Skip to main content

Labor Day Weekend Trip - Northeastern NC (and just a bit into Virginia)

Image
By
Joe Babyak, of NC Road Videos Fame, came up for a video and photo road trip Saturday. Since Joe hadn't spent time in the Northeastern part of the state - and I wanted to visit the two free small river ferries that I had not crossed. It was a good opportunity to roadtrip and visit some of the backroads of North Carolina.

Route: I-540 - US 64 - US 264 - NC 39 - US 64 - US 64A/Business - US 64 - US 64A/Business - US 13/17- Woodard Road - NC 308 - NC 45 - US 158 - Woodard Road - US 258 - US 258 Business (Franklin, VA) - US 258 - US 158 - US 301 - NC 46 - NC 48 - NC 581 - NC 58 - US 64 - I 540.

For the flickr set of the trip - Go here.

The first stop was at the old US 64 bridge over the Tar River. I have this bridge featured on Carolina Lost, but I figured to show Joe, and also revisit for the first time in nearly five years.



The former alignment of US 64 here - now called Quiet Waters Road - appears to still have some remnants of the white center lines used years ago.

Our next stop was the small town of Nashville. We ended up taking photos there for about 30-45 minutes and also spent time talking to some of the folks in town - who were very eager to tell some history about various buildings and goings on.



We skipped Rocky Mount on US 64 Business in order to see a few other areas. Just east of Rocky Mount on US 64A. Were two great candidates for Carolina Lost.


We then decided to take some photos of Robersonville.

There is really not much to town - although the former Bank of Robersonville building is unique. In the top photo it is the tall yellow brick building on the left. The building is three stories and taller than the rest in town and also is very narrow - almost looking out of place and ready to tumble down compared to the rest of town.

We also learned that there is a short 'Truck' NC 903 that bypasses the downtown.

After lunch, it was on to the first of the two river ferries. First, a great shot I like of the tiny crossroads of Woodard, NC.

The Sans Souci Ferry crosses the Cashie River. Like the Elwell Ferry over the Cape Fear, Sans Souci is a two car motorized cable ferry.



The next small town we stopped at was Colerain - which is on NC 45. It is also the Eastern Terminus of NC 42.




Parker's Ferry - which is the last of three river ferries in North Carolina - is located north of US 158 and Winton. Of the three ferry routes - this is one of the more remote routes as most of the road to and from the ferry is gravel. Parker's Ferry crosses the Meherrin River.


We briefly entered Virginia and hung around the city of Franklin. On Business US 258 there is a cutout for US 58 and of course we grabbed a shot of it.

Franklin was the largest of all the town's we stopped in along the way. Amazingly, it was the most quiet of all of them.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

By
In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...
4 comments
Read more

Massena Center Suspension Bridge

By
The Massena Center Bridge, also known as the Holton D. Robinson Bridge, has had quite the tumultuous history. Situated on the Grasse River just east of Massena, New York in the hamlet of Massena Center, the Massena Center Bridge is a reminder of the efforts the community has made in order to connect over the river. The first and only other known bridge to be built at Massena Center was built in 1832, but that bridge was never long for this world. During the spring of 1833, the Grasse River dammed itself due to an ice dam, flooded and lifted the bridge off its foundation, destroying the bridge in the process.  The floods were frequent in the river during the spring, often backing up the river from Hogansburg and past Massena Center, but not to nearby Massena. After the first bridge disappeared, local residents had to resort to traveling seven miles west to Massena to cross the next closest bridge, and that was no easy task for a horse and buggy. However, it was many decades befo...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Dead Man's Curve of Interstate 90 and Innerbelt Freeway in Cleveland

By
"Dead Man's Curve" refers to the transition ramp Interstate 90 takes between Cleveland Memorial Shoreway onto the Innerbelt Freeway in downtown Cleveland, Ohio.  Said curve includes a sharp transition between the two freeways which is known for a high rate of accidents.  Currently the curve (not officially named) has a 35 MPH advisory speed and numerous safety features intended to mitigate crashes.  When the Interstate System was first conceived during 1956, Interstate 90 was intended to use the entirety Cleveland Memorial Shoreway and connect to the Northwest Freeway through Lakewood.  The Innerbelt Freeway was initially planned as the northernmost segment of Interstate 71.  The extension of Cleveland Memorial Shoreway west of Edgewater Park was never constructed which led to Interstate 90 being routed through the Innerbelt Freeway.   Part 1; the history of Cleveland's Innerbelt Freeway and Deadman's Curve The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 was signe...
Post a Comment
Read more