f you take a short drive outside of the Crater City, you’ll find a town surrounded by walls. When Joanie B. and I first drove through, we were slightly alarmed by the large gates and barrier walls that seemed to block this town in. But, no need to freak out! Those gates and flood walls were built in 1989 to protect the city of Pineville from treacherous flood waters. Nearly thirty years after their establishment, in 2020 Pineville had to use them for the first time. They sealed off the city so homes and businesses were protected from the severe damages of flood waters. Pretty swift thinking on the part of 80s Pineville officials. Today Pineville is the county seat for Bell County, and the original courthouse stands resolute in the middle of town with all of the shops,
restaurants, and local businesses forming a circle around courthouse square. The director of Pineville’s Main Street, Jacob, showed us around town, but that wasn’t the first time we’d met Jacob... A few days earlier Jacob took us, and the lovely Guardians of the Gap member, Ms. Linda, on what was supposed to be a short hike to Chained Rock. Everyone said it was simple, only a few hills and some stairs, but with handrails to help with safety. So, we start this hike with expectations of some easy-breezy-beautiful Covergirl stuff, but we’re met right away with a long flight of downward stairs. The handrails followed the downhill slope, but quickly disappeared. We traded the level steps for some that were slightly uneven and we traded those for dirt, mud and rocks. Ms. Linda and Jacob were both shocked. They didn’t remember the hike being quite this difficult, but it was all good. We weren’t
