MADISON, NC AND SURROUNDING ROADS (Mark)

We were on the road making a loop through Madison, NC.  We were gone a good portion of the day; perfect.

This saw blade caught our eye; it looks big enough to cut through a fairly significant piece of lumber.

[Cheri, laughing here.  Mark inadvertently spelled the last word above "lumbar," as in a portion of the back.  Old habits fade hard!]

Not far away was this not quite airworthy-looking apparatus:

I grew up around general-aviation small airplanes, and trust me; this one will not be getting an airworthiness certificate.

This little barber shop looks big enough for two chairs and four people:

But it is probably sufficient size for the area.  It is enough in the country that you can be sure they do not get much walk-in tourist traffic.  While this shop is smaller than most, there are a lot of shops of this type in the area near our home.

This little brick building houses an insurance agency:

It is situated by an offset three-way intersection.  It is so small, and barely off the roadway; I hope they never need their own insurance due to a car veering slightly off the road.

I believe the old building behind the insurance agency is only still standing due to the vines:

My friend Tommy would have said, “it is a good thing the vines are holding hands.”

Once we actually reached Madison, population just over 2,100, Cheri had several shops she wanted to spend time in, so I started strolling through the town. 

I love the patina on these doors; I wonder how long it took for them to reach this stage.

This business not only had nice reflections in the glass door, but they had a number of historical surveying items on display:

One of the old surveying tools, with wonderful brass work and craftsmanship:

I do not know what year this booklet was printed; it's definitely printed in a font I have not seen in quite a while.

This building, built in about 1854 was the Law Office of Alfred Moore Scales.

Scales became the 45th Governor of NC serving from 1885 to 1889.  He had a very active life despite being wounded several times during the Civil War; it is worth reading his Wikipedia page.

It would not be a post about a small North Carolina town without at least a little wall art:

The competitor soft drink also was well represented:

If you look closely you will see a wedding dress in every window here:

I think it is a good thing a bridal boutique operates out of this house.  If instead, the owner was displaying every wedding dress she had worn . . .

This is another of the little businesses in town:

All the local commerce could use the business.

The town just got bad news.  One of the bigger businesses is shutting down and several hundred employees will be out of work.  The town housed the corporate headquarters of Remington Arms until it went bankrupt in 2020, a huge blow for the area.

The old town clock tower:

The building that houses the clock tower has an interesting history itself.  It has been an automobile garage, a tobacco warehouse and auction, a wholesale grocery company, and the headquarters of Gem-Dandy, Inc.

If I had stayed with Cheri, I would have seen the Lawson Family Murder Museum, housed in the second floor of the Madison Dry Goods Store.  Maybe another day.

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