In the downtown area, on the side of Jefferson Street (and in front of the Roanoke City Public Library), you will find a historical marker.

There are of course other markers in the area, but this one is unique in that it gives a brief but succinct overview of Roanoke’s history.

Did you know that Roanoke was originally known as “Big Lick”?

Below is the inscription from the front and back of the marker. Photos of the actual marker are at the bottom of the post.

Roanoke

The first village here, at Pate’s Mill and Tavern on Evans’ Mill Creek, was called Big Lick for nearby salt marshes. In 1939 it was laid off as the town of Gainesborough. After the coming of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad (later N. & W.) in 1852, another village sprang up about the old Stover House that was also named Big Lick. Gainesborough became known as Old Lick.

In June, 1884, General Hunter passed here retreating from Lynchburg. In 1874 Big Lick was incorporated. In 1881, with the junction of the New Shenandoah valley Railroad with the N. & W., rapid growth began. In 1882 the name was changed to Roanoke; in 1884 it was incorporated as a city. In 1909 the Virginian Railroad operated its first train. In recent years Roanoke became the third city of Virginia.

The past few days around town have been quite dreary. You know, times when it’s either raining outside or it looks like at any given moment it’s about to start raining (again). Last night there was a considerable soaking of rain that fell for much of the later evening until I went to sleep.

Heavy and dreary cloud cover hovers over downtown Roanoke, as viewed from Salem Avenue (5/6/09).

So, sunshine has been scarce and clouds plentiful lately.

But, there is more than one way to look at the…we’ll call it less than preferable weather. On the one hand, the weather seems quite depressing.

But, on the other hand, it appears that most of the area foliage is quite happy. As a result most area lawns are a deep shade of healthy green. Trees along Mill Mountain are getting thicker with fresh, new leaves of the season.

Ghent Hill Park is very much in the Spring spirit after all of the recent rain.

So, all of the rainfall lately has not gone to waste or been a total hindrance.

Far from it, actually.

I’ve been to a couple greenways so far this year. How about you?

Even with allergy season in full force I still take every opportunity possible to go for a bicycle ride on one of the area greenways. So far this year I’ve gone to the Roanoke River Greenway and Lick Run Greenway. I’ve also made an unofficial visit to the Tinker Creek Greenway by way of exploring.

(I say “unofficial” because I didn’t even know I was on the greenway until I saw the sign after traveling a little ways. Much more on that in a future post where I will show how the Roanoke River Greenway kinda connects to the Tinker Creek Greenway.)

 (5/6/09 - As an update on the above, I read a recent article in the Roanoke Times which mentioned that federal economic stimulus money will be used to officially connect the Roanoke River Greenway to the Tinker Creek Greenway. )

Here are some various photos taken from my recent greenway visits.

 Have a great Monday!

The Roanoke River Greenway near Wasena Park. The Wasena Bridge is in the background.

Tinker Creek Greenway at Fallon Park.

The Roanoke River and Greenway (seen to the right).

Lick Run Greenway provides a special view from a ramp along I-581.

Several days ago I was heading home to my house in the Virginia Heights neighborhood area. It was dark out but not real late, probably around 9PM or so. I turned from Brandon to Edgewood (at the intersection where there is a Family Dollar store) and made my way up and over the hill in the direction of my house.

Now, if you’re not familiar with this road, it’s only 25mph through this section but it’s one of those roads where it’s very easy to go faster than that. And perhaps even easier to want to go faster. But, it’s primarily a residential area and I think 25mph is appropriate.

Well, along the road before it runs into Memorial Avenue there is designated residential parallel parking on the both sides of the road. I have seen police set up with radar along here before, they pull in as if a regular car. I must say it’s a great spot. And given this was a Saturday night I was paying particularly close attention to my speed.

Sure enough, as I was driving past I could see the lights and reflectors of a police car pulling into one of those open spots along the sides of the road. They were just getting ready to set up radar I suppose.

This is where the story gets a little more interesting.

So, the windup is that I passed the officer and continued on my way. But, instead of going home I decided to make a loop and circle back around. I turned onto to Memorial Avenue, then turned to Grandin Avenue, and back to Brandon. Then, I came back and turned on to Edgewood again.

I proceeded back up the hill along Edgewood. The entire loop probably took about 5-10 mintues or so. But, this time there was no police car parked along the side of the road.

Can you already see where I’m going with this?

Just ahead as I again turned from Edgewood onto Memorial I saw the flashing lights, just behind a driver who’s night probably just got a bit worse. Just a few minutes of running radar and a speeder was pulled over.

And would you believe I have done this before on other occasions. I have seen police parked along this road in the past. So, I just circle around once or twice and they usually have a speeder pulled over. I find it quite entertaining for some reason, because so often when I obey the signs I’m in-turn tailgated when driving through there.

Why are people in such a hurry anyways?

Ever have one of those days when you had to work late?

Ok, we’ve all had our share of those. But, have you ever noticed how leaving work a little bit later can make the drive home much more enjoyable?

Traffic in Roanoke probably peaks around 5PM most days. But, there really is no rush hour in Roanoke, maybe a rush half-hour or so. Usually, I leave work at 4:30-4:45 so I’m apt to run into a little traffic on the way home.

Well, yesterday I didn’t leave work until about 6:15. And it really is amazing how much more laid back the short commute home is, if I just make it about an hour or an hour-and-a-half-later than usual.

So, with traffic light, temperatures mild, sunshine shining, and my camera snapping I make my way home from the downtown area.

Leaving downtown and traveling along Franklin Road in Roanoke.

Looking over at Mill Mountain and Rivers Edge Sports Complex. If you look extra close you can also see part of the Roanoke River Greenway.

Yellow flowers (tulips I think) in full bloom at the intersection of Franklin Road and Brandon Avenue.

After a rather rainy last week, this past Saturday and Sunday actually turned out to be nice. I was out and about a little bit over the weekend, and as always I spent some time perfecting the act of snapping pictures from the window of a moving vehicle.

A sign of Spring. The color of yellow covers the southbound side of I-581/Route 220, a short distance before the Colonial Avenue exit.

I love this section of Grandin Road, especially during this time of the year.

Lots of road and blue skies ahead. A scene from Williamson Road/Route 11 in the Hollins area.

A brief note about me and taking photos

At best I’m just an amateur photographer. But, what I do like is to take still frames of what seems to be “everyday” or common scenes and occurrences. I bring the camera along and take pictures during a regular family gathering, instead of just during a holiday, birthday, or other special occasion. I snap photos around town on an otherwise seemingly boring early Spring afternoon.

Why?

I have determined that what is perceived as a common occurrence can also be perceived as so common as to be overlooked and thus more easily forgotten.

So, as part of my life’s activities I snap pictures (a lot of pictures) to help me remember. And, I post a few of them here from time to time.

As I’ve mentioned before I go bicycling at least 2 times a week. This is mostly because I’m too busy to have a gym membership and I’d rather be outside anyways. During the colder months I just ride around the neighborhood, but when it gets warmer I often head down to one of Roanoke’s greenways.

This past Sunday, the first Sunday of Spring, turned out to be a very beautiful day. Not too cool and not too hot. If there ever was a difference between a “Mostly Sunny” and “Partly Cloudy” weather forecast this was it. This day had to qualify as “Mostly Sunny”. Maybe even just regular “Sunny”.

Well, I didn’t have time to actually venture down to the Roanoke River Greenway. But, I did ride down from my house to the Wasena Bridge and wasn’t surprised to see that a few other citizens too had the idea of visiting the greenway and nearby park.

Here are some photos from my bicycle ride this past Sunday:

Looking over the edge of the Wasena Bridge at the Roanoke River Greenway (paved pathway). The Roanoke River is just to the right out of the view of the photograph.

An (old) white house along 13th Street SW.

Grape hyacinth manages to grow among some left over Fall leaves. This was taken along the roadside in the Virginia Heights area.

Well, the rain seems to have ended around Roanoke.

Finally.

And the sunshine has returned.

For now.

Here’s a little proof:

6 o'clock sharp says the street clock downtown yesterday evening. Blue skies and sunshine make for a better background than rain and fog.

Cars seem to fill every available spot downtown near the Market. The economy is not so good so I hear, but what is good is to see that residents are still out and about in downtown Roanoke.