Farmville (4/3/2014)

I like to take US 460 on the way back home from an extended trip out in western Virginia and/or when I am not in a hurry.  Millage wise it is not much different, but hopefully it helps with the nerves.  I love some of the towns on this road:  Lynchburg, Bedford and Farmville.

While I figure that I need to stop by the D-day memorial (especially because that is also the date of my wedding anniversary), I always tend to gravitate to Farmville.  Mentioning Farmville to people always gets me two types of reactions.  I often get a yawn or a all telling look, and from people that have been there I usually get a smile.  I do think Farmville is an undiscovered little treasure.  It is a sleepy little town with a university; Longwood University is in our state system, and I remember well applying for a job as a biology teacher there, but obviously they did not think I was qualified.  Their loss.  I would have enjoyed living there.  I really like smaller towns like Farmville, Lynchburg, Danville and Pulaski.  I need to visit more small towns, I love the old buildings and the history that made these towns thrive in the past.

Farmville used to be a small industrial; my understanding is that is was one of the hubs of furniture making that we saw a lot of in this region of the country.  With furniture manufacturing moving to cheaper countries like China, these small towns did not fare well, but I think Farmville is on the up swing.  They have a thriving furniture and mattress market the High Bridge bicycle trail, and as I mentioned before the University.  This is the place in Virginia to go shopping for those items.  I know, we bought a rug there.

If I can help it I tend to stop in Farmville (see some of my past posts on Farmville here and here) for lunch at the Bakery.  My understanding is that the owner id from Belgium, and in addition to the best selection of Belgium beers, the place has a great lunch menu and Dutch coffee for sale.  But darn, I need to branch out and write about other places, this is the third post on that town (Mr./Mrs. Mayor, I expect the symbolic key to the city).

While I usually go for a walk (or a bike ride) in the direction of the High Bridge, I decided to go the other way today.  Below are tow pictures I took during my walk.  One of a set of murals and the other I took at the old train station.  Both are colorful and it was difficult to choose between them.

An yes, next time is the D-day memorial.