A
Long
Way
Across
North
Carolina
Bui for
л
hoy who loved
(rains in I 9 I lio Irip
was an exciting ad ven¬
ture.
tty IIKMIY C.
Bit I IH.I ItS. JR.
Driving from Mantco to Murphy to¬
day in comfortable, high-powered cars
mostly on dual-lancd. divided high¬
ways. it is difficult to imagine how
tedious and venturesome an auto¬
mobile trip from the coastal plains to
the mountains was in the olden days.
Except by auto, travel across North
Carolina has never been a pleasure: in
1919 it was a chore.
In that year I rode from Tar boro to
Linvillc with my father in a model T
Ford. The 340-mile trip was a four-day
trek full of minor mishaps. It was easy
to make a wrong turn, as the roads
were unmarked, and frequent stops to
ask directions were necessary. It was a
red-letter day when no tire change was
required. Most afternoons we found it
prudent to pull over and rig the
isinglass curtains as thunderstorms
threatened. Slithering down the steep,
red clay approach to the Yadkin River
ferry’, my father lost control of the car
and it came aboard sideways, slinging
mud in all directions, to the consterna¬
tion of the ferryman.
A hundred miles was a good day’s
run. and on this trip overnight stops
14
were made in Durham. Winston-
Salem. and Lenoir. The final day was
the real test as the car was forced
against its will to climb slowly up the
mountains. We reached Blowing Rock
in time for lunch, and thus fortified we
set out on the last leg. the 20-mile trip
to Linvillc over the tortuous Yonah-
lossce Turnpike. I his toll road, an en¬
gineering marvel hewn from the solid
sides of Grandfather Mountain by men
and mules, took all afternoon to
negotiate. It was a good road, but pru¬
dence dictated a stop at every creek
and waterfall to refill the steaming
radiator. As the sun dipped behind the
mountains, we coasted down into the
Linville valley to the welcomed sight
of the sprawling, bark-covered Esee-
ola Lodge.
The "Shoofly**
The next year we made the Tar-
boro-Linville trip by train, a much
more comfortable mode of travel, un¬
fortunately no longer available to the
traveler of today. This circuitous.
506-mile trip by five different railroads
through three states took only 28
hours: and it was free, for as president
of a small eastern North Carolina rail¬
road. my father was entitled to passes
for the whole family. Also, for a small
boy who loved trains, it was a much
more exciting way to go.
Just before noon, for our first train
trip, the four of us were standing on the
platform of the depot in Tarboro to
await the arrival of Atlantic Coast Line
No. 49 — the Norfolk -Wilmington
train. Right on schedule the "Shoofly"
pulled in amidst a cloud of dust and
smoke. We were helped aboard the
parlor car by my great-uncle Haywood
Clark, the conductor. Cap'n Clark was
a popular, feisty little gnome who ran
his train with an iron hand. After a
35-minute trip we arrived in Rocky
Mount, where we got off and went
across the street to the delightful Ricks
Hotel for lunch.
After lunch, while my father stayed
inside with mother and my baby sister.
Beverly, I went out on the half-story
high verandah to watch the trains and
eavesdrop on the drummers, as they
rocked back and forth and swapped tail
talcs. A little late, the train from Wil¬
mington came in. disgorged its pas¬
sengers. then continued on its way to
Norfolk. Just before three o’clock, a
short passenger train came in. I rushed
in to get the family, thinking it was
ours, but my father explained that this
was the Spring Hope local, and that
our train would have many more cars.
Rocky Mount to Petersburg
Promptly at 3 p.m. train No. 98. the
Coast Line Florida Mail, roared in. We
w alked past innumerable mail cars and
two coaches to the Pullman on the end
and boarded for our trip to Petersburg.
Virginia. We were comfortably settled
in an open section and for a while I
behaved. As the trip dragged on. I
grew restless and made a nuisance of
myself walking up and dow n the aisle.
Ignoring my mother's admonitions to
sit down and be quiet and thinking that
on the train she could not send me out
for a switch. I became unruly. To my
On the from trip from Torboro to Irtrnlle you troweled in three different itotet on In* different roilroodv
Seen here, the tram from Boone to Johnvsa City
и
standing ot Lm.ille notion obouf 1923. (Colleefion
0»
William S. Connor.)
THE STATE. JANUARY 1981
