Another piece of Roanoke Found

A nice comment from someone at RoanokeFound reminded me that I'd been meaning to upload this postcard. I had hoped to drive down to Roanoke and see if The Huntsman is still in business, but haven't had time.


The Huntsman on Highway 11 

My family most likely acquired this postcard on our way to the 1964 World's Fair in New York City. We'd have made much of that drive on old Lee Highway, U.S. Highway 11, but the part in Virginia I remember most was a stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway somewhere outside of Roanoke. Anyone who's driven the Parkway knows it becomes tedious after the first 100 miles (ha!), but for three boys in the back of a station wagon with the seats turned down, three boys who've bought "War of the Blue and Gray" soldiers in Chattanooga at Lookout Mountain, the Blue Ridge was just fine.

What a great interlude. We played back there for hours with our soldiers, occasionally taking a break for a spectacular view or a roadside vendor of apple cider or mountain nicknacks. I remember sitting under trees by a rocky mountain stream, feeling the cold air in a little glen, and having lunch (as Southerners we would have called it "dinner" in those days). My mom had prepared the food in the hotel that morning. Maybe, just maybe the hotel was the Huntsman.