Blue Ridge Country September/October 2021 - 28

CLOCKWISE FROM
FAR LEFT:
* Salt Sulphur Springs
is the largest complex of
limestone buildings in the
state.
* At Sprouting Farms near
Talcott, new farms are
taking root.
* Old Rehoboth Church,
near Union, dates to 1786.
* Cheese 'N' More, near
Union, serves the state's
classic pepperoni rolls and
much more.
pick up Bermuda onion cheddar and eat it
on the porch.
This nibbling makes me want some
exercise, so I follow Mountain Shadow
Trail scenic byway (County Road 15) to
Limestone Hill Road and shoot up Peters
Mountain to the 1.5-mile footpath leading
to Hanging Rock Observatory. The
cedar cabin braces on a rock outcropping
atop 3,812-foot Peters Mountain, the
perfect 360-degree vantage for watching
raptor migrations or the unfolding
of the seasons. Visitors from 43 states
have recorded their sightings of eagles
and hawks, as many as 3,000 birds in a
single day during peak fall migration. It's
windy up here, so I gaze at vultures gliding
upward in the thermals from behind
the picture windows.
mineral water that surged warm from
an artesian spring no longer lured guests
over the mountain roads, the resort became
a tuberculosis sanatorium, then a
nursing home, and then sat empty while
a string of investors failed to turn profits.
Now Ashby Berkley, who renovated Pence
Springs in the 1980s, has purchased Old
Sweet and is leading the charge to put her
back on her feet.
" I could not stand the thought that
this building was going to fall down, " says
Berkley, who thought he was retired until
he bought the resort at auction in 2015
and created a nonprofit dedicated to restoring
it.
The resort isn't Sweet Springs Valley's
only historical property. Just down the
road is a sign denoting the home of the
first U.S. female journalist, Anne Royall.
Royall came to the area as a servant for
the wealthy Royall family and ended up
marrying the patriarch. It wasn't until he
died and his family left her nearly penniless
that she became a traveling journalist
and newspaper publisher.
Before Sweet Spring's lodge was built,
guests who were perfectly innocent of
any crime sometimes overnighted in the
28 BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COM
jail. Eager to see the region prosper, resort
owner William Lewis built a courthouse
and jail for the court system in 1795, using
both as guest quarters in the off-season.
The small stone building I spot in
the hayfield beside the resort is said to be
the oldest jail building west of the Alleghenies.
Across
the road stands the state's oldest
Catholic church still in use. St. John's
Chapel isn't used much-the occasional
wedding, summer services and Assumption
Day mass-but it continues a tradition
started around 1850 by chapel founder,
Letitia Floyd Lewis. After Assumption
Day mass, her family served homemade
ice cream to the community-something
that often still happens here following the
mid-August mass.
I'm a little early for Assumption Day,
so I head south on Route 3 to Kitchen
Creek Bakery and Cheese 'N' More at Gap
Mills. I find the Mennonite-run bakery as
instructional as a cooking show as I watch
women shaping donuts and rolling out
the dough for pepperoni rolls-the unofficial
state food. The shop across the road
deals in candy, deli sandwiches, local jams
and bulk goods, and of course, cheeses. I
Returning to the valley, I follow Route
3 toward Union. Just north of Gap Mills,
I detour six miles to secluded Moncove
Lake State Park. The 144-acre lake contains
large-mouth bass, catfish and trout
known to take the hook, but I'd rather
just paddle. Rowboats, kayaks and paddle
boats can be rented, and campers can
choose among 48 campsites arranged in
a semi-circle around the swimming pool.
(304-772-3450 or wvparks/moncove)
Back on Route 3, I spot the sign for Rehoboth
Church a few miles before Union.
Since 1786, Rehoboth Church has hunkered
in a dimple in the Monroe County
hills, hidden to road travelers. Built when
Shawnee Indians raided the region, the log
church is sited so no one can slip within
rifle-shot range unseen; it was considered
a place of refuge.
Historic Union
The log structure, now a United Methodist
shrine, is known as the oldest church
west of the Alleghenies. In its dim interior,
I test a backless, split-log bench where
parishioners sat for three-hour sermons-
a butt-numbing roost. An iron plaque
declares this a place for worship " as long
as the grass grows and water flows, " but
I'm not surprised that a congregation no
longer sits for regular services. Rehoboth
and its accompanying museum are open
11 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday-Sunday afternoons,
May through October.
After admiring the battered communion
table itinerant preachers hauled between
churches, I head to historic Union,
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Blue Ridge Country September/October 2021

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