Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Searching for the World's Largest Granite Quarry

After a full day delay in the Chambersburg PA area - 4 hours at a Freightliner repair depot waiting to have tires looked at (only to find out they did not "do" tires) and 4 hours in a traffic jam because two semis hit each other, went off Interstate 81 and caused electrical wires to fall across all 4 lanes of highway thus closing it in both directions - it became apparent that we would not have enough time to drive the Blue Ridge Trail end to end and make our reservation at the Grand OLe Opry on Nov. 8. So we chose to do a 100 mile + section of the trail that would end in Asheville, NC.

We spent 1 night at the start of this section in Galax, VA in a beautiful, quiet RV park. As you can see, we had the place to ourselves. The tourism season in coming to an end in this area of the country.
Cool Breeze RV Resort
While looking for a campground I noticed an advertisement for "the world's largest granite quarry" in Mount Airy, NC which was only a short distance from where we were parked.

After getting organized at our camp site I couldn't find the promo piece for the quarry but how hard would the world's largest granite quarry be to find? We also wanted to check out the Blue Ridge Trail driving conditions. So off we went down a short section of the Trail and on to Mt.Airy.

What we did not know was that Mt. Airy is the birthplace and childhood home of Andy Griffith:


Now rented as accommodations for visitors to Mt.Airy:

Apparently, Mt Airy was the model for the village of Mayberry on the Andy Griffith Show. And still trades on this fame today:
Mayberry's main street
Mayberry Country Store
Remember this?
Apparently, this is also an area where people come to discover old cars that they can restore and there were several spots displaying cars of various ages and conditions for sale. Some were in pretty good shape:
And some not so much:
We never did find the world's largest granite quarry but an interesting trip never the less.

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4 comments:

  1. Hi Anne, love your adventures! Here's info on the quarry: http://www.ncgranite.com/largestquarry.aspx

    All the best, Chuck & Desy

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    1. Thanks Chuck. We are following your activities in the Philippines - keep safe.

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  2. We were the only people in our campground when we stayed in Galax, as well!! Interesting little town.

    We, also, stay in Mt. Airy and had a nice few days going back in time.

    We use to live about an hour east of Chambersburg

    Hope you get time to visit the Blue Ridge Parkway. Check out the Music Center if you have time.

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    1. Music centre was one of our main reasons for choosing Galax as a stopping spot. It, and everything else on the Parkway, was closed for the season. We did drive the Parkway from Galax to just east of Asheville - subject of next blog.

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