and Grill House takes a similar approach to its menu, finding ways to keep it fresh through the use of local in-

gredients from various outlets in the Valley.

“We’re very farm and table,” said Ryan Zale, executive chef of Chop House. “Everything is hand done from scratch.”

Zale, who refers to his restaurant as “refined Virginia cuisine” and “Mother Nature’s beckoning hall,” said that part of the downtown business’ success can be attributed to its diverse menu, which showcases what the Valley has to offer.

He articulated how each restaurant representative takes pride in their respective roles, dedicating much time, effort and passion into both the food and service, which contributes to its continued success in earning Best of the Valley recognitions each year.

“Making that connection is huge,” said Zale. “That’s why we’re successful — we’re a proud group and love what we do.”

Contact Matt Gonzales at (540) 5746265 or mgonzales@dnronline.com

32

OUR VALLEY

Friday, May 22, 2015

Harrisonburg, Va.

Michael Reilly / DN-R File

The old Cassco Ice & Cold Storage plant on South Liberty Street, built in 1934, is seen 2006 before developer Barry Kelley co-purchased the building in 2008.

Daniel Lin / DN-R

The Ice House won Best Renovation in The Daily News-Record’s 2015 Best of the Valley awards. It now hosts residential space, offices and shops.

Ice House Community Hits A Winning Combo

By ALEDA JOHNSON Daily News-Record

Barry Kelley, Matchbox Realty’s director of development, had come to know the old Ice House on Liberty Street as a place where his sons went to play paintball and graffiti artists showed off their skills.

But Kelley saw potential in the building, and after co-purchasing it

and spending four years dreaming and planning, its transformation began to come together in 2012.

Since its completion earlier this year, the Ice House has become home to eight area businesses as well as numerous offices and has won Best Renovation in the Daily News-Record’s 2015 Best of the Valley awards.

Kelley seems to have a knack for award-winning

renovations, having also renovated the Livery Building, which was the category winner in 2014.

It could be Ice House’s prime location that helped earn the award.

The former Cassco Ice House factory was built in 1934 and is located less than two blocks south of the central business district and less than two blocks north of the James Madison University campus.

Or success could be the result of the 30 years experience that contributes to Kelley’s knowledge of how mixed-

use facilities are valued and towns. in a city like HarrisonKelley describes a burg. walkable city as a “work, So, in adeat, play” [W]hat makes dition to community pooling area that is susengaged businesses communities has tainable in into one centhat people to ultimately start can afford to tral location, with the spaces 34 apartlive and ments were sleep there. they do these built on the It serves the activities in. top floors on purpose of the Ice Barry Kelley, offering opHouse.

Matchbox Realty’s portunities Kelley director of to work and said Matchfun, development have box creates without havareas like Ice House be- ing to rely on transportacause they further its tion other than feet. goals of walkable cities “We want to create en-

“

gaged communities, and what makes engaged communities has to ultimately start with the spaces they do these activities in,” Kelley said.

And there must be something to Kelley’s community-building philosophy because a number of the businesses in residence at Ice House took BOV awards as well.

This is The Yellow Button’s fourth win for the Best Women’s Clothing category in Best of the Valley, which owner Miranda Lancaster said See ICE HOUSE, Page 33

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OUR VALLEY

Harrisonburg, Va.

Friday, May 22, 2015

33

Artists Earn Accolades For Work Lynda Bostrom, Mike Davis Take Top Honors For Art, Music

By HANNAH PITSTICK

and menus, on bottles of cider and wine, on company websites, and on posters for shows and festivals. But for the first two Best Visual Artist The first design Lynda years after moving here from Bostrom created for a Harrison- Sarasota, Fla., in 2009 during burg business was a kids’ menu the recession, Bostrom often relied on bartering her for the former Cally’s skills to feed herself.

Restaurant and Brew“For so long I’ve She had studied ing on Court Square in been making sculpture at Ringling Harrisonburg.

She work I need to College of Art and Dehad been recently sign in Sarasota, and hired as hostess and sell, that I’m when she graduated was “bored out of her interested in in 2008, no one was mind,” when she nomaking work I buying sculptures or ticed the kids’ menu don’t have to opening galleries, but needed improvement, sell.” many businesses so she made a new one were looking for and brought it to the — LYNDA BOSTROM someone to design owner unprompted. their logo and webNow Bostrom’s work can be seen in nearly every site, so she became whatever the corner of town: on the walls of community needed.

She did website work for The art galleries, in restaurant logos Daily News-Record

Blue Nile in exchange for unlimited access to their buffet, which she lived off for a while, and design work for businesses in exchange for gift cards.

“It’s just one of those things that people here are down for bartering,” she says. “And then there’s this less official trading between artists, where we would trade artwork, services, and help one another with projects, and the best thing is, when you need help with something, they’re there for you.”

“That’s why the community here is so tight and why everyone is progressing, because instead of one person needing to have all these different skills, it’s like a community toolbox, where everybody has a different skill,” See ARTISTS, Page 40

Black Sheep Won Award For Best Coffee Ice House

FROM PAGE 32

feels “awesome.”

Since the business’s move off Main Street to its new home in the Ice House, Lancaster said that she was surprised to not have lost any customers, despite the new less-obvious location.

“I think that a lot of people who maybe hadn’t been to [the store] in a while wanted to come check out the new space, so our sales have been really great since we’ve been here, which is surprising,” she said. “I thought we would have a period of time that we would go down since the brewery wasn’t open yet, and we’ve had some people that have had a hard time finding it.”

Lancaster praised Matchbox Realty’s decision to include maps on the walls of the Ice House to help customers navigate the businesses.

“Matchbox has done a great job including maps,” she said. “They’re going almost overboard — in a good way — with signage, which is really great.”

Lancaster likened the setup in Ice House and her relationship with the other businesses to being close with

neighbors in an apartment building.

“I’m super familiar with the Collins Center and Breathe because they were our neighbors on Main Street,” she said.

“We all talk and step in and say hi to each other, like we all live in the same building.”

Adding to the family feeling of the Ice House is that Lancaster’s husband, Chance Ebersold, owns the nearby Black Sheep Coffee, which won BOV Best Coffee.

Since he is right around the corner from The Yellow Button, Ebersold said Lancaster stops over pretty regularly.

“Considering I have a kitchen, she will at least use my refrigerator space and get cold drinks,” he joked.

It was because Lancaster was looking at space for her store in Ice House that Ebersold stumbled upon the space where his coffee shop now sits.

“We were looking at the space for her and there was nothing at this little back corner,” he said. “We had talked to the developers and asked them what was going in, and they didn’t really know.”

After Lancaster signed the lease for See ICE HOUSE, Page 39

City artist Lynda Bostrom works at her table in this undated photo. Bostrom, whose work can be seen on the walls of art galleries, in restaurant logos and menus, on bottles of cider and wine, on company websites, and on posters for shows and festivals, has won Best Visual Artist in the Best of the Valley.

Photo Courtesy of Brian Hamelman

34

OUR VALLEY

Friday, May 22, 2015

Harrisonburg, Va.

Arboretum Wins Three Best Place Awards

By ALEDA JOHNSON

family memories.

They walked through the arboretum the day they were trying to induce AnAlton Mosley Jr., a James Madison gel’s labor, and their daughter was born University alumnus, had taken his girl- later that night. Now that their daughfriend Angel to the arboretum on cam- ter is older, they frequently take her on pus for a planned photoshoot the day walks in the arboretum.

The Mosley’s story is just before her graduation beone of many reasons the cause they had no profession“[I]t was a Edith J. Carrier Arboretum al pictures together. comfortable, and Botanical Gardens at Standing in the arborepeaceful place JMU was voted Best Place to tum in the middle of the photoshoot, Mosley got down on for us to visit as Propose, Best Place to Take a couple.”

Visitors and Best Place to Reone knee, proposed and Anlax in the Daily Newsgel said “yes.”

— ALTON MOSLEY JR. Record’s Best of the Valley His reason behind the JMU ALUMNUS contest. choice of venue was simple: Gail Turnbull, assistant “The arboretum had always been a place for my wife and I to director at the arboretum, said that connect when we were students at winning the Best of the Valley cateJMU,” Mosley said. “Whether it was gories was an affirmation that JMU taking a walk along their paths or sit- was acting in the public good in creatting on a bench looking toward the wa- ing the arboretum and opening it to the ter, it was a comfortable, peaceful place public 365 days a year.

“The arboretum has been accepted, for us to visit as a couple.”

Since then, the Mosleys have used and by fully utilizing the arboretum the arboretum as a backdrop for many and voting it best, the public is showing Daily News-Record

how appreciative it is of the arboretum,” she said.

The 125-acre urban botanical preserve on the JMU campus boasts naturalized botanical gardens and a forest that serve as a place to educate the community.

A variety of plant life exists in the arboretum, including native mid-Appalachian plants, a collection of non-native trees and shrubs, an oak-hickory forest, rose gardens, a pond habitat and a wetlands garden.

An outdoor amphitheater, terraced gardens, a pavilion and the Frances Plecker Education Center provide areas to better facilitate education and appreciation of nature.

Turnbull said she thinks one of the reasons people consider the arboretum a favorite place is because of the wide variety of enjoyment, recreation and relaxation opportunities available.

“It’s our mission to offer botanical education to the public, and we try to See RELAXING, Page 42

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Alton Mosley Jr., a James Madison University alumnus, proposes to his girlfriend Angel at the Edith J. Carrier Arboretum and Botanical Gardens on campus. The arboretum has been voted Best Place to Propose.

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Friday, May 22, 2015

35

Mother-Daughter Duo Win Best Bakery

By MATT GONZALES

Evidently, the modestsized bistro nestled beside the visitor’s center within the For eight hours each day, Hardesty-Higgins House in the mother-daughter duo of downtown Harrisonburg has Brenda Loewen and Isabelle made an impression on Treciak sets out to Friendly City resiprove that big dents: It has been “Small is the voted Best Bakery in things come in way to roll. We the Daily Newssmall packages.

In this instance, like to think Record’s Best of the the intimate nature it’s homey and Valley awards for of their 4-month-old 2015. casual.” business, Heritage While Loewen and Bakery & Café, is — BRENDA LOEWEN Treciak are astoundCO-OWNER HERITAGE ed by the recognition, belied by its whimBAKERY & CAFE they feel the cozy sical atmosphere, friendly dialogue, vibes displayed by the and imaginative selection of business played a factor. breakfast items, sandwiches, On a given day, the café is and pastries. never too busy, yet remains “Small is the way to roll,” alive with activity. The said Loewen, with a laugh.

“We like to think it’s homey See BAKERY, Page 41 and casual.”

Brenda Loewen, co-owner of Heritage Bakery & Café, takes minicheesecakes out of the oven at the shop on 212 S. Main St., in downtown Harrisonburg. The café has been voted Best Bakery.

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OUR VALLEY

Friday, May 22, 2015

Harrisonburg, Va.

Friendly City Food Co-Op Wins Best Grocery

By HANNAH PITSTICK Daily News-Record

For the first time since it opened in 2011, Friendly City Food Co-op in downtown Harrisonburg has been voted Best Grocery Store in the Valley. The past three wins have gone to Martin’s Food Market, making this the first time voters have chosen a grocery store that they technically own.

“We’re owned by the community, so it’s nice to get feedback that the community is proud of us,” says Erin Shehane, Friendly City Food’s marketing coordinator.

“It’s fulfilling my hopes and dreams for what we were going to be,” says Steve Cooke, general manager. “We had our end policy from the board, a vision statement about how the world will be different because we exist, for whom, and at what cost, and my interpretation of that has always been that we were going to be the best grocery store in the Valley.”

The idea for the co-op can be traced back about 12 years ago, when The Little Grill Collective had what they called The Little

Jason Lenhart / DN-R File

Elwood Madison and his girlfriend Leigh Ann Forde contemplate buying an organic coconut at the Friendly City Food Co-Op last year. The co-op has been voted Best Grocery Store for the Valley by DN-R readers.

Store in the Roses shopping center, with just one aisle of groceries. As Cooke tells it, they weren’t as successful as they had hoped to be, but they brought in a group of people from the community they thought might be inter-

ested in converting it into a consumer co-op. Though it wasn’t feasible at the time, it sparked the idea for a local co-op grocery, and seven years later, they had raised enough money, found a location, hired Cooke to come from

a co-op in Atlanta, and opened on June 6, 2011.

As with every consumer co-op, the store is the product of input from the community, who expressed the desire to focus on local products and hunger issues in the area.

“Our bottom line is not just a financial one,” Cooke says. “It includes the social and environmental benefits we provide to the community, such as how we divert part of our waste stream to compost; New Community Project comes and picks up our compost twice a week and turns it into soil, which grows into produce that they sell back to us.”

Now the co-op is nearly complete with the first phase of its expansion, which includes the addition of a hot food bar, an augmented wine and beer selection, a teaching classroom and meeting space, increased kitchen equipment, and more space in back for stocking and unloading products.

They jumped on the opportunity to expand once the food pantry moved out of the space next door, and took over the lease in August

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of last year, moving into half of the 4,000-square-foot space and subletting the other half for the next couple years. As the co-op continues to grow, they plan to tear down the wall and expand the sales floor into the remaining 2,000 square feet in a few years.

With the first phase of the expansion, Shehane and Cooke say they’re especially excited about the classroom and meeting space, which will enable them to offer classes on cooking, health and nutrition, gardening, bike repair, and anything else the community desires.

The co-op sees this win as another sign of the community’s desire to support the local economy.

“The best grocery store in our interpretation is keeping money here in our local economy,” Cooke says. “Some of the other markets in town, the chain stores, are pulling money out to whoever their shareholders are.”

“And all of our shareholders are right here,” Shehane says.

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39

Ice House Businesses Come Together To Collaborate For Each Other’s Benefit Ice House

FROM PAGE 33

The Yellow Button, Matchbox still hadn’t filled the space. Ebersold approached them with the idea of a coffee shop and went ahead with the plan.

Ebersold also said that the Ice House business owners collaborate for each other’s benefit, citing a current discussion about which businesses will stay open for the Fourth of July.

“It pays off for us to help each other and none of us are in direct competition, so we can play off each other, talk about hours and what we will do for holidays,” he said.

Ebersold said he was surprised to win for Best Coffee with the store only being open for two months.

“It makes it apparent that there is a lack of coffee shops,” he said. “People were, I guess, looking for something new, and

Nikki Fox / DN-R

Cary Dahl of Staunton shops at The Yellow Button in the Ice House complex in early May. hopefully we can continue to give them what they want, which is good coffee.”

Suzanne Perrine, owner of the BOV Best Yoga Studio winner The Center,

says that all the businesses in the Ice House have been working hard as neighbors to promote each other by holding meetings and communicating.

“If I head down for

some coffee, I will say something on Facebook about going to Black Sheep,” she said. “We come together, and I think we’re stronger that way.”

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And the feeling of community reaches to the yogis who frequent The Center as well.

Yogis at the studio know each other, and many are on a first-name basis, including the teachers.

The teachers also reach out into the community so no one feels excluded, according to Perrine.

“No one feels like they can’t be part of the center because they can’t touch their toes or are having difficulties in their life,” she said. “People have this mentality that they must be a certain type to practice, and they don’t; we’re open to everybody.”

Perrine said this inclusivity is one of the reasons she thinks voters chose her studio as the best this year.

“We offer classes for those who like more athletic, challenging classes, and we have great teach-

ers who teach relaxing, restorative and spiritual classes,” she said. “I think people are appreciative of that.”

And because The Center’s patrons feel comfortable with each other and the instructors, they sample from different classes to find what they really enjoy, according to Perrine.

Kelley said he hopes that the Ice House continues to be favorable in being the third prong, “Play,” for the people in Harrisonburg.

“We looked at [Ice House], and asked if we would want to be there, would this be our third place?” Kelley said. “If that third place can be the farmer’s market, The Yellow Button, a coffee place, a brewery or the yoga studio then it’s successful.”

Contact Aleda Johnson at 574-6275 or ajohnson@dnronline.com

40

OUR VALLEY

Friday, May 22, 2015

Harrisonburg, Va.

City-born musician Mike Davis drives 120 miles a day to play some of his more than 750 cover songs at spots including the Boston Beanery, O’Neill’s Grill, Gold Crown Billiards Bar & Grill, and Pano’s Restaurant and Lounge. He has won Best of the Valley awards for best music artist and best cover artist.

Davis Started On The Drums Artists

FROM PAGE 33

she adds.

Now that her artwork has become ubiquitous in downtown Harrisonburg, Bostrom has decided to step back a bit and return to school this fall for drawing and painting at JMU, working toward a master’s degree in art with the hope of eventually teaching one day.

“I’m going to try and break a lot of habits built over the past 10 years,” she says. “It’s like writing the same way you did in college, and then getting the opportunity to go back to school to unlearn what you’ve learned and re-define your voice as an artist, and as a 31-year-old woman I’m a completely different person than I was when I was a 21-year-old woman.”

Bostrom hopes to explore darker aspects of her latest portrait series, which depicts the idea of outer stoicism and inner activity, using pensive faces of male friends with spurts of color leaking out of them, illustrating what she imagines they’re thinking.

“For so long I’ve been making work I need to sell, that I’m inter-

ested in making work I don’t have to sell, and can be a little darker and maybe not decorative, but more powerful as a piece of art.”

Best Music Artist, Cover Artist Mike Davis was born and raised in Harrisonburg, lived in Nashville for a few years, and now lives with his wife in Charlottesville, but that doesn’t stop him from playing music in Harrisonburg three to four nights a week.

Davis drives 120 miles a day to play some of his more than 750 cover songs at spots including the Boston Beanery, O’Neill’s Grill, Gold Crown Billiards Bar & Grill, and Pano’s Restaurant and Lounge.

“You can never dissatisfy a bar crowd with a Journey song, and it took me a while to swallow that, but now I don’t care, and this area loves their ‘Wagon Wheel,’” he says.

Davis, 36, started playing drums when he was a kid, through middle and high school, later picking up guitar. He was thrown into singing when all of his bandmates moved to Nashville mid-tour, forcing him

Courtesy Photo

to fill the remaining shows solo.

As with most musicians, Davis began by learning covers, before venturing into songwriting.

“You hear a song and you want to learn how to play it, and then you do your own thing once you get the chords under your

fingers and the knowledge in your head,” he says.

But even now, Davis primarily plays covers in public, keeping his own material, his “special little babies,” for himself.

He hopes to eventually return to Nashville and write songs for other musicians, saying that though he loves performing, he enjoys the creative process of writing even more.

Until then, you can spot Davis all over town playing songs anyone can sing along to.

“They know I won’t really play anything slow, and I try to keep things up tempo and fun,” he says.

“That’s why people keep coming out. When a whole establishment is singing along, dancing and having a great time, that’s it.”

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Friday, May 22, 2015

41

Bakery Owners Grew Up In Restaurant Business Bakery

FROM PAGE 35

location is outfitted with nouvelle French-inspired elements; nearly a dozen small, oak tables; and several large windows which allow the sun to cast a soft glow on the interior — a fitting complement to the gentle smiles and warm conversations by which the business is defined.

“We’re super friendly,” said Treciak.

On the other side of the windows lies a patio with a halfdozen outdoor tables, each erected with a sunflower-colored umbrella.

Putting a stamp on its vin-

tage-style atmosphere, the melodies of Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and a bevy of other jazz-era musicians are gently played throughout the location.

“We were going to put up a sign that said ‘If you don’t like Ella, just leave,’” joked Loewen.

While Treciak said the business attracts many college students, individuals of all ages and backgrounds have been trickling in and out as of late — from students to retirees, and everyone in between — in order to get a glimpse of the new bakery in town.

“That’s the beautiful thing about a bakery,” she added.

“It’s a tiny, nice little niche.”

Loewen said she and her children — which include two daughters and a son — always dreamed of opening their own small French-inspired bakery.

Originally from Birchrunville, Pa., located about an hour west of Philadelphia, Loewen said her family essentially grew up in the restaurant business. Her ex-husband, Francis, ran a small French restaurant in town, where the family would often help in the kitchen.

In 2009, Treciak began attending James Madison University and subsequently fell in love with the Friendly City.

See BAKERY, Page 42

Nikki Fox / DN-R

Brenda Loewen gets a moose gingerbread cookie for a customer in late April at the downtown Harrisonburg business.

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42

OUR VALLEY

Friday, May 22, 2015

Harrisonburg, Va.

Menu Continues To Expand At Heritage Bakery

It’s ‘Restoration Recreation’

Bakery

Relaxing

FROM PAGE 41

“She loved [the area] so much she wanted to stay,” recalled Loewen. “And one of the times we talked, she said ‘Oh mom, there’s this new place, a little French bakery and it’s fantastic.’”

Treciak was referencing New Leaf Pastry Kitchen, a tiny bakery similar to the one they had visions of one day opening. She began frequenting the shop on a regular basis and even engaged in baking lessons with its owner, Shawn Richard.

“I remember saying, ‘Oh, this is so nice,’” said Loewen. “This is exactly what we want some day.”

Last summer, New Leaf closed down after the passing of Richard. In an

effort to keep the space occupied, Treciak and Loewen decided to make an attempt at bringing their dream business to fruition. After meeting with the Shenandoah Valley Small Business Development Center and submitting a business plan, those efforts were confirmed: Heritage Bakery was coming to Harrisonburg.

The business began on Jan. 2 with a menu primarily made of breakfast items and pastries with a select few lunch items — many of which were sourced from local business such as Mt. Crawford Creamery, Lucas Roasting Company, and Staff of Life Bread.

Much to the owners’ surprise, the lunch items became a popular draw,

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It’s so tiny that you’re able to meet and connect with people. This is a pleasant place to be.

Isabelle Treciak co-owner Heritage Bakery & Cafe

which triggered its expansion; the menu now offers a variety of sandwich options, salads and soups as a means of adhering to these demands.

“We never thought it’d be a lunch spot,” admitted Treciak. “But it keeps growing.”

Over the months, customers have also gravitated toward the gluten-free pastries in particular, as well as the cookies, cranberry shortcakes, cheesecakes and macaroons. A bulk of the business

profits are earned through catering services, an aspect of the business that continues to gain momentum.

“We have really good drip coffee too,” added Loewen.

“And the world’s best granola, if I can say so myself.”

Though the business has seen some early success, the customer base is swelling, and the menu continues to expand, Treciak and Loewen have no plans to move into a bigger space. On the contrary, the intimate setting and tranquil atmosphere, they maintained, contributes to the uniqueness of the business.

“It’s so tiny that you’re able to meet and connect with people,” said Treciak. “This is a pleasant place to be.”

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make programs both enjoyable and personally enriching in completing our mission,” she said.

According to Turnbull, the spectrum of people who visit the arboretum is vast.

JMU students, faculty and staff in a variety of disciplines use the arboretum as a classroom and laboratory for research and study.

Students from Harrisonburg City and Rockingham County schools and homeschool groups also use the arboretum for educational purposes. And community families and organizations visit the arboretum regularly as a place for restorative recreation.

“I call it restoration recreation, because we’re restorative to people who visit,” Turnbull said. “Gardens have a physiological impact on people where blood pressure is lowered, stress is reduced and serenity can be found.”

The arboretum is named

after Edith J. Carrier, wife of Ronald E. Carrier, president emeritus of JMU. While her husband was in office, Edith donated her time as a hostess, event planner and event administrator for university executive events without pay or public acknowledgement. The JMU board of visitors recognized Edith’s years of silent service by naming the arboretum after her.

Turnbull said that those at the arboretum are grateful to those who voted for them in Best of the Valley.

“The staff wants to express gratitude to DN-R readers,” she said. “It’s a pat on the back, especially for those who work tirelessly on the grounds, mulching and planting flowers.”

For more information, visit www.jmu.edu/arboretum or call 540-568-3194.

Contact Aleda Johnson at 574-6275 or ajohnson@dnronline.com

Harrisonburg, Va.

OUR VALLEY

Friday, May 22, 2015

43

I-81 Traffic 2 To 15 Times As Much ed daily traffic on U.S. 11 was 3,200 vehicles from the Shenandoah U.S. 11 still gets a fair amount of County line to Mauzy, 5,700 vehicles from Lacey Spring Road to traffic.

“There’s residential traffic going Gravels Road, 12,000 vehicles from from one end of town to another, a Cecil Wampler Road to Friedens lot of commercial and retail activity Church Road and 5,500 vehicles that goes on there and, in certain from Mount Crawford to Augusta County. spots, quite a bit of truck In comparison, there traffic,” he said.

“I don’t think was an average of 9,300 In a 2014 report prewe’ll ever get vehicles on U.S. 33 in Elkpared by the Virginia Deton, 13,500 vehicles on Va. partment of Transportathem through tion, traffic on stretches of again [on Main 42 in Bridgewater and Dayton, 7,500 vehicles on Main Street compared faStreet] like it Va. 42 in Broadway and vorably to other Harrisonused to be 6,500 vehicles on Va. 42 in burg roads. unless there’s a Timberville.

The report says the esDaily traffic on I-81 in timated average daily wreck [on I-81].”

Rockingham County meastraffic on Main Street was — MELINDA BARE ured between 41,000 and 21,000 vehicles from Port GLEN’S FAIR PRICE 53,000 vehicles.

Republic Road to South Bare, whose family has Liberty Street, 20,000 verun Glen’s on Main Street hicles from I-81 exit 243 since it opened in 1941, to Pleasant Hill Road and 8,700 vehicles from Kratzer Avenue said they recently installed popcorn, Sno Cone and cotton candy mato Charles Street.

The only city roads to have high- chines to try to drum up business.

“But I don’t think we’ll ever get er traffic figures were portions of East Market Street and Port Repub- them through again like it used to be,” she said, “unless there’s a lic Road.

Another 2014 report by VDOT wreck [on I-81].” recorded the average daily traffic throughout Rockingham County.

Contact Ryan Cornell at 574-6286 or rcornell@dnronline.com According to the report, estimat-

Commerce

FROM PAGE 7

Michael Reilly / DN-R File

In addition to being a miles-long open-air marketplace, the Route 11 Yard Crawl can also be a “girl hangout” or a scavenger hunt depending on each shopper’s goals, says Cheri Wright, executive director of the Shenandoah County Chamber of Commerce. “Some people are trying to find the original Declaration of Independence behind this ugly picture,” she says.

Organizers: Younger Crowd Important Crawl

FROM PAGE 29

“The younger crowd is important to us.

The idea is it’s not just stodgy old antiques.

It doesn’t have to be really old and superexpensive.”

Wright said he hopes new ownership and a strong Yard Crawl presence combine to give the emporium more visibility.

“We just want to get the message across that we are Route 11,” Wright said.

Other Yard Crawl sponsors include Shentel, Route 11 Potato Chips, the town of Stephens City and Lord Fairfax Community College.

This year’s crawl opens at 7 a.m. on Aug. 8. For more information about the sale and lodging and dining options along U.S. 11, visit www.shencochamber.wix.com.

Contact Kelly Clark at 574-6290 or kclark@dnronline.com

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OUR VALLEY

Friday, May 22, 2015

Harrisonburg, Va.

Valley Turnpike Integral To Region’s Tourism

By KELLY CLARK Daily News-Record

WOODSTOCK — The Shenandoah Valley’s attractions range from natural beauty to historical recollection, but they’re all connected by the one thing that runs deeper than the Valley’s namesake river: The tourism economy.

“It’s integral,” said Cheri Wright, executive director of the Shenandoah County Chamber of Commerce. “We can’t survive without tourism. It’s the No. 1 industry that keeps everyone afloat.”

Along U.S. 11, visitors can see the New Market Battlefield State Historical Park, where the Civil War battle was fought on May 15, 1864. Now part of a 300-acre park, the battlefield is also the site of the Virginia Museum of the Civil War operated by the Virginia Military Institute.

Wright listed multiple categories of attractions that bring visitors from around the state, country and world to the Valley.

“The national parks are huge,” she said. “Our landmarks include the Edinburg Mill and the [historic] courthouse here [in Woodstock]. The battlefields are huge, the caverns and the wineries.

People love their wine tours.”

Tourist traffic along or easily accessed from U.S. 11 to the northern Shenandoah Valley, including Shenandoah, Frederick and Clarke counties, generated more than $526 million in revenue in 2010, according to a 2011 report from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Wright said tourism in Shenandoah County alone generated between $30 million and $50 million last year.

“It basically keeps budgets go-

ing,” she said.

Farther south in Rockingham County, Jeff Ishee, the county fairgrounds’ general manager, is struggling not to let the venue become inundated with events.

“Last year, we had 99 events [in addition to the Rockingham County Fair],” Ishee said. “This year, we’re on track to at least match that.”

Ishee said the 111-acre site bordering U.S. 11 can host a variety of events, from “hot tub sales to Easter Sunday church services,” but its top draw is the county fair, held each August, which attracted more than 91,000 people over six days last year.

“Our goal is to get to 100,000,” he said. “It will probably take three or four years to reach that goal.”

Ishee said the event has been designated Virginia’s largest county fair for the last two years

and is a vital economic resource for the area.

“The livestock sale alone generated half a million dollars for local kids [last year],” he said.

Ishee said livestock shows and other agricultural events attract visitors from across the country, furthering the fairgrounds’ economic impact.

“People will stay in a local hotel,” he said. “They’ll eat dinner and lunch, buy gas here and shop a little.

“We had a family come from Nebraska for a fainting goat show. They drove 1,200 miles to participate. That’s the kind of devotion you see.”

Another factor drawing visitors from as far away as Japan, England and Saudi Arabia is the welcoming atmosphere of the Valley’s small towns, Wright said.

“When somebody goes to a big city, they don’t expect much serv-

ice because it’s so huge and has so many people,” she said. “When you go into a mom-and-pop store, you want them to know your name, even if you don’t know theirs.”

Valley visitors have plenty of options to see the land and get on the water, but Valley Ballooning caters to those who want to take to the skies.

Don Warner, who started offering hot-air balloon rides over Shenandoah County in 2000, said he offers rides for individuals, small groups and large groups.

Warner said Shenandoah County’s proximity to Washington, D.C., means much of the surrounding air space is off-limits for his balloons, but that doesn’t stop people from coming from around the eastern U.S. to See TOURISM, Page 45

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Harrisonburg, Va.

OUR VALLEY

Friday, May 22, 2015

Rural Beauty, Historic Significance, Small-Town Atmosphere Attract Visitors Tourism

FROM PAGE 44

get a bird’s-eye view of the Valley.

“We get people from Virginia Beach, Baltimore and some from Richmond,” he said. “We have some from Ohio, Tennessee and a few times a year from North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

“The views are really beautiful. We go higher than 1,500 feet. You can see into West Virginia. You can see Winchester to the north and Harrisonburg to the south. And then to the east you have the Blue Ridge.”

Wright said rural beauty, historic significance and smalltown atmosphere combine to make an ideal destination for travelers.

“People feel very at home,” she said.

Contact Kelly Clark at 574-6290 or kclark@dnronline.com

Daniel Lin / DN-R

ABOVE: Spectators at the 2015 re-enactment of the Battle of New Market on May 17 watch from a safe distance as Union forces are pushed out of the Bushong orchard and into the open. RIGHT: Members of Valley Ballooning and their riders prep hot-air balloons for takeoff on North Street in Woodstock on April 29.

Kelly Clark / DN-R

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OUR VALLEY

Friday, May 22, 2015

Harrisonburg, Va.

Sharing The Road U.S. 11 Really Goes Places

By PRESTON KNIGHT Daily News-Record

HARRISONBURG — If there were a contingent that spent time bragging about U.S. 11, Bonnie Vanney could be its designated spokeswoman.

“It survived Katrina better than the stupid interstate,” she said.

Print that on T-shirts and splash it on bumper stickers as you like, but Vanney, a city historian for Slidell, La., is making a proud point of what we know as the Valley Turnpike: Ten years ago, near its southern terminus, U.S. 11 withstood one of the most devastating hurricanes to strike the Gulf Coast.

The highway’s two-lane bridge, built in 1928, runs five miles and shuttles travelers between Slidell and the eastern portion of New Orleans, running basically parallel to the twin spans on Interstate 10, Slidell officials say.

The interstate bridge did not outlast Katrina, meaning U.S. 11, more than ever, was relied upon to give people the most direct route over Lake Pontchartrain.

“It was completely covered with water,” Slidell spokesman Alex Carollo said. “I think that’s what

United States Highway No. 11 Total Mileage: 1,696 Begins in New York at Rouses Point, continues to Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, ending near Pearl River, Louisiana.

With this alignment, U.S. 11 began at a junction with U.S. 2 at Rouses Point, N.Y., and ends at the Louisiana border, at a junction with U.S. 90, which provided a link to New Orleans.

(Source: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration)

saved it from wind damage. … Highway 11 was a life saver for a lot of people.”

As much as we may want to stake claim to U.S. 11 as our own, it means quite a lot to communities north to south.

The federal road, numbered during a new system implemented in October 1925, runs nearly 1,800 miles from Rouses Point, N.Y., near the U.S.-Canada border to the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge in eastern New Orleans, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Slidell Louisiana residents are preparing for the 10th anniversary of Katrina in August, so memories of the U.S. 11 bridge withstanding the storm are sure to come up.

“Katrina took a toll on a lot of the area,” Vanney said. “A lot of stuff is gone.”

One of those places, she said, is the home of Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, a longtime Slidell resident and Grammy-award winning member of

the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. He died shortly after Katrina hit — not because of the hurricane, but of health issues — and had a stretch of U.S. 11 named in his honor, officials say.

A Katrina survivor along U.S. 11 near East New Orleans is more of a tourist attraction: Fisherman’s Castle, which was built in 1981.

According to a story on www.bestofneworleans.com, a builder named Simon Villemarette said he was See PLACES, Page 47

Harrisonburg, Va.

OUR VALLEY

Friday, May 22, 2015

47

From North To South, U.S. 11 Communities Have Something Unique To Offer Places

FROM PAGE 46

tired of constructing rectangular structures. When he had the chance to rebuild his fishing camp after a fire destroyed it, he sought to be unique, the site says.

Villemarette went with a small white castle, originally thinking tourists would be attracted to it for the 1984 World’s Fair, the site says.

“He publicized the chateau by making souvenirs, including doubloons with an image of the castle on one side and he and his wife on the other,” it says.

“Tourists didn’t flock to the castle, however, and Villemarette sold it.”

The castle has changed hands since, but its presence, like the road it sits on, remains a constant.

“It’s an integral part of Slidell,” Carollo said of U.S. 11.

Recalling Katrina, Vanney adds of the bridge, “It’s taken a beating, but it’s the most serviceable to us.”

Rouses Point Mayor George Rivers, 79, is a lifelong resident of the small New York village of Rouses Point, which attracts many vacationing Canadians, particularly from Montreal, to its marinas on Lake Champlain.

Today, U.S. 11 is Lake Street, the last part the United States sees of the road.

Is that special?

“It makes no difference to us other than the fact we have a ton of truck traffic,” Rivers said. “It’s been that day since Day One. Everybody accepts it.”

OK, so maybe U.S. 11 doesn’t have any endearing value to the village, causes traffic headaches and has seen industries come and mostly go.

That doesn’t make Rouses Point any less special. It’s a “golden triangle,” village historian Donna Racine said, for its proximity near the Canadian border, location against the lake and pass-through point for New Englanders headed to Vermont.

She says she gets accused of not being worried enough about the village’s future. But she has her reasons for optimism.

“The border’s not going anywhere and the lake’s not going to move,” Racine said.

Contact the Daily News-Record at 574-6200

Photo courtesy The Slidell Independent

The U.S. 11 bridge near the highway’s southern terminus in Slidell, La., is remembered by residents as one of the only routes out of the area after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in August 2005. The bridge remained standing while the Interstate 10 twin spans nearby were nearly destroyed.

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Friday, May 22, 2015

OUR VALLEY

Harrisonburg, Va.