The notice in the Matteson-Richton Park Star on Thursday, August 29, 1985 in the obituaries read: “ROSE FINNEGAN. Services were Thursday for Rose Finnegan of University Park, who died Monday at her home. Burial will be in Assumption Cemetery in Glenwood following a 10:00 AM Mass today at St. Lawrence O’Toole Church in Matteson. Mrs. Finnegan was born July 9, 1906, in County Monaghan, Ireland, and lived in this area 10 years. She is survived by two sons, Eugene of Matteson, and Jerry Mingin of Edison, NJ, and two grandchildren. Her husband, Eugene, died in 1972, and a son, John Mingin, in 1969.” The wake was the night before the funeral at the Hirsch & Spindler-Koelling Funeral Home at 1340 Otto Boulevard, Chicago Heights. They had a nice booklet about my mother, Rose Finnegan, and a holy card “In Remembrance,” with the prayer for peace of St. Francis. The memorial book listed her parents, Peter Finnegan and Ellen Dooley, whom I never met since they had died before I was born. Her husband was Eugene Finnegan, and her three sons were Eugene Finnegan, John Mingin, and Jerry Mingin. This memorial book listed her five sisters, Kate, Elizabeth, Mary, Bridget, and Ann, along with her two brothers Tom and Pat, as well as her two grandchildren, Joy Finnegan and Jerry Mingin. The pallbearers were John Rangel, Jim Bailey, Jack Fleming, and Greg Stanek, neighbors of ours. At the wake, there were ten people from Thornwood House, who knew my mother, but I did not know any of them. My brother, Jerry Mingin, and my cousins, Mary Henry and John Finnegan were my only relatives at the funeral home, but there were over thirty-five other people who signed the “Relatives and Friends Book” at the funeral home. They included many of Margaret’s fellow teachers and our neighbors: Augustine Witt, Karin Cole, Betty Schwab, Mary and Dick Bisaillon, Paul and Jan Egbers, Ralph and Rose Mary Ditchie, Sue Miller, Karen Nair, Jane Fagan, Joanne McCarthy, Joyce Dalrymple, Barb Rook, Eunice Green, Donna Hoffman, Barbara Taylor, Beth Brophy, Katie Foley, Zelia Cato, Barb Wojtczak, Arlene Garbacz, Jim and Chris Bailey, Bill and Linda Siegert, Mr. and Mrs. Terell Mailhiot, the Gerry Pannaralla family, Ralph and Rose Mary Ditchie, Chris Smith, and Father Ed Cronin who led the prayer service. There was nobody from my work at Montgomery Ward, since it was so far away for most of them. However, when I went back to work, I found out that Connie Bettilyon had taken up a collection for me. “A collection is being taken for Gene Finnegan, Budget Store Assistant Manager, in memory of his mother, Rose Finnegan, who passed away on Monday, August 26, 1985. Please return envelope to Connie Bettilyon in the Budget Store. Thank you.” There were eleven people from the Montgomery Ward store and around fifty from the warehouse who had signed it and contributed to this collection. I was touched. At the 10:00 AM Funeral Mass of Resurrection the next day, Father Cronin presided, as all the grade school children from St. Lawrence O’Toole were present, because Margaret was a teacher there and Joy was a junior high student. After Mass, we had the car procession to the cemetery where my mother was buried at Assumption Cemetery in Glenwood, IL, in Section 12, Block 36, Plot 7, Grave 1. We had a small reception luncheon afterwards. “It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead.” Do you remember the funeral of your mother?
My mother died on August 26, 1985
In late August, 1985, we had not heard from my mother for a couple of days. Margaret told me to call her. I called her a couple of times and she did not respond. After a day or two, Margaret decided to go by herself to check up on my mother Rose who was living at Thornwood House in University Park, about ten minutes from where we lived in Matteson. When she got there, she found my mother laying on her couch unresponsive. I told her to call 911. She did, and called the priest from St. Lawrence O’Toole, Rev. Edward Cronin. He came and told her that my mother was dead. I began to feel bad that I had been so neglectful to her the last couple of weeks. My mother was gone at age 79. She had lived a good long life. My father had died at age 72, thirteen years earlier. She had been a widow for nearly fifteen years. As a little child, I thought that I could not get along without her. However, as I grew older, I knew that I would be able to live without her. She was kind, yet overbearing. She always defended me, but demanded a lot from me. Both my parents were now dead, but I was 46 years old. I began to think about all the people who had their parents die, who were younger than me, young people. I suddenly missed her. She had no long illness and no history of heart problems. She had suffered a sudden heart attack. The official death certificate said “cardiac arrest collapse with associated arteriosclerotic heart disease.” She might have been dead a day or two before Margaret found her. Then we had to plan the funeral. Jerry and Mom had taken care of my father’s funeral and my brother Johnny’s funeral. We were going to have the funeral at St. Lawrence O’Toole, our parish, where Margaret taught in the grade school. Which funeral home? I had to decide what funeral home and where to bury her, all the decisions that I had not thought about. Father Cronin at O’Toole helped us with these decisions. We had to go to the funeral home to pick out the casket. I remember going to the funeral home in Chicago Heights, and having to decide what kind of coffin we should get for my mother. Where would she be buried? We decided on Assumption Cemetery in Glenwood, because it was not far away. I called Jerry Mingin, my brother, in New Jersey. Then I called my cousin Jerry Finnegan in Connecticut, since his deceased father Tom and my mother were brother and sister. I also called by cousins in Denver. Jerry flew out from New Jersey to be with us. My cousin, Mary Henry from the Bronx, was living in Naperville, Illinois, after having lived in Janesville, Wisconsin, for some years. She was a few years older than me. Her mother’s sister was married to my mother’s brother. I had a very pleasant time with her as we recalled the years in New York where Aunt Kate, Mom’s sister, was so kind. I realized why she was called “Mary from the Bronx” because of her very pronounced Bronx accent. My other cousin John Finnegan flew in from Denver. His father John and my father were brothers. John was 68, and retired from the Army Corps of Engineers. We talked about Denver and the west that I had never seen. Do you remember when your mother died?
Various South Dakota Kleins come to Chicago
During the 1980s, many of Margaret’s relatives came to visit us in Chicago, in Matteson, IL. Of course, Margaret’s parents, Mary and Peter Klein, came to visit us and their granddaughter Joy practically every year. Sometimes, they drove their car. Then they tried to fly. Other times, they took a bus from Minneapolis to Chicago. I know that one time, we went apple picking in an orchard near us in Matteson, Illinois. However, then Margaret’s brothers and sisters came to visit us also. I know that Margaret’s brother Mike and his wife Grace came to visit us after they got married. However, they were always busy with their daily dairy farm and taking care of their four children after their first-born twins died at childbirth. Thus, they did not come that often. Margaret’s sister Rosie would bring her two kids to Chicago, on their way to and from a visit to their father in Michigan. However, I believe it was in the summer of 1985 that Margaret’s brother Ed and his wife with their three daughters came to visit us. They stayed at the house so that it was a little crowded. At least Joy had a few cousins to visit her, since two of them were close to the same age as Joy. I decided it would be a good idea to visit the aquarium in downtown Chicago on what they call the museum campus. I do not remember if we went to the Planetarium also. Everything went well, until we were watching the feeding of the fish as everyone gathered around a big fish tank close-up. Suddenly, I felt my wallet coming out of my pocket. I looked at the guy next to me and said to him that he stole my wallet. He said that he did not have my wallet. I got mad and started shouting. Finally, a guard came over and I told him what happened. I even pointed out the guy who did it. He came over to me and said that he had not done anything. They ever searched him. I was very upset. The guards did nothing. I lost all my cash, my IDs, and credit cards. Finally, one guard told me that it happened all the time around the feeding of the fish. That was little consolation. In fact, it made me angrier, because they were not doing anything about it. That spoiled that day. I wanted to get home to call about my credit cards. They had an 800 number that I called. The credit card people said that the card had been used in the last hour, but I would not be responsible for any charges. They seemed nice. However, for the next month, it was a hassle as I tried to get my driver’s license and social security cards back. It was the annoyance that was the worst. Besides, I was not a good host. The Kleins were gone the next day. We had more South Dakota Klein guests, but that was the most memorable for me. I remember picking people up at O’Hare, waiting for people at O’Hare, and bringing people to O’Hare, since the airport was only about ten minutes from the Montgomery Ward store in Franklin Park. Have you ever been robbed?
Hersheypark, Pennsylvania
However, the next day, the last of our trip, June 22, 1985, we headed to Hersheypark. I was not sure what to expect. Hershey is an unincorporated community in Derry Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 14 miles east of Harrisburg. Hershey is home to the famous Hershey Chocolate Company, which was founded by candy magnate Milton S. Hershey (1857-1945) in 1900. The first Hershey bars proved so popular that he was able to build his own company town of Hershey, Pennsylvania. Hersheypark was founded in 1906, as a leisure park for the employees of the Hershey Company. In 1923, it became an amusement park when it opened its first roller coaster. However, it was redeveloped in 1970 with new rides. Between 1991 and 2008, it added eight roller coasters and a water park. As of 2020, the park had over 121 acres, containing 76 rides and attractions, as well as a zoo. Adjacent to the park was Hershey’s Chocolate World, a visitor center attraction that contains shops, restaurants, and a chocolate factory-themed tour ride, where visitors can get their picture taken and receive a piece of chocolate at the end of the ride. Over three million people a year attend Hersheypark. Thus, we, Margaret, Joy, and I, all went to Hersheypark, a family theme park in Hershey, Pennsylvania. I have seven postcards and three brochures from our one day at Hersheypark. I loved plain Hershey chocolate bars as a kid. Hersheypark had developed many themed areas, the first being Carousel Circle. In 1985, this area had a carousel, a giant wheel, a tilt-a-whirl, a scrambler, a comet roller coaster, and a ballon flite. The Tower Plaza, another area, had a kissing tower, a sky ride, the twin turnpike, a coal shaker, a coal cracker, and a Super Dooper Looper. The Animal Garden had kiddie rides, a monorail, the dry gulch railroad, the timber rattler, and the starship America. Besides the rides, there were theatres there also. The Amphitheatre had a dance show 85. The Trailblazer had a hoedown. The Fest Haus had German music. The Aqua Theatre had a dolphin and sea lion show, that I think that we saw. I am not sure about the other shows. I know that we went to Founder’s Way that was outside of the main gate near Tram Circle. There was a whole history of Hershey, the factory, and sample Hershey kisses and candies. I liked the whole experience. I was surprised at how good it was, since I was afraid it might be gimmicky, but it was not. We headed back tired to the hotel in Harrisburg on that Saturday night. On Sunday morning, June 23, we headed across the Susquehanna River to New Cumberland for a 9:00 AM Mass at St. Theresa of the Infant Jesus Church, that is still there today. Then we hit the road again, making a few stops for gas, food, and potty breaks. We were back home in Matteson, Illinois on late Sunday night as we finished up our southern trip to Tennessee in 1985 in Pennsylvania. Do you like Hershey bars?
A couple of nights in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
I had fourteen postcards and a couple of brochures of Gettysburg as we headed to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the capital city of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, that Friday night. We spent two nights, Friday and Saturday, June 20-21, 1985, at the Days Inn off exit 18 on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, about 40 miles from Gettysburg. Thus, it would be easy to get on the turnpike on Sunday to head home. With a population of about 50,000 people on 12 square miles, Harrisburg is only the ninth-most populous city in Pennsylvania, situated on the east bank of the Susquehanna River, 83 miles southwest of Allentown and 107 miles northwest of Philadelphia. Yet it was within a two-hour drive of the metro areas of Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and a three-hour drive to New York City and Pittsburgh. Harrisburg played a role in American history during the Westward Migration, the American Civil War, and the Industrial Revolution. In the mid-to late 20th century, this city had a 50% reduction in population from 1950 to 2000, characterized by industrial decline and the population shift from the city to the suburbs. However, the region is now seen as financially stable, in part due to the high concentration of state and federal government agencies. In 1719, John Harris, Sr., an English trader, settled here and 14 years later secured grants of 800 acres. In 1785, John Harris, Jr., laid out a town on his father’s land, which he named Harrisburg that he incorporated in 1791. The Pennsylvania state legislature selected this small town of Harrisburg to become the state capital in 1812, partly because of its strategic location. In 1822, the impressive brick capitol was completed for $200,000. In 1839, William Henry Harrison and John Tyler were nominated for President and Vice President of the USA at the first national convention of the Whig Party, which was held in Harrisburg. During the first part of the 19th century, Harrisburg was a notable stopping place along the Underground Railroad, as persons escaping slavery used the Susquehanna River to access food and supplies before heading north towards Canada. Harrisburg today has Blacks 42%, Hispanics 26 %, Whites 23%, and Asian 4%. The six largest ethnic groups in the city are: African American (52%), German (15%), Irish (7%), Italian (3%), English (2%), and Dutch (1%), one of the largest Dutch communities in the country. The Pennsylvania Farm Show, the largest indoor agriculture exposition in the USA, was first held in Harrisburg in 1917, and has been held there annually ever since. This city also hosts the annual Great American Outdoor Show, the largest of its kind in the world. Harrisburg also experienced the Three Mile Island accident on March 28, 1979, in nearby Middletown. In October 2011, Harrisburg filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy when four members of the seven-member City Council voted to file for bankruptcy. However, Bankruptcy Judge Mary France dismissed the petition. Thus, a state-appointed receiver took charge of the city’s finances. Harrisburg may be one of the few USA state capital cities in receivership. Have you ever heard of a bankrupt state capital city?
The Abraham Lincoln Gettysburg Address
On November 19, 1863, USA Union President Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865) delivered dedication remarks for the Gettysburg National Cemetery. This famous American two-minute speech was a ceremonial consecration, a carefully crafted 271-word address. I remember as a middle school student in the early 1950s that I had to memorize this whole speech. I still remember some of the lines. This was the ideal unfinished America that I have never seen come to fruition during my long life of four score and seven years. The USA was the same age as I am this year, 87, when Lincoln gave this presentation.
“Four score and seven years ago
Our fathers brought forth on this continent,
A new nation, conceived in liberty,
And dedicated to the proposition
That all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war,
Testing whether that nation,
Or any nation so conceived and so dedicated,
Can long endure.
We are met on a great battle-field of that war.
We have come to dedicate a portion of that field,
As a final resting place for those
Who here gave their lives that that nation might live.
It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate,
We cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.
The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here,
Have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.
The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here,
But it can never forget what they did here.
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here
To the unfinished work which they who fought here
Have thus far so nobly advanced.
It is rather for us to be here dedicated
To the great task remaining before us
That from these honored dead
We take increased devotion
To that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion,
That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain
That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom
And that government of the people,
By the people,
And for the people,
Shall not perish from the earth.”
What do you think about this Gettysburg address?
The Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
That Friday afternoon, June 21, 1985, we headed to the Gettysburg National Military Park, about two hours away, a hundred miles from Front Royal, Virginia. Gettysburg is a borough in Adams County, Pennsylvania, and its county seat with a population of only 7,106 people. In 1760, Irishman Samuel Gettys settled at the Shippensburg-Baltimore and Philadelphia-Pittsburgh crossroads, in what was then western York County. He established a tavern frequented by soldiers and traders. Thus, his son James Gettys purchased 116 acres of his land, and then divided it up into 220 lots and sold them, as the founder of Gettysburg. The Battle of Gettysburg was fought over three days between July 1 and July 3, 1863, on two square miles, during the American Civil War. This Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle of both the Civil War and of any battle in American military history, claiming over 50,000 combined casualties, 27,000 Confederate and 23,000 Union soldiers. I think we tend to forget how brutal war is, but Gettysburg is a continual reminder. This National Park has been a highly symbolic venue for memorials and remembrance. Annually, two million people visit this park. I found it highly emotional to walk the fighting fields and see all the graves. The battle, which was won by the Union army, also proved the turning point of the war, leading to the Union’s victory two years later and the nation’s preservation. At the 50th anniversary Gettysburg reunion in 1913, at least 35,000 Union veterans, but only 7,000 Confederate veterans, took part. President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1960) has a National Historic Site, which preserves his home and farm. On July 1, 1863, General Robert E Lee (1807-1870) hoped to destroy the Union army of 100,000 with his 75,000 men. However, the Union army was expecting this attack. On the second day of battle, on July 2, the Union line was laid out in a defensive formation resembling a fishhook. On the third day of the battle, July 3, fighting resumed on Culp’s Hill, and cavalry battles raged to the east and south of Gettysburg. Pickett’s Charge featured the main military engagement, a dramatic Confederate infantry assault of approximately 12,000 Confederates troops, that attacked the center of the Union line at Cemetery Ridge, which was successfully repelled by Union rifle and artillery fire, leading to great Confederate losses. The following day, on the Fourth of July, Lee led his Confederate troops on the torturous retreat from the North. Many died because of lack of medical treatment. Lee executed an orderly withdrawal and escaped across the Potomac River without being drawn into another battle. General George Meade (1815-1872) was heavily criticized by President Abraham Lincoln for his cautious pursuit and his failure to destroy Lee’s retreating army. A proposal by Lee for a prisoner exchange was rejected by Meade. For the North, the results of this victory were priceless. In fact, the Confederates had lost militarily and politically, because on that same day, July 4, 1863, General Ulysess S Grant (1822-1885) won the Siege of Vicksburg, costing the Confederacy an additional 30,000 men, along with all their arms and stores. Gettysburg was the end of the Confederate use of Northern Virginia as a military buffer zone. Prior to Gettysburg, General Robert E. Lee had established a reputation as an almost invincible general, achieving stunning victories against superior numbers. Some asked, “Did his generals fail Lee?” Many historians have written about this battle. Some even think that maybe the northern soldiers had machine guns. What do you know about the Battle of Gettysburg?
On the road to the Shenandoah Valley
On Friday morning, June 21, 1985, we set out to finish our journey on the Blue Ridge Parkway. At milepost 84, we stopped at the Peaks of Otter, where three mountain peaks have been popular viewing sites since the days of Thomas Jefferson, as well as the Fallingwater Cascades. At milepost 56, we saw Otter Creek that runs 10 miles down the Blue Ridge to the James River. The Bluff Mountain Overlook was at milepost 52. At milepost 34, was Yankee Horse Ridge, where supposedly a hard-riding Union soldier’s horse fell and had to be shot, near Wigwam Falls. We also passed milestone 29 at Whetstone Ridge. Milepost 16 was Sherando Lake, a recreation area in George Washington National Forest. At milestone 10, Ravens Roost offered vistas of Torry Mountain and the Shenandoah Valley to the west. We did not stop at milepost 9 at Humpback Rock, a collection of old Appalachian farm buildings, nor at Greenstone at milepost 8. We finally reached our destination, milepost 0 at Rockfish Gap near Waynesboro, Virginia, the northern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway. We were going to continue north to the parkway that connected directly to the Skyline Drive, milepost 105, which went through the Shenandoah National Park. The northern part of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia was long and narrow, with the Shenandoah River and its broad valley to the west, and the rolling hills of the Virginia Piedmont to the east. Skyline Drive was the main park road, traversing along the ridgeline of the mountains. Almost 40% of the park’s land, 79,579 acres, has been designated as wilderness areas. The highest peak is Hawksbill Mountain, but at only 4,051 feet. This Shenandoah Park encompasses parts of eight counties in north-central Virginia. Some of the rocks in the park are over one billion years old. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt formally opened Shenandoah National Park on July 3, 1936. After the 1960s, park operations broadened from nature-focused to include social history. Pines predominate on the southernmost hillsides. In contrast, some of the northeastern areas are most likely loving hemlocks and mosses in abundance. Somehow Shenandoah National Park is one of the most dog-friendly parks in the national park system, while the streams and rivers in the park are very popular with fly fisherman for catching trout. There were many waterfalls within the park boundaries. Jones Run Falls was at milepost 84. Doyles River Falls was at milepost 81. South River Falls was at milepost 62. I know we stopped at Lewis Falls and Lewis Mountain at milepost 57, and then again at milepost 50, Dark Hollow Falls, which had the closest waterfall to the Skyline Drive. We also stopped at the Byrd Visitor Center, since the Rose River and Fishers Gap Overlook was there also. At milepost 42, Whiteoak Canyon had a series of six waterfalls. Overall Run at Hogback Overlook at milepost 21 had the tallest waterfall in the park. Finally, we arrived at Front Royal, the northern Virginia entrance to the Skyline Park in the Shenandoah National Park. I think that we had seen enough scenery, about 600 miles from Cherokee, North Carolina. Have you ever driven on the Virginia Skyline Drive?
Roanoke, Virginia
We spent the night of Thursday, June 20, 1985, in Roanoke, southwest Virginia, along the Roanoke River, in the Blue Ridge range of the greater Appalachian Mountains at the Holiday Inn. Roanoke is about 50 miles north of the Virginia–North Carolina border that we had passed earlier in the day, and 250 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., where we were in 1984, with a population of about 100,000 people, on 43 square miles. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Scotch-Irish and later German American farmers gradually drove the Native Americans out of the area as the American frontier pressed westward. In 1882, the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W) chose this small town as the site of its corporate headquarters and railroad shops. Within two years, this small town became the city of Roanoke, as the population grew from under 700 residents in 1880 to over 16,000 in 1890. During the 20th century, Roanoke’s boundaries expanded through annexations of surrounding Roanoke County, as it became Southwest Virginia’s economic and cultural hub. Roanoke is known for its Roanoke Star, an 88-foot-tall illuminated star that sits atop Mill Mountain within the city. Thus, it has become known as “The Star City of the South.” The current site of Roanoke lies near the intersection of the Great Wagon Road and the Carolina Road, two branches of a network of early colonial roads that developed from Native American trails in the Appalachian region. While the name Roanoke is said to have originated from a Native American word for shell beads used as a currency, that name was first used 300 miles away, where the Roanoke River emptied into the Atlantic Ocean near Roanoke Island. Before the beginning of the Civil War, in 1861, Roanoke County voted 850–0 in favor of secession, but lost many of its men fighting in the Civil War. Roanoke was among the first to adopt the Jim Crow laws that were becoming increasingly popular in the South after the Civil War. In September 1893, tensions boiled over when a white woman was allegedly robbed and beaten by an African-American man. A shootout left eight dead and thirty-one more injured. The racial makeup of the city today is 56% White, 27% African American, 8% Hispanic, and 2% Asian. Historically, flooding has been the primary weather-related hazard faced by Roanoke. The former Norfolk and Western Passenger Station has two museums there. Today, Roanoke is one of the few Democratic pockets in the otherwise heavily Republican southwestern Virginia. While Roanoke is known for its rail history, low ridership numbers led Amtrak to discontinue passenger rail service to the city in 1979. We did not stay long in Roanoke, since we were going back to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Have you ever been to Roanoke, Virginia?
The Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway in North Carolina and Virginia
Late Thursday morning, on June 20, 1985, we entered the Blue Ridge Parkway at mile marker 382, as we headed to Virginia. I remember all these stops because I have a brochure with all the places that we stopped at marked off. Our first stop on the road was at milepost 363, the Craggy Gardens in the Great Craggy Mountains with the Craggy Pinnacle Trail. Then it was on to milepost 355, Mount Mitchell State Park, where we just stopped for a look and a potty break. Up the road at milepost 316 was the Linville Falls Recreation Area, overlooking Linville Falls and the Linville Gorge. We then also stopped at milepost 305, because Linn Cove Viaduct, the last segment of the parkway built, around the side of Grandfather Mountain was not yet complete, but there was a visitor center there. We made a short stop at milepost 292, Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, the former house of Moses H. Cone, now used as the Parkway Craft Center, as well as milepost 285, the Daniel Boone Trail, and milepost 272, E. B. Jeffress Park, which has an old cabin and church. At milepost 238, was the Martin Brinegar Cabin, still standing today, that was built in 1880, and lived in until the 1930s when it was bought for this parkway, purchased from his widow. At milepost 218 was Cumberland Knob, the centerpiece of a small parkway recreation area and Fox Hunters Paradise, where hunters could listen to their hounds baying in the valley below. Finally, we reached the border between North Carolina, as we passed into Virginia on this Blue Ridge Parkway at milepost 216. The original state boundary was set in 1749, surveyed by Peter Jefferson, the father of Thomas Jefferson, and some of his friends. Around milepost 188 was Groundhog Mountain, with a variety of rural rail fences. At milepost 176, the E.B. Mabry Mill operated from 1910 to 1935, while at milepost 174, the Rocky Knob Recreation Area overlooked Rock Castle Gorge. Smart View was named for having “a right smart view” at milepost 154. Then we hit milepost 129, the Roanoke Valley Overlook, the largest city along the parkway. At milepost 120, we crossed over Roanoke Mountain on a one-way 3.7-mile loop road, with steep grades. Finally, at milepost 114, we could see the Roanoke River Gorge. We were heading to Roanoke, Virginia, to spend the night at the Holiday Inn in south Roanoke on routes 280 and 581, that is still there today. We were back in the Commonwealth of Virginia, where we were the preceding year of 1984. Have you ever traveled on a scenic road all day?
Gene Finnegan Remembers Living Eighty Wonderful Years 