State

The nine mile stretch of road from Ihc Yadkin Jo Sink Inn, near Lexington, «as once dotted with service stations that handled a wide variety of liquid refreshments. Riverview, left, now used as a residence, was once run by the colorful Big Sam Dorset!. The places of business faded out when Highway 29 was relocated. The Log Cabin Service Station was the first place to open on Barbary Row. It was built by the late Zeb Grubb who leased it to Big Sam Dorsett. Dorset! later moved down the hill to Riverview. I hc old service station, now abandoned, is next door to the George Lee Mahaley resi¬ dence. When the picture was taken. Mr. Mahaley and his grandson. Henry Clay, were using the service station as a shady place in which to build a wheelbarrow. (Photo by Suthcr.) Davidson's Barbary Coast Once a roaring highway of hoot logger. s, it serenely reminisces of tongli Sam Dorsett. The Old Lexington Highway from the Yadkin to Sink Inn, which is two miles south of Lexington, is now a quiet stretch of road, condemned to peace by a re-routing of U.S. 29. It was once the Highway of the Blind Tiger, a sort of carnival road, a drunkard's dream, a week end gather¬ ing place for panderers and everyday citizens bound on a spree. Of the 1 3 places, open for business, entertainment or both, only one re¬ mains. That is G. W. Gobble's which is now a combined service station and country store at the intersection of the Old Highway and Tyro Road. Gone is Riverview, The Log Cabin, Shady Lane, Yarbough's, The Air¬ plane, Carter's, Grimes' Cabins, Green's Tourist Cabins, The Tack 'em Down, Hanes', The Bloody Bucket and the Audrey Lee. Gone also is Big Sam Dorsett who wrestled with bears. Barbarv Coast The Barbary Coast of that long stretch of road was a one-half mile strip that reached from the Yadkin Bridge to the top of Bull Hill. The first service station to open there was The Log Cabin, built by the late Zeb By II i:\TII THOMAS Grubb who rented it to Big Sam Dorsett. Gasoline and oil, beer, whiskey were handled at the most of the places. Be¬ fore prohibition was scuttled, the whis¬ key was white corn, the beer was homebrew. Alcohol in some form was a favorite brand of merchandise in many of the places and it was sold quite openly. The Coming of the Bears Big Sam's Log Cabin soon had com¬ petition and Sam met it with an added attraction — bears. The animals were staked near The Log Cabin which lured many a motorist to the gasoline pumps. Other places began the display of bears. Some added monkeys. Sam Dorsett, a big bull of a man, went into a fine frenzy and began occasional wrestling bouts with his bruins. So far as is known, none of his competitors tried topping that performance. The week ends along the whole Non : this article originally appeared in the "Salisbury Post" anil is re¬ printed by permission. nine-mile stretch of road were lurid. One would think the Bloody Bucket would have been the most spectacular. But the people who remember the road in the late twenties and roaring thirties concede that the Audrey Lee was a lioness disguised by a gentle name. R. T. (Tilly) Barnes who took over Riverview in 1936 said ruefully that in most of the places one almost had to purchase a bottle of beer. He added that one needed the bottle with which to fight his way out. Fighting Rights Reserved Mr. Barnes declares, however, that the management of his place reserved all rights on fighting. "The only licks ever struck were struck by me." Just occasionally, a customer would try to take over the place. His ambitions usually sent him to a hospital or the office of a physician. Some of the other places failed to maintain this brand of discipline. When a free-for-all occurred at night, the lights would be blackened. It was not an unusual occurrence for the battlers to flow out into the road to the amaze¬ ment of the passing motorists. Two Salisbury brothers and their THE STATE, January 9, 19SA