Taking A Walk

by Dwayne Phillips

I survived two visits to the dentist. Back on the road again. Ahhhhhhh.

Today we walked through Mount Sidney, Fort Defiance, Verona,  Staunton, and Folly Mills, Virginia. We covered 14 miles. The weather was great again: 52 degrees F this morning and 72 degrees this afternoon. Rain is forecast for the next two days, so we shall see what happens.

Mount Sidney is a really small main street town. There are houses right on the edge of Route 11, but nothing notable.

Fort Defiance is a wide spot in the road. There was one small grocery store, and a traffic light so that buses could turn off Route 11 and go to Fort Defiance High School. The only sight of the high school was a graffiti wall that was well decorated.

I like things like graffiti walls. Give the kids a place to be kids.

South of the Fort Defiance wide spot in the road was the pleasant surprise of the day – actually two surprises.

First is the Augusta Stone Church (officially the Augusta Stone Presbyterian Church). This was built in 1747. That means it is about 30 years older than America! That impresses me. It was used as a fort briefly during the war – the French and Indian War. I don’t remember when that war was fought, but I’m pretty sure it was a while before that little exercise known as the American Revolution. Here is my photo of the church.

Next door to the Augusta Stone Church were these large stone buildings known as the Augusta Military Academy. This was founded in 1874 and operated until 1984. This academy graduated about 7,000 men during its lifetime. Here is a photo of one of the buildings. The place is now owned by a local Pentecostal Church.

If I had researched everything thoroughly, I wouldn’t be so surprised to find places like these. I am happier to stumble upon them and learn while walking. I can think of detriments to this approach, but whatever.

What I like is that within a half mile I found a graffiti wall and two old buildings that have some import in American history. This is great!

Verona was the big disappointment of the day. It is two miles of four-lane road lined with car dealerships, tractor supplies, and fast food restaurants. To me, these parts of towns are boring and all of Verona was boring. It is an excellent example of the Curse of the Golden Mile.

The last city of the day was Staunton. I highly recommend spending time in historic downtown. They have done much work in keeping the area alive with businesses instead of abandoned buildings. I had coffee in place called “Bug Shots.” I don’t understand the name. The young lady behind the counter told me that they used to be part of a chain of coffee shops (wouldn’t tell me which one), but they are now independent. They are on the corner of S New St and E Johnson St. Nice place.

Much later I got the meaning of the name “Bug Shots.” The “Shots” is from shots of coffee. “Bugs” I still don’t understand, but hey, I got half of it.

Here is a photo of the St Francis Assisi Catholic Church in Staunton. I include it here as we have not seen any big, classic Catholic churches on Route 11. This is the first one.

The last stop of the day was at a wide spot in the road called Folly Mills. No Wikipedia page for this place. The final pleasant surprise was this small stone church building from 1924. I know that this isn’t even 100 years old, but look at it. This is a classic chapel made completely of stone. Who built this? It is officially called the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church.