The fully restored train depot in Rural Retreat, Virginia. A famous O. Winston Link photograph was made next to this depot in the late 50s.
Long range view into the North Carolina Blue Ridge mountains from Laurel Hill Road in Grayson County, Virginia.
The chimney on Sugar Hill, just west of St. Paul, Virginia. In 1772, John English settled here, making him the first settler in present Wise County, Virginia. He built a log cabin on this site. On March 8, 1787, Indians suddenly burst into his home, killing his wife, Molly English, and their two little boys. John English moved to Moore's Fort in Castlewood, Virginia and later sold this home and land to a Frenchman, Francois Pierre de Tubooefuf. Francois later built this chimney on to the existing hand hewn cedar log house, which sat on this site for nearly two centuries until it was burned down by vandals in 1976. The Frenchman, his family and servants cleared this land and named it "St. Marie on the Clinch". Francois was later killed by white thieves, some of which were caught, tried, and convicted in Russell County. His survivors then moved out of the area. Future owners farmed the land and in the 1930's a maple syrup and sugar operation existed here, thus the current name of the place, "Sugar Hill".
