252 replies to this topic

[Rural King]

^ Interesting pics and info. Is Meadowview redeveloping the downtown area to overall reflect its late 1800's heritage?

[durham_rtp]

Not sure I would call it a downtown area, hehe.  Mainly its just a town square and you see most of it in the pictures.  But yeah, what they have been doing is trying to keep with the heritage of the town.  They are also trying to update and renovate the train depot into either a museum or arts center.  They got the money to do all of this from VA Tobacco grants.

[Hankster]

durham_rtp, on Feb 22 2008, 10:56 AM, said:

Not technically Tennessee....but this is my hometown Meadowview, VA....about 20 miles outside Bristol.  They are currently redeveloping the old town square....built some new buildings that fit historical architecture of when the town was nothing more than a train stop.  They have opened a new doctors office, community center, and a restaurant.  

Thanks for posting.  Very nice indeed!  It's great to see communitieslike Meadowview redeveloping their old towns. Without that, they will be lost forever one day, and that would be tragic.

[Rural King]

durham_rtp, on Feb 22 2008, 01:17 PM, said:

Not sure I would call it a downtown area, hehe.  Mainly its just a town square and you see most of it in the pictures.  But yeah, what they have been doing is trying to keep with the heritage of the town.  They are also trying to update and renovate the train depot into either a museum or arts center.  They got the money to do all of this from VA Tobacco grants.

LOL Its a downtown area to me and I appreciate you sharing the photos with us. I think even the smallest downtown has its own charm and value. The saddest part of the American landscape today is that so many downtown business districts are in disrepair, neglect, and in some cases various states of ruin. Luckily it seems after 30 years of decline that many towns, including the smallest and most rural, are taking actiont to revitalize and preserve their downtowns before it's too late.

[smeagolsfree]

Thanks for the pics. I have a lot of family from that area going back 2 to 3 hundred years. I think I am kin to almost everyone in SW VA.

[Tennesseestorm]

Yes, Meadowview is a quaint little town.  I have been there a couple times years ago... my aunts father in law lives there and I went with her up there a few years ago.  We are not too far from there.

Hankster... did you hear about the tornado that roared through Big Stone Gap, VA?  Seems as if it caused widespread major damage.  

Story here....
http://www.tricities...03-05-0016.html

Then this happened in the Smokies....

http://knoxnews.com/...taken-hospital/

Edited by Tennesseestorm, 05 March 2008 - 10:31 PM.

[Hankster]

Wow!  I had not heard about this.  I beleive tornados in your neck of the woods are somewhat rare?  Am I correct on that?  We were under a tornado watch down here, but about all be got was a bunch of rain. Glad we got that too.

[smeagolsfree]

I had not heard about the tornado in Big Stone Gap either. Interesting, much of this area is in the mountains and that area has a lot of deep valleys as well. The thing about BSG is that the town sits close to the top of some of those mountains and parts of it are built on reclaimed strip mines. They literally took the tops off a lot of those hills up there .I have not been up there in 10 or 15 years. Again, I have distant family in the entire area and know it pretty good.

[Tennesseestorm]

Hankster, on Mar 6 2008, 06:29 PM, said:

Wow!  I had not heard about this.  I beleive tornados in your neck of the woods are somewhat rare?  Am I correct on that?  We were under a tornado watch down here, but about all be got was a bunch of rain. Glad we got that too.

True, we do not get too many tornadoes here where I live in northeast Tennessee (only about 4 official reports since 1950 in our county), but where this one occured in Big Stone Gap VA, which is about 40 miles northwest of here- they are even more rare.  Like Smeagolsfree said, its rugged terrain up there and its hard to get a tornado roaring up there, but they do get a good deal of thunderstorms.  However it looked like the tornado had hit in some flatter terrain of that area.  The storms head down this way from that area when they come from the northwest and occasionally thanks to those mountains, the storms will weaken before they get here, but sometimes they do not.  That storm was a big shock.  I know the locals were upset because no warnings were ever issued, but NWS said due to the terrain, the radar was not picking up the tornadic storms.  Maybe some radar stations up there are in order?  I know there was widespread damage... it looked like something you would see out in Kansas or Missouri.  I know the tornado we had here in Bristol in 1978 (which me and my mother were in, but I was only 2 and slept through it ), it went over some ridges and valleys, but it went for miles.      

I was up there about a year ago when I had to go train a store on some new computers.  It was just after that big late freeze we seen about a year ago.... it was a couple of days after.  I remember it being like 40s up there that particular day with some snow on the ground on the ridges and it was in the 70s when I got back down to Bristol, where we had not seen any snow.  Its beautiful country up there though.

Edited by Tennesseestorm, 06 April 2008 - 11:01 PM.

[Tennesseestorm]

Well, since I (nor anyone) has been able to post any "photo of the day", I was out today and we took some that I thought I would share...

On the way to and from Elizabethton today, we snapped these photos... hope you enjoy!


These were taken heading to Elizabethton from Bristol...







These were taken headed back to my house in Bristol... these were taken on Highway 394 and Highway 421










AND I took these around the house today....  




and one of the house in its spring mode...

Edited by Tennesseestorm, 10 May 2008 - 09:21 PM.

[Hankster]

Upper East Tennessee is such a beautiful place!  Great pics!

[Tennesseestorm]

Hankster, on May 16 2008, 07:15 PM, said:

Upper East Tennessee is such a beautiful place!  Great pics!

Thanks.  As soon as I get a chance, I am going to try to get some shots from the new bridge in Bristol.

[Hankster]

Tennesseestorm, on May 27 2008, 01:13 AM, said:

Thanks.  As soon as I get a chance, I am going to try to get some shots from the new bridge in Bristol.

I'd love for you to get up to Roan Mt about June 20th when the rhododendron are at peak and post some pics from there.  I went there years ago, and it's absolutely breathtaking.