what on every level of government. It was
a chance to make some lasting friends in the process. There was
also some serious humor.
We had to call some folks on the phone
because they would not respond otherwise, and those
conversations were the stuff of stand up comedy. There were
(and are) some characters. In one town, there was only one
local official who would answer our calls. He apparently had
everyone else in town completely intimidated, we guessed by his
“fire power.” He proudly declared on more than one
occasion he owned the only fireworks business in the locality,
and used this somehow to his advantage to become king of that
particular hill. We drove through that town on our way
someplace else once, and there stood his fireworks
establishment, across the street from the pecan logs at
Stuckey’s. It looked harmless enough, but you never know.
Then there was the lady we had to convince
where she was. That is, she kept telling us she was in Smyth County.
However, she was calling from and worked in Abingdon. Washington
County was where she was calling from, we kept trying to tell
her. It was no use. Later, when we visited Smyth County, we
learned what a cultural and recreational Mecca Abingdon is to
that area, so it may just be all the surrounding counties have
adopted it as their own.
We learned more when we were invited to
Washington County and they put us up in Abingdon at the Martha
Washington Inn. We were treated to a couple of nights in the
Presidential Suite at “the Martha” as the locals
call it. That’s the luxurious spread where our Governors
and other dignitaries generally stay. It was the first time
I’d seen a bathroom with two toilets one on either side
of the huge Jacuzzi tub. The johns featured phones next to
each. We were also treated to a performance of Greater
Tuna a hilarious farce at the world famous
Barter Theater down the street. We were told to meet our
chaperone on the Martha’s front veranda at seven that
evening, and sure enough, we were accompanied the few blocks
down the street to the theater. Apparently it was taboo by Abingdon
standards for an unescorted woman to been seen departing or
returning to a hotel on her own after dark.
Another place with its share of fun
customs and interesting characters if the Eastern Shore. On one
of our calls we chatted with a local hero over there who, in
addition to being one of the state’s youngest mayors, was
also a firefighter. We never could get his fellow council
members to respond to our various mailings, so we called the
fire station to see if we could get the town’s
information that way. Luckily, he was on duty that day. He said
that the highlight of his elected career so far had been a council
meeting not too long before we called. They held their council
meetings in the fire station just in case he got a call, and a
very pregnant lady pulled in and announced she was in labor. He
delivered her baby, got mom and baby safely off to the
hospital, then returned to the council meeting.
In Lunenburg County, a famous and long
serving court clerk named Mr. Moore was very helpful. In
addition to telling us all about the local politics, and recent
history of the place, he had great stories. One he waxed
lyrical about involved a beloved Sheriff who played bridge most
afternoons, no matter what. It was not uncommon for him to get
a call, and deputize his bridge partners en route. In fact
there were several occasions when they actually had to apprehend
a miscreant, lock him up, then return to the game. There was
some conjecture whether or not the “deputies”
