Walton's Mountain

My very most favorite television series of all time is The Waltons. I can identify with the Walton family as it is very similar to my own. You can't even begin to understand how similar it was growing up. My love for the Waltons has followed me from childhood to adulthood. It is probably one of those things about me I have never really let you all in on. I don't even really know where this rambling is going other than to tell you what I did this past weekend. I had remembered reading that the anniversary of the Walton's Museum was coming up. I took a minute to check the website. Yes! It was and so with a word to Steve we found ourselves dressed and headed down highway 29 going south. The Waltons is a television series that I have been trying to get my children to watch with me. Colby loves it and always has. Gracie not so much right now. The series was written by Earl Hamner and the characters are based somewhat on his own family members. The real Waltons Mountain is in a tiny little cross in the road in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, about an hour south of my house. The real Waltons Mountain is the village of Schuyler in Nelson County. Charlottesville, Covesville, Rockfish and the river, is all real. So saturday we went to the museum. We stopped here and took in what there was too see. This happened to be one of the more interesting exhibits. We even got a copy of the Balwin Sister's recipe. It is made with apricots, don't you know. Not the standard apples. As happy as I was to visit and see everything there was to see I was also a bit disappointed. The museum is the old elementary school turned community center/museum that houses memorabilia and stage sets and props from the series. We saw John-boy's room, the family room, the kitchen and the real radio on loan from the Smithsonian. But something was missing. Amidst all the celebrating and bluegrass/gospel singers it just didn't feel right. We made our way through all the rooms and the exhibits. We read everything and looked at it all. Perhaps the very most entertaining was the room dedicated to the Balwin ladies and The Recipe. There was plenty to see and read in that room. My photos do not do it justice. We took a walk down the road and stopped at the Walton's Mountain Country Store which really wasn't much of a store. It was a small building that supposedly is a country inn with rooms for rent and the store part was a tiny room not much bigger than a closet filled with a few postcards, Earl's books, a few tapes and cd's and some overpriced t-shirts for sale. Not a country store at all. Down below the store the church is beautiful. The Hamner home is in need of some TLC. The little store that is like Ike Godsey's is further down the road. I tried to take a photo of the Rockfish road sign but it came out blurry. The house across the way, in a village that thrives on the tourism that it can draw, was big and yellow and sat on the corner. As you turned the corner the back of the house and yard was visible. In the back, up against the house, was rotten furniture, the stuffing of which was laid out in a pile and left the main intersection looking like a slummy junk yard. Maybe my expectations were too high. I really don't know. I felt so lost and let down with the exhibition. I could still now almost cry over it. I walked into that museum and felt like I had walked into a room full of elementary bulletin boards put together by children. There were so many displays and the walls covered with things but it wasn't presented very well in my opinion. Knowing what I know now, should I ever return (which I will) I will not be going to the museum (I use the term loosley). The normal admission is $6 per person and children under 6 are free. It is over priced. In good faith I cannot send you and let you spend your money to walk into that building. It is not a $6 per person show. From what I understand the cast of the tv show and Mr. Hamner himself have very little to do with the place. They have made appearances in the past but now not so much. Perhaps they too are a bit shamed by it all. I am nearly in tears now. I was heart broken by the experience. On a brighter note the trip down our mountain and up to their mountain was breathtaking. I wanted to show you the amazing blaze of color from the mountains from where I live but the camera and my skill just could not capture the sheer magnificance of it all. Instead here is a rose in my orchard. October and roses are blooming. How lucky I am to live here where I do. And this tree in my front yard out shines all of the mountain views for miles and miles around. It is the first one to deck itself in glorious color. It is often said you can never go home. This I know to be true. Georgia for me no longer is home. Virginia and the Blue Ridge Mountains is now home. The ideals I learned growing up and shared by watching a television show with the rest of the nation are the same ones I teach my own children. The innocence of that time in America is long past and nearly forgotten by many. At my house it is still living and thriving.