About five miles out from Abingdon and well worth the drive down the country roads to get there,…read moreWhite's Mill and mercantile is a restored/working 18th century water mill that produces the best coarse ground yellow grits I have ever had (my first taste was the White's Mill Grit Cakes served at Abingdon's Bone Fire Smokehouse and I've never looked back/had better since). The goodness of those yellow grits are the main reason I'm writing this review, but the mill itself and the adjacent "mercantile" country store (where you can find said grits available for purchase stored within a chest freezer alongside other White's Mill milled grains (like cornmeal, flour, white grits etc.). I've never seen anyone attending the mill any time I have visited thus I cautiously wander around inside with at least one buddy in tow as the interior looks every bit as old as it's 1790 establish date (the 1866 restoration notwithstanding). From the entrance level there are rooms both upstairs and down, the lover level revealing a cool living room type of space complete with a hearth/fireplace and a lot of huge, aged and complicated-looking gears and other oddly quiet antiquated mechanics in motion. It feels like entering a portal to another time; braving the creaking stairs within the mill is an adventure in and of itself. The mercantile is an old house-turned-store next to the mill stocked windows-to-walls with goods, wears, and--let's be real--junk. If you like being overwhelmed with multiple rooms full of stuff and sifting through troves seeking treasures, get thee to this out-of-the-way country store. Aside from grain, jellies, and jams, you can find all kinds of antiques and other random oddities that only rural bric-a-brac magnets like this place can accrue. As a final testament to the boss quality of White's Mill yellow grits: when I moved to Japan I brought two bags with me that I keep squirreled away in the freezer for days when I have a fever for the flavor. To cook coarse yellow grits: boil 4 parts water and add 1 part grits. Stir every few minutes for about 25 minutes until they reach a naturally creamy consistency. Experiment to find your flavor by adding seasoning, cream/milk/water, cheese, other stuff etc. -or- let them cool and make polenta-like grit cakes :)

Located adjacent to the Coal Museum, this marker recalls a local music hero who made it…read more It reads, "Carl Martin was born in Big Stone Gap in April 1906. He grew up in Southwest Virginia and moved to Knoxville, Tenn., in 1918. He performed regionally on the guitar, mandolin, bass, and violin at coal camps, dances, and in traveling shows. In 1930, Martin's string band recorded two instrumentals for Vocalion, released under the band name "Tennessee Chocolate Drops" for a black audience and the "Tennessee Trio" in the white old-time music series. Martin moved to Chicago in the 1930s, recording blues and performing with such artists as Big Bill Broonzy and Tampa Red until serving in World War II. The 1960s folk revival brought Martin before new audiences. He died in Detroit on 10 May 1979." Country music, if you're a fan: https://youtu.be/r508dnuveuU [Review 13455 overall, 774 of 2020.]

Small wooden piece of public art tucked into some untamed weeds and bushes next to a gas station in…read moresmall town Castlewood Virginia. My buddy and I was on a small road trip and we both always enjoy finding public art and adding and reviewing to Yelp so we noticed this and stopped. Overall solid and cool little piece. Be nice if they took care of the shrubbery around it so it is more visible.

This marker stands on Main Street to the side of a tall brick building that used to be the local…read morehigh school. The marker is on two sides and reads, "his brick facility was built in 1923 by the United States Coal and Coke Co., then leased to Lynch Colored Common Graded School District. Students from Benham and Lynch enrolled in the high school. The first four graduates received their diplomas in 1928." "W.L. Shobe was principal, 1939-56, and was an outstanding and progressive administrator. After Professor Shobe's retirement, Coach John V. Coleman promoted to principal; school name changed to West Main High. School had many notable students and athletes." Online, there is more information... When the coal boom hit eastern Kentucky in the early-twentieth century, mining companies primarily recruited their workers from three population segments. First were local residents, who were traditionally farmers. Second were immigrants, including natives of Poland, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Italy. Third were African Americans from the Southern states. Like the native mountaineers, they were typically farmers or had worked in the iron foundries of cities such as Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Birmingham, Alabama. Many African Americans who tired of a sharecropping existence welcomed a new change of scenery and opportunity for wage labor. [Review 13459 overall, 778 of 2020.]

Lynch is worth the drive off the beaten path!! So much history! There are several plaques giving…read morehistory and its like stepping back in time.

This marker helps us remember an important ally to students and the community. It reads,…read more "Principal of the East Benham High School, 1934-60. Matthews taught math and coached ball teams. The students were children of employees of Wisconsin Steel Coal Company. Joseph Matthews and his wife Ruth were leaders in black community and bought food, clothes, and supplies for the needy. Presented by Students, Faculty, and Friends and the Ky. African American Heritage Commission." There is unfortunately no other information I can find about Mr. Matthews [Review 13460 overall, 779 of 2020.]

Wise County is named for Henry A. Wise, 33rd governor of Virginia (1856-1860) and a brigadier…read moregeneral on the Confederate side during the Civil War. Wise county was established in 1856 from portions of Russell, Lee and Scott Counties. The current courthouse was constructed in 1896 and is in Renaissance Revival and Beaux-Arts styles by famed architect Frank P. Milburn. Milburn is responsible for other courthouses I have reviewed including Boyd County (Catlettsburg KY), Columbia County (Lake City FL), and Lowndes County (Valdosta GA) and the South Carolina State House. As a Charlottean, I'm aware that he designed the Mecklenburg County courthouse though it no longer stands. It replaces the 1856 courthouse that was destroyed during the Civil War. It features tan-colored brick twin towers, ornate masonry, and a clock tower. An open well staircase with a classicized newel in the shape of a fluted column with an Ionic capital, an iron railing with applied anthemion ornamentation and whimsical scrolled embellishment, and open-work treads made of cast iron are all features of the interior's primary entrance hall. All around the hall is a wooden matchboard wainscot. The original pressed-tin ceiling in the hall is still there. The courtrooms are on the second floor. There is plentiful street parking on weekends. [Review 632 of 2025 - 1480 in Virginia - 24193 overall]

Ate at Yesterday's Texas in Bridgeport. Both the food and our server Angie, were great.read more

Just across the border from Kentucky into Virginia, this marker points out the importance of the…read morearea here in reference to the Civil War. The marker reads, "Pound Gap probably was named for nearby grain pounding mill. Christopher Gist, returning from the Ohio River where he surveyed land for the Ohio Company, crossed the gap in 1751. During the Civil War, Pound Gap gained strategic importance as a gateway between Virginia and Kentucky. Union Col. James A. Garfield (later president) and his brigade forced the gap from the Kentucky side on 16 March 1862 after a skirmish with Confederate forces under Brig. Gen. Humphrey Marshall. Confederate Brig. Gen. John Hunt Morgan forced it from the Virginia side, capturing and destroying property in Kentucky." Long before the Civil War made it a military chokepoint, Pound Gap served as one of the few practical crossings through the tangled high ridges of Pine Mountain, guiding traders, drovers, and families moving between the upper Kentucky River valley and the Clinch River country. The route hardened into a wagon road in the nineteenth century, and its steep approach on the Kentucky side became notorious for mud, washouts, and the slow, echoing climb of freight teams. After the war, the gap's importance shifted to resource extraction, with timber crews and early coal operators using it as a corridor to reach remote hollows on both sides of the state line. In the early twentieth century, the arrival of automobiles forced state engineers to carve a more reliable roadway across the crest, replacing the old rutted track with a graded highway that finally made year‑round travel possible. Today the overlook near the gap offers a sweeping view into Virginia, a reminder that this narrow pass has always been less a boundary than a hinge between two mountain worlds. It is marker number XB-7 and it was erected in 1999 by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. [Review 75 of 2026 - 1521 in Virginia - 25265 overall]

US-23 is a busy highway, running 61 miles across western Virginia from the Tennessee state line…read morenear Weber City north to the Kentucky state line near Pound. This section is a four lane highway and so there is plenty of room to stop and read this marker that points out you are crossing from Wise County into Lee County. The Lee County side reads, "Lee County, the western-most county in Virginia, was formed from Russell County in 1792; a part of Scott County was added later. The county is named for Henry 'Light- Horse Harry' Lee, governor of Virginia from 1791 to 1794 and former American Revolutionary War officer. Cumberland Gap National Historic Park lies partly in Lee County and in the states of Kentucky and Tennessee. The Cumberland Gap was the principal route through the mountains that Native Americans and early European settlers used to travel to the west and the south. The county seat is Jonesville." The Wise County side reads, "Wise County was formed in 1856 from Lee, Scott, and Russell counties. It was named for Henry Alexander Wise who was governor of Virginia from 1856 to 1860. The county seat is the town of Wise. After the Civil War the town of Wise grew and the county's industry expanded because of the growth of the railroads and the increased mining of coal in the region. Noted novelist John Fox Jr. lived in the town of Big Stone Gap here for a portion of his life and wrote the best-selling novels 'The Trail of the Lonesome Pine' and 'The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come.'" It is marker number Z-189 and it was erected in 2003 by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. [Review 78 of 2026 - 1524 in Virginia - 25268 overall]