Lynchburg and Campbell County, Virginia

I'll be teaching at Osher Life-Long Learning at the end of January, and I have meetings scheduled and things to do. When the weather report showed a sudden few days of warm weather after single-digit cold here and a foot of snow in The South, I decided to run off to my next county, Campbell, Virginia. I have been to the counties around the independent city of Lynchburg: Amherst to the north, Appomattox on the east and Bedford, west. If you've been following along, you know I've been visiting counties in alphabetical order within 300 miles of Morgantown. Lynchburg is separate from Campbell County, one of Virginia's thirty-nine independent cities. It was once part of Campbell County, mostly south of the city.

I had my doubts about this one, as Lynchburg is the home of Liberty University, founded by Jerry Falwell, of the so-called Moral Majority, and now presided over by his even worse son, Jerry, Jr. Wikipedia says Liberty University is the second-largest employer in the area, after the local health-care company. And yes, there are crazy home-made signs in town about sin, and billboards from Seventh-Day Adventists claiming that changing Sabbath to Sunday was the work of the anti-Christ. I didn't go to Liberty University. It's at the south end of Lynchburg, where there is a jumble of neon and your basic chain stores like Wal-Mart and Target.  I don't need to leave town to see those.

Considering that Morgantown and Lynchburg were once in the same state, it was hard to travel between them. The peaks of the Appalachians run between the two cities, northeast to southwest, and most of the roads follow that. But Lynchburg is nearly due south and a little east of Morgantown. Google Maps suggests going on back roads through Garrett County, Maryland, the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, and rural Virginia to finally hit Interstate 81. No interstate highways go near Lynchburg, although US 29 (Jerry Falwell Parkway) is a four-lane road. I traveled the way Google said to without major problems. There was almost no snow in Preston County, West Virginia and Garrett County, Maryland, shocking for January. The temperature was above 40 F. Farther south in Virginia, the ground was covered with snow. The big southern storm had passed through and dumped eleven inches of snow on Lynchburg.

I arrived about 4:30 at my motel, the cheap brand from my usual chain, but the one closest to the city center. Joe and I stayed there in 2009, on our way from my sister's near Washington, to Johnson City, Tennessee, where he had an interview for a position after ordination.

I looked for restaurants nearby, using my phone,  when I awoke from my nap, and found a street of fast food restaurants. There was also a neighborhood Chinese place, which is where I went. It was just a mile from the hotel, so I thought I would walk. I didn't count on a combination of ice and puddles on the streets, a lack of sidewalks, or a steep hill on the way. The neighborhood was mixed by race, but that never bothers me. It was run by a family: the husband cooked, the wife took my order and money and the son, who looked to be about thirteen, delivered the food to my table, while his brother, about ten, played games on a device. The parents spoke to each other and to the kids in what I assume was Chinese; the kids spoke English to each other. This is a common pattern. I had the "diet plate," steamed chicken and broccoli with white rice and a little brown sauce on the side. The menu was heavy on shrimp and pork, mostly fried. People on the street were friendly enough. I tried saying "Hi," and most said "Hi" back.

Thursday the twelfth, my big day for exploring, the temperature was expected to hit 65 F., nearly a record. Some schools were still opening late in local counties, because there are steep hills and roads covered by trees where there was still ice. Over the course of the day, almost all the snow and ice melted.

I set out with my usual list of ten historic places (Lynchburg has forty on the National Register, Campbell County, fourteen). I randomly picked eight from the city and two in the county, plus two historic courthouses, a synagogue, a park, a university and a shopping mall. I managed to get to all of them. It was a beautiful day, ultimately, according to the car, 68 F.; the newspaper said the high was 66.

Lynchburg has a beautiful downtown, in the process of being renovated. A prosperous city before and after the Civil War, a port on the James River upstream from Richmond, a railroad center in the middle of tobacco country, and the last capital of the Confederacy for a few months in 1865, it retains much of its old charm. On the bluff above the James west of downtown are the toniest old houses, in the Rivermont District. I found Virginia Episcopal School, and Randolph College in that area, and a park along the river.

There were signs in Rivermont saying "Peake for State Senate." I found out that there had been a special election Tuesday, the day before I arrived, in that state senate district, and Peake was the Republican nominee. He won, but he was surprised, as a native of Lynchburg, that he did not win a majority of the votes in the city. I would tell him that this year, in a city that is thirty percent African American, and with a larger than I expected gay community,  a Republican could not win. What makes The South different from the Northeast or West Coast is that rich people will admit to being Republican.

I didn't see any specifically gay places, but there was a church with a rainbow flag, and the Unitarian church downtown had a sign saying it was welcoming to LGBT people.

I had lunch in a renovated warehouse downtown, now a kind of marketplace. Although there was a shop selling tea in bulk, none of the several restaurants in the space had iced tea.

I visited Rustburg, the county seat of Campbell County, and not much of a town, and the town of Brookneal, near the retirement home of Patrick Henry. I stopped there after three and enjoyed some cookies and "unsweet" iced tea at a diner before heading back to my motel. I ate dinner at the mall in town at a stand with pita sandwiches. I had a chicken caesar wrap, not awful. The mall was like the one in Morgantown, but with more vacant stores. They have a Macy's, about to close. Men's clothes were twenty percent off, but an $80 Ralph Lauren Polo shirt for $64 is still not a bargain. I felt sorry for the clerks about to lose their jobs.

Everyone I encountered was polite and friendly, even the late night clerks at the grocery store where I stopped Thursday night for snacks and extra food for breakfast. I drove home Friday on what looked on the map like more direct roads, U.S. 501 from town to I-81 and then U.S. 250 over the mountains into West Virginia. I did save about twenty miles going that way, but with all the switchbacks over the mountains, it took forty minutes more than Google's route. 

So here are the pics:

Doyle Florists-H.R. Schenkel Greenhouses, 1920. Once a home of the cut flower industry, empty and owned by the city

Agudath Sholom Synagogue, Reform affiliated, west of downtown, building is from 1956

Virginia Episcopal School, a college prep school, 1916

Presbyterian Orphans Home, now Presbyterian Homes and Family Services, 1911. There are more buildings in a semi-circle.

Randolph-Macon Women's College, now Randolph College, Rivermont, Lynchburg, 1891

Miller-Claytor House, 1791, moved from downtown to Riverfront Park and restored, 1936

Overlooking the James River in Riverfront Park. The stone wall was built by the WPA in 1936

Carter Glass House, 1827, now Parish House for St. Paul's Episcopal Church. Glass as the co-author of the Glass-Steagall Act, restricting banks. A National Historic Landmark.

St. Paul's Vestry House, 1855

Ironwork porches along Court St., Courthouse Hill-Downtown Historic District

The Unitarian Church in downtown Lynchburg announces that it is "A Welcoming Congregation"

Old Lynchburg Courthouse, now a museum, 1855

Monument Plaza, looking from the Old Courthouse to the James River

Monument Plaza looking up from Main St. to the Old Courthouse

Tobacco Lofts, a former warehouse now loft-style apartments, Lower Basin Historic District

Railroad station along the James River. The train is carrying coal.

Centerview, 1871, now a law office

Mt. Athos Archaeological Site, Kelly, Campbell County. Part of a plantation that burned in 1876

Campbell County Courthouse, Rustburg, 1848, now a museum

Brookneal Historic District, Campbell County, 1875-1925. This was a tobacco, railroad and textile center (Dan Mills had a factory). There is not much activity there now. Patrick Henry lived nearby.

Staunton River near Brookneal. The river flows to coastal North Carolina and was once important for trade.