Small Towns on Icy Backroads of North Carolina - Grogan’s Court / Bald Hill / Stokesdale & More
Winter Road Trip 2022
Transcript
0:03
today's adventure begins on yes another
0:03
very snowy
0:04
and icy
0:06
north carolina mourn
0:10
just north of greensboro
0:12
north carolina in a town by the name
0:14
beginning in a town by the name of
0:17
stokesdale you can see the water tower
0:21
right over there and the roads have been
0:22
a little difficult to traverse because
0:24
it is 25 degrees
0:27
as i flip the street up on this
0:30
i'm inviting you to join me i have no
0:33
idea how far i'm gonna get on these
0:34
roads
0:36
shall you at least there's always a
0:37
piping hot caffeinated beverage to keep
0:40
one warm
0:41
as long as it's nice i'm not iced coffee
0:43
because iced coffee does not do the
0:45
trick
0:46
see if you can hear the goodness
0:55
join me shall you also as a recording of
0:55
this it is sunday january 30th 2022 a
0:59
general overview here of this atlas
1:01
right here next to the little crevice
1:04
is greensboro where my hotel has been
1:07
for the last you know six days five or
1:09
six days or so i've lost track but right
1:12
over here is where is it
1:16
stokesdale
1:17
so that's where i've been getting in
1:19
fact some of the communities aren't even
1:21
listed
1:22
on here so i'm just going to venture
1:24
right around in this area
1:27
spoiler alert i'm not going to go too
1:29
far because it is
1:31
under 32 degrees and there's ice on the
1:34
so i don't know how far i'm going to get
1:35
but i'm just thinking
1:37
right around in this section have to get
1:39
back to the hotel later a little bit
1:41
later on and take my mom to the airport
1:43
this evening
1:44
she is sitting this adventure out
1:46
so i'm just
1:48
rolling around this little section right
1:49
here
1:50
starting in stokes
1:52
oh this must be stokes county
1:56
all right get moving i'm gonna see if
1:58
there's a downtown even big the foot
2:01
even used to these treacherous
2:02
conditions
2:04
reminding me to go very slow on these
2:06
roads you never know where the ice pops
2:09
up it's very it's hidden sometimes on
2:12
the roads in fact take a look at this
2:13
little swirly artistic ice rendition
2:17
made by nature right underneath the
2:19
water tower
2:28
that's beautiful
2:28
you just don't want to slide over that
2:29
in your tire
2:30
take you right off the side of the road
2:32
and looks as if there is a little
2:34
downtown section
2:36
just away from that water tower
2:45
a few storefronts maybe a dozen or so
2:45
if i were to guess
2:56
looks like that truck would handle
2:56
pretty well
2:57
and the snowy conditions that got stuck
2:59
had the big
3:07
tires yeah a little boutique here
3:07
my car that car's going pretty fast
3:12
i'm not that daring
3:14
then again i'm not used to driving in
3:17
these kind of conditions where locals
3:18
are
3:19
discount tires take a look at this
3:23
the sign right there
3:24
stokesdale discount tires
3:31
yeah it looks like a little loft up
3:31
there that's not even being utilized
3:33
above that storefront as well
3:39
possibly an old theater here
3:39
some sort of signage there that's
3:42
kind of unreadable however the site has
3:43
fallen down oh look at this century
3:47
southern
3:48
hardware supply
3:50
that's nice
3:52
that's a relic right there
3:55
this is probably a general store look at
3:57
the front you can even see the milk
3:59
crates in the window it looks as if the
4:01
door and the door handles
4:04
are still the same look at these relics
4:07
this wrought iron here
4:12
8426
4:12
address
4:13
and then you get the
4:15
metal down along here as well sometimes
4:17
you'll see an inscription of what the
4:18
business was
4:20
but it's kind of faded out
4:22
there
4:23
yeah this is probably original woodwork
4:27
and obviously original brickwork through
4:29
here there are some newer businesses
4:31
one or two that have popped into some of
4:33
these old storefronts i don't have any
4:36
food cows i just want to say hi
4:39
hello
4:40
cows there is quite a congregation of
4:44
cows here in this field
4:46
now that i've said i don't have any food
4:48
they don't want to come any closer maybe
4:49
they're camera shy
4:51
there's a few dozen cows
4:57
through here
4:57
hello cows not gonna come any closer and
4:59
say hi
5:03
okay fair enough
5:05
i know it's bri
5:06
you have to get the bl get the blood
5:08
flowing
5:10
kind of trot around warm me up a little
5:11
bit sometimes that works and
5:14
if you're really cold you can always
5:18
stop your feet it's hard to do a connery
5:22
when you're when your lips are numb like
5:24
that
5:25
all right cows
5:27
i'll keep my distance a little bit
5:38
hey nice talking to you cows
5:38
nice talking to you
5:40
off of that relatively busy thoroughfare
5:44
is a road called gold hill road
5:47
leading to the community of gold hill
5:49
this house here appears to be abandoned
5:52
so i'm just going to go down the road
5:54
and see what i can find it does not
5:55
appear as if anyone has been living on
5:57
this for quite some time in fact the
5:58
back windows
6:00
busted out and that back door busted out
6:03
there are some signs saying do not enter
6:05
the property
6:07
and i'm gonna
6:08
i'm gonna abide by that also you just
6:10
never know sometimes
6:12
in these areas kind of
6:14
off the beaten path areas you never know
6:17
if someone's really even living in there
6:19
he said i just don't want to take a
6:21
chance
6:22
a better safe than sorry really not a
6:24
lot in this area
6:25
now i realize why it's called a hill
6:28
because at the pinnacle is a hill
6:33
a couple houses but you know little
6:34
neighborhoods
6:36
couldn't find any stores
6:42
but i believe there's another gold hill
6:42
north carolina this must just be a
6:44
nickname the other one's about an hour
6:46
away hour and a half 70 miles or so
6:49
but nothing really here except a couple
6:51
homes in this gold hill now at the
6:53
crossroads of baggage road and bald hill
6:57
road
6:59
it's like an old store front up here
7:04
baggage road and bald hill
7:07
this is pretty cool
7:13
it's an illusion that this was brick but
7:13
in fact
7:15
it is a fake
7:17
brick like looking substance
7:23
it's almost like a shingle yeah it's
7:23
like a shingle texture
7:26
to look like
7:27
the red brick no advertise well there
7:29
might have been an advertisement there
7:30
that's very faded out
7:43
at one point this was
7:43
an active place a beehive of activity if
7:46
you will
7:51
for those
7:51
needing supplies
7:54
groceries
7:59
perhaps seen better days but a little
7:59
remnant of the past
8:02
right here on bald hill
8:08
see these windows here you got a door
8:10
entryway to the store there entry way to
8:12
the store here
8:32
wow that car's going really fast around
8:32
that corner
8:33
roof has caved in
8:43
all right there's probably some a sign
8:43
up there for the store name
8:45
long gone looks like i'm approaching
8:47
madison now that's the madison water
8:49
tower up here
8:55
this is a nice little find here right
8:55
along the water right along the river
8:59
appears to be a former hotel
9:02
even though it's being renovated with
9:04
some new doors
9:09
the brickwork
9:09
old-timey brick works called grogan's
9:12
riverfront
9:21
across the way over there
9:21
it's like it was the office
9:23
and also
9:24
a motor company called joyce motors
9:27
seeing the signage
9:32
pretty expansive
9:32
property
9:33
see the old wooden doors there those
9:36
have not been renovated quite yet
9:38
and around the front a lot of ice and
9:40
snow
9:41
take a look at this
9:51
some garages even had some garages there
9:51
so you got the front doors these could
9:53
have been storefronts
10:07
got some heavy machinery over there in
10:07
front of that one
10:13
this is the corner of mineral springs
10:13
road and north carolina 704.
10:20
and that is the donald stevens memorial
10:20
bridge right there i'm about to go over
10:23
oh you know here's the office
10:26
at grogan's
10:35
look at this old sign
10:36
yes
10:40
i really hope they're renovating this
10:40
place
10:41
fixing it up with the
10:43
the new doors that's kind of giving me
10:45
that illusion
10:47
yeah you know there's a there's a ring
10:49
camera right there
10:51
so when they watch this footage back i
10:53
just want to say hi
10:56
they're probably hearing what i'm saying
11:10
yeah grogan's riverfront
11:10
nice little stop and just over that
11:12
bridge is the historic district here at
11:15
madison
11:16
and enjoy pepsi cola mural there on the
11:18
side
11:19
i'm going to get out and walk around
11:22
yeah the historic district you see the
11:24
banner right there town of madison
11:26
founded 1818. only about 2 000 residents
11:31
here in this community bob's restaurant
11:32
has a pretty neat
11:34
signage there look at this
11:42
news and record machine this has seen
11:42
some years
11:44
a newspaper
11:52
well the newspaper holder i should say
11:52
yeah nice little little stretch of the
11:54
downtown i like this
12:12
it's a sunday as a recording of this i'm
12:12
not too much open
12:18
i don't know if i've ever seen a sign
12:18
like that that could be a light also
12:20
when it's illuminated maybe you see the
12:22
butterflies
12:23
possibly a little bit better
12:30
up top some apartments
12:30
and i am seeing an
12:32
advertisement kind of wedged up there in
12:34
that little rooftop alleyway see if i
12:38
can zoom in and see what that is
12:40
something edmonton
12:42
something edmond no piedmont
12:54
first couple letters have been removed
12:54
but something
12:56
something edmont
12:58
and then below it is an advertisement
13:00
for something
13:01
very difficult to make out but i love
13:04
those little advertisements on the
13:05
bricks
13:07
oh and look up here in this window
13:10
can fatally see it says offices
13:20
very faintly here at the cross streets
13:20
of west murphy and south market
13:22
there's a mural over there
13:24
and a coffee shop which doesn't appear
13:26
to be open called the mad bean
13:30
i like that well you know what there's a
13:32
washboard out front i'll walk over there
13:33
i've already had a
13:35
coffee but
13:36
another one might not be a bad idea it
13:39
is cold some law office sign up there
13:42
as well as
13:51
toilet paper sanitizer all could be on
13:52
this little corner store see the law
13:54
offices in the window all right turning
13:55
the corner
13:56
this place is a
13:58
gym
14:00
if ever there was one
14:03
look at this
14:04
little mural here as well also like i
14:06
said very difficult to make out you got
14:08
to watch where i'm stepping
14:10
but up here looks like a cup of joe
14:13
it is
14:14
this town is like a place after my own
14:17
heart
14:18
that's a piping-hot caffeinated beverage
14:24
we don't slip
14:24
don't slip
14:31
oh yeah i get excited it's about a
14:31
little stuffy that's something about
14:32
nice cool crisp weather puts me in such
14:34
a good mood
14:36
obviously i don't want to slip and fall
14:38
and i don't want my fingers to get numb
14:40
but other than that i really enjoy cool
14:43
weather when i am not sweating
14:45
profusely in the summer heat any other
14:48
time
14:49
i am really content i enjoy
14:53
not sweating
14:54
can't be i can't be the only one
14:58
dry goods and
14:59
country store right there don't get me
15:01
wrong this might be a little too chilly
15:03
a few degrees warmer would be nice but i
15:06
like how it got like hoodie weather i
15:08
like having the hoodie being able to
15:09
have the option
15:11
yeah i like it
15:20
it's really not that bad it's still
15:20
about 29 30 degrees it doesn't really
15:22
feel like because there's no wind chill
15:24
it's wind chillis
15:26
the sunflower right there got some
15:29
horses next to that barn
15:31
there's the sign for the north business
15:33
district
15:35
highway 220
15:40
here's the license a license plate
15:40
agency
15:42
and the mad bean
15:44
and today has a recording of this as
15:46
sunday they are not open
15:49
at the moment even though they have they
15:50
left the sign on and the washboard out
15:54
yeah
15:55
i would have got a second
15:57
coffee
15:58
if they were open
16:00
i always like to
16:02
i always like to give business to these
16:03
little coffee shops when i can
16:06
especially when rolling through
16:09
back roads of america and the small
16:10
towns yeah i like this town a lot this
16:12
is nice
16:19
this is kind of neat some apartments
16:19
upstairs and this is the door leading up
16:21
to them and there's this other door
16:28
right here
16:28
and this might seem pretty common
16:31
but i get excited about it especially
16:34
you know the unique design here
16:36
old-timey design
16:38
of the way the storefront kind of bends
16:40
in
16:42
over here with the brickwork and
16:44
the pillars and whatnot
16:53
i like this place and in one of the
16:54
storefront windows is a miniature train
16:57
that has a train car
17:00
called gramps
17:04
there's gramps right there and there's
17:04
also a pig sticking it's noggin snout
17:08
out the side
17:10
of that train car
17:11
a couple old gentlemen down back there
17:13
this one is
17:15
oh it's a band so it's got the wash got
17:17
the wash pan
17:19
tap it on the wash can and then the
17:21
other guy's kind of like
17:23
blowing in the jug
17:26
very nice
17:28
tweetsie railroad
17:30
one of the cars size and also the rio
17:32
grande southern on the back a couple
17:33
blocks away i noticed as i was just
17:35
pulling out of the edge of town
17:37
there is a historical marker
17:40
right over here
17:45
called
17:45
scales law office
17:48
duty courage and daring
17:50
alfred m scales born back in 1827
17:55
and this
17:57
was his place of business am scales
18:01
attorney at law built
18:04
in 1854
18:06
this building right here
18:16
well built about 1854 close enough
18:16
to 1854. no precise
18:20
date stamp but
18:22
that's what they are approximating at
18:28
also the governor
18:28
he was the governor of north carolina
18:30
from 84 to 89 back in the 1800s look at
18:35
that also in the congress
18:38
there you go a little historical
18:39
building
18:48
with a nice warm chimney
18:48
keeping warm by the fire
18:50
back in the day drove a bit probably
18:52
about 15 20 miles
18:54
maybe not even that far 12 13 miles over
18:57
to walnut cove
19:00
there is a western auto
19:03
associate store right there
19:06
a little community 2 000 residents here
19:08
in walnut cove
19:11
the old theater here
19:17
and even though it is well into
19:17
2022 past new year's
19:23
there's still a snowman right here in
19:23
the window because it's still winter
19:34
you can see the bottom portion here
19:34
no longer the lights up here
19:36
we have the the bulbs going down below
19:39
the marquee
19:41
and up here this says just plain country
19:43
store
19:49
look at this jeep pulling through
19:49
i think we do really well in the ice and
19:53
this is a corner of 4th and main
19:55
where the just plain i don't want to
19:57
slip on this
19:59
the just plain country store
20:02
states
20:04
granny had it we got it
20:08
i'm not sure what granny had
20:10
but whatever it was that granny had
20:13
this country store now has it
20:16
what does that mean
20:18
do they take it from granny
20:34
old gas pumps here blue sunoco
20:34
b-line satellite
20:40
oh look at this
20:40
aladdin kerosene mantle lamps
20:49
very nice and over there is roller mills
20:49
incorporated
20:51
you can even see purina chows written on
20:53
the side
20:55
and there's an old broken down toyota
20:57
jeep as well
20:59
over on that wall beside the post office
21:02
post office is down there
21:04
is a some painting of some town folks
21:08
having some tea in their top hats
21:16
i don't know what it is but i
21:16
really like the the structure of this
21:19
building here
21:21
with the little alcove area walking into
21:23
the storefront
21:25
and over here is the walnut cove motor
21:28
company
21:29
lincoln ford and fordson service and
21:32
bill's barber shop and inside the barber
21:34
shop is a couple
21:36
relic bikes of schwinn's
21:39
down in there antique schwinn's
21:42
no appointment needed
21:44
first come first serve
21:46
and classic car alerts
21:49
inside these windows as well
21:51
yeah take a look there's quite a few in
21:54
always a fun game of sorts to try to
21:56
figure out what was written here what
21:58
the advertisement was
22:08
that's a tough one looks like there's a
22:08
bee there at the front
22:10
also over here is another
22:25
discovery okay maybe a d
22:25
discovery at the bottom hmm
22:33
this one is a little easier
22:33
more letters are legible
22:40
aside of this storefront
22:40
continued on a bit
22:42
and gotta love
22:45
these
22:47
more
22:49
classic car alert classic cars alert
22:52
this one without the hood some flat
22:54
tires
22:56
and not just these that are
22:58
pretty amazing
23:09
hunter's specialty
23:09
mechanic shop which has a a golf emblem
23:13
metallic sign and the golf pumps
23:17
as well
23:18
it's also an advertisement for kendall
23:20
motor oil
23:23
right down here
23:32
now this states 29
23:32
cents per gallon
23:33
when it was last used but almost looks
23:36
as if
23:37
it is an active fuel station
23:48
did a good job of restoring this
23:48
with the lights up top there
23:55
nice ford truck there i think that's a
23:55
ford right there
23:57
and then a few more
23:59
old relics as well over there in the
24:01
distance
24:03
oh i hear a dog barking
24:05
i'm gonna zoom in
24:15
go when i
24:15
i heard a dog bark
24:18
probably should get back in the car
24:19
before i have a run in with a junkyard
24:21
dog
24:23
and now approaching walkertown i think
24:26
this is the train station old train
24:28
station i'm passing at the moment
25:00
i was here to train in a few days love
25:00
me some trains
25:02
pulling away from the station
25:12
slow pace
25:12
glad i caught that
25:14
see ya train
25:44
i know this is a long take but wait for
25:44
it
25:51
and there it
25:51
went
25:56
nice
25:56
last stop of the day is here in sandy
25:59
ridge
26:00
north carolina
26:03
at a pond store
26:04
that has a very
26:06
expansive setup here
26:10
you see the ice is covering the little
26:12
pond here but underneath it are some koi
26:14
fish down there
26:16
resting in the warmth of the underbelly
26:18
of the water in fact look at this frog
26:35
still doing its job though
26:35
spitting the water out of its mouth
26:47
let's start heading back over to my
26:47
hotel i check out in the morning
26:49
and my mom is there and she flies out
26:51
tonight so i'll be taking her to the
26:53
airport she will be back in central
26:55
florida by late this evening
26:57
so i'm gonna go spend a little time with
26:58
her
26:59
at the course of the rest today it's
27:01
been nice
27:02
having her around for the last you know
27:04
week and a half or so
27:06
she flew over to myrtle beach airport
27:10
and then stayed a couple extra days
27:12
and is flying out of here
27:14
hooked her one way into myrtle beach and
27:16
then
27:17
one way out of the airport here in
27:20
greensboro
27:22
so definitely doing a lot of family
27:23
stuff
27:25
usually i film a lot more during the day
27:28
over an extended period of the day
27:30
but since she's been here doing a lot of
27:32
the family stuff visiting with a lot of
27:34
aunts and uncles and some personal stuff
27:36
that was not the case you can see the
27:38
koi are down there moving around they
27:40
hear me talking hello koi
27:43
but after tomorrow back in the groove
27:47
by myself
27:49
family time is over for now
27:52
and i will i'm planning on being out for
27:54
about another
27:56
two and a half to three weeks
27:58
before
27:59
heading back to my homestead a place in
28:01
celebration florida
28:04
still enjoying the cold crispness
28:07
of north carolina i don't know i might
28:09
pop into virginia
28:11
i might not
28:12
i don't know i don't know how the roads
28:13
will be up there so i might just stay
28:15
around north carolina and then some of
28:17
the other southern states before going
28:18
back to florida there's a koi over there
28:21
kind of feasting on something in the
28:23
water
28:27
either way though i appreciate you
28:27
watching
28:28
and i'll see you in the next video
28:35
the vlog oh there's a gator he is
28:35
disheveled though his torso and tail
28:39
are discombobulated
28:45
i'll see you in the next video
28:45
again thank you so much for watching
28:47
really appreciate it
28:53
so just going out sometimes and doing a
28:53
very random
28:55
roll around some back roads in the
28:58
coldness and christmas of the ice and
29:01
the fact that anyone watches
29:04
means a lot to me
29:07
it's a blessing and i'm very thankful
29:09
i'll see you in the next video the vlog
29:11
is
29:13
the long outro right
29:21
over
29:21
oh
29:21
i'm a cricket
29:26
uh i think that's a cricket it could be
29:26
wrong