Scotland and Richmond Counties

This week I’ve been in Scotland and Richmond Counties for work. Mostly the usual DOT and DMV compounds and offices and a couple of prisons to assess. We also inspected a 4-H camp and several Wildlife Resources facilities including 2 places where hunting dog field trials are held.

We were working around Rockingham, Laurinburg and Hamlet. I did not know that Hamlet was the location of a very large CSX railroad facility. The train maintenance yard stretches for miles along NC 177 between Hamlet and the North Carolina Motor Speedway. Along that 4 or 5 mile stretch are multiple rail lines, service support buildings and hundreds of rolling stock.

Hamlet has just finished renovating their train Depot pictured above. We spent a few minutes inside to check out the renovation which is absolutely spectacular. The depot is used for the 2 Amtrak trains which pass through daily and the town is gathering artifacts for a train museum to fill the rest of the building. The building originally stood across the tracks but had to be moved off of the CSX rail property. A whole new basement was built and the building placed on the new basement and foundation. That's quite a feat!

Hamlet is also the birthplace of John Coltrane and we happened to pass by his birthplace. So we stopped to take a photo.

We passed by this church near Gibson. Notice that all the windows, including those above the doors, are stained glass save for the steeple and the addition on the right. The plaque says the original church was built in 1835, burned by Sherman (pause while Bill spits the bitter taste out) and rebuilt in 1870.

The final photograph is of the Ellerbe Springs Inn where we had lunch on Thursday. Great food at ridiculously reasonable prices. I had a huge steak salad for $6. Coworkers had a Chef Salad - $6 and a Reuben Sandwich with fries and slaw - $5. My salad was as good as any I’ve ever had at 2 to 3 times the price. It’s amazing what you can find out in the middle of nowhere.

The bedrooms of the inn are very nicely done but the rest of the building still needs a lot of work. Of course, an old hotel of this size requires a lot of money to restore and the owners have only been at it a few short years – so it will take some time for them to afford the complete restoration. But you can tell that it’s going to be a grand mansion once they get the bulk of the work done.

We’ve had a really good productive week. I’m tired but it’s a good physical tired.

Tomorrow we finish up Morrison Prison and should be back in Raleigh by late afternoon.

I’ll be glad to be home for the weekend.

JN’s parents are coming Monday to work on the Durham house so I’ll be cleaning my house this weekend.

I may go into Raleigh on Saturday for the reopening of Fayetteville Street. They’re planning a festival with music and fireworks. I’ll see how I feel Saturday.