Day 3: Wytheville, Virginia, to Nashville, Tennessee

So it turns out that the Carter Family -- at least, AP and Sara -- are pretty much as off-the-beaten-path in death as they ever were in life. And the state of Virginia does not do the traveler many favors in finding them.

I started out the day on the Crooked Trail, which is a route marked through the twisty mountain roads of far southwestern Virginia, linking early recording centers such as Galax and Bristol with the Carter Family Fold and the Stanley homeplace. It's a nice idea, but it would take an entire day to drive it. I started out driving from Wytheville down I-77 to Galax and then picked up the trail. Pretty soon I was way back in the mountains, out of cell phone range and even out of XM radio range at times. And the road was like a carnival ride. (Side note: Still loving my car, though this route would have been way more fun if I didn't have the boxes from my move sloshing about in the back on the hairpin turns.)

After two hours I stopped to eat in Damascus, which is also a center for outdoor recreation (mountain biking, river rafting). Then I took a less circuitous route to Bristol, where I intended to visit the Birthplace of Country Music Museum -- until I discovered it was in a mall! Really, State of Virginia?!! I went on out into the country looking for the Carter Family. No state signs point the way out of Bristol toward these gravesites.

I got turned around a couple of times, but found my way to the Carter Family Fold, which is a theater and site of the restored Carter store and AP Carter's boyhood cabin, none of which was actually open. I did take some video:

AP Carter's Restored Boyhood Cabin:



AP Carter's General Store:



I had researched the gravesites and knew they were at the Mount Vernon United Methodist Church, though I wasn't sure where that was. By a combination of GPS, iPhone, and luck, I found it up the road a bit. It's a really lovely site, with a small church that appears to be still in use, a little cemetery behind it, and a beautiful mountain view. Here's the video I took at the gravesites:



I had intended to go see Carter Stanley as well, but it was already close to 3 pm and I had a six-hour drive to Nashville ahead of me. I decided I should save Carter since Ralph Stanley is still alive. Truthfully, I'd love to come back sometime.

So I came down out of the mountains and had a nice meal at the Cracker Barrel in Morristown, Tennessee. I love Cracker Barrel -- turnip greens, cornbread, biscuits, breakfast all day. I also love their kitschy stores, even though they are getting much more predictable. This one, for instance, had the requisite local college football merchandise.

Then it was on to Nashville!