Thursday Thirteen

My county in Virginia is large. It has three small incorporated towns - Fincastle, Troutville, and Buchanan. Other areas, though, are unincorporated communities that have sprung up over the 250-plus years of settlement of the area by Europeans and other nationalities.

Here are just a few:

1. Cloverdale is located at the southern edge of Botetourt County. It marks the transition into Roanoke County. It’s a key junction for railroads and highways, including US 11 and US 220. The railroad hums through its bones, and the wind carries stories from both sides of the ridge. It once was the site of the Traveltown Motel, a facility that kept loads of children cool in the summer with its swimming pool and fed thousands at its restaurant. The motel was badly damaged in the Flood of '85 and no longer exists.

2. Blue Ridge is a community nestled at the base of the mountains. The area was once home to Blue Ridge Springs, a resort renowned in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for its mineral-rich healing waters. Guests came seeking rest and remedy, drawn by the promise of rejuvenation. The mountains rise like myth behind the schoolyard, and every sunrise feels like a beginning.

3. Nace is a rural crossroad near the Norfolk Southern rail line. The area once had a depot and post office. It’s now marked by silos, farmland, and echoes of rail-town life. The tracks still whisper, and the grain silos stand like sentinels of a slower time.

4. Lithia is named for its mineral springs and was once a resort destination in the late 1800s. The springs were believed to have healing properties and were bottled for sale. Once bottled and sold as tonic, now it lingers in the soil like a memory of cure.

5. Haymakertown is a farming community with deep roots. The area once was defined mostly by Asbury School and a general store, both now gone. It lies between Daleville and Catawba and is near Titan Cement, where industrial presence meets pastoral quiet. The land rolls gently, and every barn seems to hold a secret or a song.

6. Springwood is located along the James River and is known for its fertile bottomlands and historic schoolhouse. It’s a site of frequent flooding and rich agricultural history. The James bends here like a question mark, and the fields remember every flood.

7. Gala is a small community near Eagle Rock. It was once a stop on the railroad and is surrounded by orchards and river bends. It’s quiet now, but its name still carries sweetness. Peach trees once bloomed in rows, and the trains carried sweetness into the world.

8. Spec refers to the Spec Mines area in Jefferson National Forest, once home to iron mining operations in the late 1800s. It’s now a biologically rich forest with trails and cold-water streams. A forgotten forge, where iron was pulled from the earth and memory still clings to the ridgeline.

9. Daleville is a growing residential and commercial hub. It sits along US 220 and Interstate 81 and pretends to host the Greenfield industrial park (which is really in the community called Amsterdam). It was once farmland and is now a commuter’s anchor. Suburban now, it still echoes with farmland ghosts and the ache of displacement.

10. Glen Wilton is a riverside hamlet near the James River. It was once known for its lime kilns and ironworks. It still has a post office and active rail line. The kilns are quiet now, but the rail still sings, and the James keeps its rhythm.

11. Santillane is not really a place, but instead a historic estate near Fincastle. It was the home of Julia Hancock, wife of William Clark. The house still stands, a testament to Federal architecture and layered legacy. Its columns rise like memory, and every stone holds the echo of a woman’s name.

12. Oriskany is nestled near Craig Creek and still has a functioning post office and church. It was once home to a school and is surrounded by forested hollows. A place of quiet continuity and sacred pause, where the creek runs like a hymn.

13. Eagle Rock is located along the James River and US 220. It is named for a cliff formation said to resemble an eagle. The rock watches like an old god, and the river below carries both freight and prayer. It has deep industrial roots as evidenced by the lime kilns that still stand there.

 

*An AI tool helped me compile this list.*

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while, and this is my 928th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.