Taking A Walk

by Dwayne Phillips

Today we walked from south of Natural Bridge through Buchanan, Virginia. The walk was 95% countryside with only one town. The weather started at 55 degrees F and quite foggy and ended at sunny and 80 degrees. Once again the predicted rain did not occur. If you are a farmer desiring rain, don’t let us walk through.

The entire morning was somewhat depressing. The countryside from Natural Bridge to Buchanan looks poor. Small or collapsing houses and house trailers. The land is rocky and wooded. I just had a bad feeling going through it.

We came to Buchanan, and I expected much of the same. I was pleasantly wrong. Buchanan, Virginia is an excellent small town. I recommend visiting it.They have more restaurants per step than any of the other small towns we have visited.

We crossed the James River and saw this magnificent swinging foot bridge. The current Route 11 bridge was built in 1937. The town built the swinging bridge in 1938. The stone piers for the swinging bridge are from a toll bridge in 1851. Karen and I walked back and forth across the bridge. It does swing. Great!

I put the photo of the swinging bridge as well as a photo of Buchanan’s Trinity Episcopal church on the Buchanan page of Wikipedia.

South of Buchanan we found this tee pee in a field. It looks pretty authentic. It comprises wooden poles and a large piece of canvas (sorry, no buffalo hides). I have no idea why this is here. It is an impressive site.

The countryside south of Buchanan appears far more prosperous than the area north of town. I felt much better than in the morning.

Buchanan’s town sign claims that it is the “Gateway to the Shenandoah Valley.” This is a reasonable yet debatable claim. The official tourism web site for the valley includes Roanoke in the valley. Roanoke is some 20 miles south of Buchanan, so…

One last thing. We keep seeing this sign, but we have no idea what it means. Anyone out there have a clue?