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Do you remember
the alley that started between the Old Greenbrier Mill and Johnson &
Gwinn's warehouse followed the base of Flat Top Mountain, and
eventually came out on Rt.3? When Causby Parker mentioned in her
Photo Tour #2, that
Travis & Brianna Barkley bought the Woodson building and
that she was a blacksmith, I remembered there use to be a blacksmith
in Alderson, and it was accessed by that alley.
Ward Parker relates: The alley went pass the blacksmith shop, which was
directly behind the the mill. Then it passed the mill's feed
warehouse. It next passed the church belonging to, what was always
referred to the "colored church". My Dad
(Theodore K. Parker) ran
Greenbrier Milling from the time Rufus
Bryant died (1960) until he had to give it up in 1974. (
"We used the blacksmith shop as a garage for the mill truck, and
also stored brush killer in barrels there.) I ran the mill
for a year (successfully) and closed out the business in spring of
1976. I used to go to the mill every evening when I got out of
school at 3:00 and work until it closed at 5:00, then I worked
there from August 1962 until May 1963. I drove that alley many
times! I also enjoyed the singing from the church quite a
few times when I would work late and they would be having a revival
or Wednesday night Prayer Meeting. "They made the hillside ring!"
There also was a little house behind Lobban’s that fronted on that
alley and Luther Harness lived there. It's believe the Lobban’s
owned that little house."
This Google
photo shows Lobban's parking
lot apparently now has extended back to where the alley use to be.
That old
blacksmith shop was very interesting. I was in there many times
watching the owner shoe horses. The feed storage building was also
use for a play area for us kids. We would sneak in and play on the
feed sacks, jumping from one to the other and play hide & seek. We
stirred up the dust from the grain so much, I would start sneezing
so bad, I had to go home and put a wet handkerchief over my face,
and then eat a bowl of Wheaties, and go back and hit the sacks
again. This was in the 1940s.
I'm not sure exactly where that alley came out on Rt.3, I just
remember that it did.
Hopefully there
are those who read this can give more information. Perhaps a old
photo, or anyone who may have attended that church.
(More on
Greenbrier Milling) |
