Blue Ridge Country - November/December 2019 - 15

OUR BLUE RIDGE TOWNS

FACING PAGE:
Sugar Hill is the high
point of the new Sugar
Hill State Park.
CLOCKWISE,
FROM LEFT:
Virginia's 50-year-old
LOVE slogan marks the
concert stage behind the
Western Front Hotel.
* St. Paul lawyer Frank
Kilgore stands in his
Southwest Virginia
History Museum.
* The Clinch River is
one of the cleanest in
the East.

needed hotel and restaurant.
Even the guest chef-Chef T,
of Hell's Kitchen fame-tells stories. About the food she cooks
("Eat Local, Eat Well"), and about
St. Paul ("I've had the best sleep here I've ever had, and
you never know what you'll find in St. Paul.") Each
course she serves is narrated.
What St. Paul lacks in population, they make up for
in relationships and energy. They tell their story well,
and they market it well. And they seem to do it with
one clear and persistent voice.
"I've never seen a place where the region, not
individual needs, is the driving force," says Sharon
Buchanan.
The Clinch River in August is a beautiful, easy float, even
for a novice. Mattie Gordon, owner of Clinch Life
Outfitters, tells stories about the river and its wildlife,
pointing out fish in the shallows and what might be
a bald eagle overhead. Gordon, a St. Paul native who
came home to run her family's assisted living facility
and open a kayak rental and fishing gear shop, oversees Stream Sweepers, a group working in-season to
clear the river of tossed tires and household castoffs.
"We pay more than minimum wage, and the work

is long and hard," she says. "It fits
with our goal of environmental
and educational outreach in the
area."
Visitors seeking more noise
and action would do well to rent
an ATV and hit the Mountain
View Trail, part of Southwest
Virginia's Spearhead Trail system-440 miles on former stripmined land. You can rent an ATV
from the Western Front Hotel and
ride through downtown to the
trailhead, where you'll find mud
pits, black-diamond trails, and
seemingly vertical drops. (You're
a novice? Just hold on tight.)
If you're really lucky, you'll
get to experience Sugar Hill Brewery, called The Heart
of Southwest Virginia's Original and Best Brewpub, and
then walk through Frank Kilgore's private collection of
historical items in his Southwest Virginia History Museum. You'll see mining equipment, company scrip, postcards and photographs of coal camps, quilts and looms.
Kilgore added the space behind his law office because
his collection had overflowed his closets. Look closely
enough, and you'll see a July, 1977, Washington Post story and photo of a young Kilgore lobbying Congress for
passage of the Federal Surface Mining Reclamation Act.
I've been traveling our mountains for a lot of years,
and writing this column has given me a close look at
some creative ways our small towns are finding to move
forward. I have to say that I've never seen a town as unified, clear-minded and determined to survive with style
as St. Paul, Virginia. Go see for yourself.
"If you look at a map, you'll see that Southwest Virginia
sits right in the middle of the East Coast. The sky's the limit
for us. We're poised to blossom."
-Frank Kilgore
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019

Blue Ridge Country - November/December 2019

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