I grew up in a small mountain village in the Virginia Appalachians. As a child I thought this an ordinary place to live, actually it seemed caught in a time warp. Often I felt that life had passed it by. Would I be able to escape when I became a grown-up? I wanted to leave and move to an exciting, bustling city. I just knew life was better in other places.
There is a reason Belspring never grew up. Here is the story the best I can remember.
Belle Spring, Bell Spring, Belspring, whatever it was called was a beautiful little cluster of mostly modest houses filled with hard working people with names like Tice, MCClaugherty, Chumbly, Webb, Brown, Buckland, Ratcliff, Frazier, Gordon,Kirkwood, McCoy,Sifford, Long, Bland, Newcomb, Harris, Cloyd, Bruce and Calhoun.
The legend goes that Belspring was named for a spring located in a hollow just as you entered the village. The running clear, cold water had a distinct sound of a bell. The spring has long dried up but the name remains the same.
In the late 1800s a railroad was built through the middle of the village of Belspring.(I'm not certain when the spelling was changed from Bell Spring to Belspring but the story goes that it was done by the Post Office to save time in writing it.) The village began to prosper and new businesses were springing up The planner of the village had laid it out in blocks as you would have in a town When my family moved there in about 1944 most of the sidewalks remained.
It was about the turn of the century (1900) when the railroad officials decided the incline into Belspring was too steep. They changed the route of the railroad to flat land along New River. The little village which was about to take off and become a bustling town stopped growing. At some prosperous times the village may have had several businesses but it fluctuated, never growing into a town.
As I look back I'm thankful that Belspring never grew up. It seemed to stay a kinder, gentler place just as it was in 1900. We were free to roam on its broom sedge covered hills and look for craw dads in the creek. The closeness of its people, the "big family" attitude enriched my childhood and molded me into a better person. The boring life I thought I lived as a child was an adventure as I "retrieve those "memoirs" in my writing.
Your comments are welcomed. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Caldwell, kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
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