gkhall1955

Back in 1971 in Elkin NC there was a man who had a vision. His name was Ab Crater and he was over the Elkin Parks and Recreation. He wanted a place for the young people and teens to go to and have a good time and hang out. He took the old Elkin water plant and made a place called “The Beginning” or the coffeehouse as it was also called. Back in the 1970’s I was playing in a band called “The Caboose.” All of The Caboose members went to Starmount High School and consisted of Robbie Hall, Kim... Read Full Story

Back in the mid 1980's I played electric bass in a band called the Shotgun Band. We were based out of North Wilkesboro NC. The members of the band were Bruce Evans, Mike Beeson, Keith Hamlin and my self Keith Hall. One of the many interesting places that we performed at was called Sacketts in Radford Virginia. Its motto was the New River Valley's #1 Hotspot and truly it was. Radford was a college town and Sacketts was the place where many would go to hear some of the area's top bands perform... Read Full Story

As a young boy growing up in Jonesville NC in the early 1960's I lived over on Bridge Street and we would walk to Jonesville School which was about half a mile. There were two treats that we would have on our walk and one was the Martin's Bake Shop. They always had fresh Hot N Now doughnuts in the window when we would walk by. Krispy Kreme didn't have any thing on Martin's fresh doughnuts. They were five cents a piece when I was growing up and other's have said they can remember when they... Read Full Story

It never ceases to amaze me the things that I find concerning Bible History. It has always been a mystery to scientist and archaeologist of who built the pyramids in Egypt and what was its purpose and how they built them. Flavious Josephus was a Jewish historian who lived 2000 years ago and was of the sect of the Pharisees. He wrote much about the history of the Jewish people. He wrote about the time of the beginning starting with Adam and Eve. I would feel safer to believe his writings than... Read Full Story

When I was a young boy growing up in Yadkin County North Carolina Pizza was just not a part of our diet. Can people today even think about going through a life without pizza? A large majority of the restaurants today are centered on pizza. We had a good neighbor George and Barbara Holmes that had a daughter, she was an only child. We would always go to their house and play. It seems like they had every board game that was offered at that period of time. They took us under their wing and fed... Read Full Story

When I was born in 1955 in Elkin NC at the Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital, I was born premature. I weighed 4lbs and 5 oz. My mother was able to return home while I was left at the hospital to stay in an incubator until I was big enough to come home. My mother and father said that when they pulled up in the parking lot of the hospital they could hear me crying outside of the hospital. I never thought about it until I had grown up that the hospital didn’t have air conditioning and that the... Read Full Story

This is a photo of the Elkin Ticket Station for the Elkin and Alleghany Railroad. It was also one of Elkin's first libraries and also was the offices for the Elkin Manufacturing Company. It was built around 1870. This is one of the only things left standing after one hundred years have gone by. There were nine stations or stops along the Elkin & Alleghany Railroad. Here is a list of them along with the mileage that they were from Elkin according to the report of the corporate commission in... Read Full Story

One hundred years ago the early Pioneers of Elkin NC had a vision. Their intention was to build a railroad that would connect Elkin with Marion, Va. Another purpose was to connect two major railroads together and intersect in Elkin. The Richmond and Danville Railroad would connect with the Norfolk and Western line at Jefferson NC some sixty miles away. The construction of the railroad began in 1907 but the railroad was dedicated and celebrated its anniversary on July 4, 1911. The railroad was... Read Full Story

Many years ago as a young boy growing up in a small town, namely Jonesville, NC in Yadkin County, my grandma Nannie Hopper Hall would take us for walks. Grandpa had his driver's license but grandma never learned how to drive so we would walk every day from Jonesville where they resided to Elkin NC. The two small towns were divided by the great Yadkin River, another story for another time. We would begin our stroll on North Bridge Street and walk down by the Northwestern Bank, then by Roses... Read Full Story

My grandmother and grandfather grew up in the old ways of living. My grandfather had a house in the city limits of Jonesville NC with indoor plumbing and sold his nice home and moved to a cabin in Lone Hickory NC without any plumbing. He had nothing but an old outhouse. I guess since he grew up that way it didn't bother him very much. As a young boy playing in that old cabin I used to see a white enamel bucket with a lid under their bed and I ask grandma what that was? She said it was a slop... Read Full Story