The Homecoming (s)

    We had two Homecomings yesterday!
    We spent Friday night in the
mountains of Virginia. And we awoke
Sunday facing two challenges.
     The first was to go "back home" to
Walton's Mountain!
     The tiny hamlet of Schuyler, Virginia
was the boyhood home of Author Earl
Hamner and the inspiration for several
of his books that lead to the popular TV
Series, "The Waltons."
     We made our first trip there some 40
years ago where the real "Mrs. Walton,"
Earl's mother, welcomed us with open
arms as though we were family!
      Doris Hamner passed away in 1990
as have several of the siblings represented
by the Walton's cast.
     But the real homestead has been
preserved while the nearby Schuyler High
School has been turned into the Walton's
Mountain Museum!
     People from across the country seek out
this small back woods community to see
the vast collection of items from the TV
show and its real life counterparts! Most
visitors, by the way, hail from Pennsylvania!
    There are sets from the television series,
a replica of Ike Godsey's General Store,
and a still, confiscated locally, to represent
the one used by the fictional Baldwin
Sisters to make "the recipe!"
    Unfortunately "recipe" samples were not
available. I did ask!
    We could have spent the day there were
it not for our second challenge.
    A winter storm bearing down on the East
coast was suppose to hit south of the Wilkes-
Barre area. Of course.....that's exactly where
we were!
     So we made our way along the Rock Fish
River, through twists and turns, till we found
Interstate 81 and raced to our own homecoming
well ahead of the snow and icy rain!
     We'll probably head back again someday.
     Till then, Good night John-Boy. Hope all
your NEWS is good!

 


















The real "Mrs. Walton"
Doris Hamner