EW-quality rooms in Maggie Valley, NC



Barnardsville, NC

Thank you to Kate Chaitin for these three treasures.

Luang Prabang, Laos:


Oakland, CA:

Tulum, Yucatan, Mexico:

Wilkes County, NC

Thank you to Paul Wells for this example of what's good in Murfreesboro, TN.

Here are some beauties found by my friend Shelia Wilson in and around Burlington, NC.



Read close to see who's bringing sexy back:



According to Shelia, Sonia is getting her psychic powers recharged:

The rules of Little Tobago

Courtesy of Jim Bollman...


It says:
NO FIRES, HUNTING, DRUGS
NO REMOVAL OF PLANTS AND FRUITS
NO REMOVAL OF CORALS + MARINE LIFE
NO LITTERING AND SMOKING
NO CAMPING WITHOUT PERMISSION
NO SQUATTING
NO TOURS WITHOUT GUIDES
NO BATHING IN THE NUDE
NO LOUD MUSIC OR NOISE

(NO something else)

Toe truck

Courtesy of John Schwab...

Meadow, NC

Duplin County, NC

Garland, NC

Monkey Junction, WIlmington, NC

Jefferson Davis Highway, Richmond

I spent some happy hours this afternoon in a cold rainstorm, photographing signs along Jefferson Davis Highway (Route 301), from southside Richmond to Petersburg, Virginia. Route 301, along pretty much any given stretch, is a fertile field for signs and great '50s architecture.

Here are some favorites from today's expedition.

Hull Street Used Office Furniture

Lot of Hubcaps

Heavenley Burgers, Richmond

More along Jefferson Davis Highway

Adaptive Reuse: Richmond

Within a couple of blocks of each other in Richmond, a car-dealership-turned-church, and a church-turned-mosque.

More about toe trucks

These photos from Seattle are courtesy of my friend John Schwab. Thanks John!

Thank you, David, for this winner from New Bern, NC.

Big thank you to Ashley Carder for sharing these treasures:


(Brittons Neck, SC)


(Flagstaff, AZ--read the small print)

Improper placement of apostrophes isn't just a problem of the current generations. Washington, NC:

Near Greenville, NC:




Beaufort County Courthouse, Washington, NC:

ENC

I like when the spelling on a sign reflects the local accent:

ENC ministries

Christmas at Fort A. P. Hill

At the gates of Fort A. P. Hill in Virginia, the day after Thanksgiving.

Durham NC

Tarboro, NC



Goldsboro, NC, I think.


Near Spring Hope, NC:



Here's a strong contender for my favorite sign find ever. Near Seven Springs, NC:



Targeted marketing near Spring Hope, NC. As best as I could tell, the people running this roadside sale were both Anglo guys, but they had set up just catty-corner to a trailer park called Latino Park, on Latino Lane.




Goldsboro, NC:

What's Good in Ireland

Many thanks to my friend Jody, who found these truly exemplary signs in Ireland.

Adaptive Reuse: The Welders of Kinston, Part I

Kinston

Adaptive Reuse: The Welders of Kinston, Part II

Herritage Street, Kinston:


Chocowinity (I think the hands are supposed to be praying):


Somewhere:

Dispatch from the Plains

Mitchell, South Dakota, with many thanks to Maynard:

West Virginia--mostly McDowell and Fayette Counties.


The sick TV rotated on the pipe:










An inn in Kanawha Falls. Check out the upstairs window:


And close-up:

Montgomery:



A club in Boomer:

On the door of Night Moves:

Christ-haunted Smokies

July in the Smokies in North Carolina.

In the Great Smoky Mtns. National Park. Look at the large version to see the sign.
(The language on the road sign is Cherokee.)


"After Death What???"

Christ-haunted West Virginia

Some religious signs from a recent highly bumpercropulous swing through southeastern West Virginia.

There was a great, raucous Holiness service going on in this church, and the doors were open, so I parked and listened. Some folks came out of the church and invited in. I wish I could have joined them, but I had a dog in the car with me and couldn't leave him.



On the same church:



Near that church:



Also in McDowell County:



Close-ups of the Jesus windows. The Roman soldier drawing blows me away--what a peculiar choice.







Fayette County:





Close-up:







In Kincaid, a combination post office-praise center.



Hard to read, but the little blue sign says "Christians helping others."


Hico:

Charlotte

Some new sightings in Charlotte:

What's Good in Missouri

Behold two fine establishments, spotted for What's Good by a sharp-eyed Missourian.

He writes:

"The first is of a pet shop in West Plains with the intrinsically incongruous (if not oxymoronic in the strictest sense) name, "Fishland." I'm tempted to buy the vacant building next door and open up my own pet shop called "A Sea of Dogs and Cats."




He continues:

"Speaking of dogs, the second photo is of "Stray Dog Barbecue," a relatively new establishment overlooking the Current River (part of Ozark National Scenic Riverways) at Van Buren, MO. At first, I assumed that the proprietors must have been trying to come up with a good down-home-sounding, country-soul-type name and, after settling on "Stray Dog," simply overlooked the other connotations that such a name might convey when applied to a barbecue joint. I began giggling uncontrollably at the notion that someone would be so imperceptive.

"Gradually, however, it dawned on me that the humor was almost surely intentional, causing me to feel embarrassingly imperceptive, myself. Still, you never know."

Cherokee NC and environs

Have a blessed day

Good Samaritan Florist in Wilson

A Real Big Buggy, at Merlefest in April. I didn't actually see it in action, but it appears to be equipped for propulsion.

A couple of better-weather views of the aforeposted Wilson Michelin man

laundromat

On the awning of a closed Mexican laundromat in Wilson, NC

salons

Two new salon discoveries...

Wilson, NC

North Wilkesboro, NC

Cherokee

A couple of beauties from Cherokee, NC.

Wilson, NC

Click for the big version, and read the sign.

Fire the ad-placement guy.

Wilson, NC

Wilson, NC

Wilson, NC

Wilson, NC

Wilson, NC

Wilson, NC

Wilson, NC

Wilson, NC

Wilson, NC

Hard to read, but this is a combination hair salon and ministry.

WIlson, NC

Wilson, NC

West End Cafe, Kenansville NC

Near Warsaw, NC

Kenansville, NC

Pink Hill, NC

Honestly, I have no idea. This is in a front yard in Pink Hill, NC. I think it's great, but I was too shy to get out of the car and inquire, or to do more take a couple of dashboard snapshots and scram.

Pink Hill, NC

All Hail

Allow me to introduce you to Jacob Krejci, my Flickr idol. Jacob has an incredible radar for finding what's good, particularly in southwestern North Carolina and the North Georgia mountains. When I look at his Flickr page, my enjoyment of his photos is tempered by an unhealthy dose of jealousy that he finds all these wonderful places and things, and that he's such a good photographer at that. Following are several of my favorite pictures from his page. Much of the fun, though, is in his captions and readers' commentary -- see this, for example, and this -- so be sure to browse his photos on Flickr.


Helen, GA


Cherokee, NC


Brasstown Bald, GA


Scaly Mountain, NC

The roof of Taqueria la Vaquita, Durham NC.

Macon GA knows what's good.

Lowcountry South Carolina or Georgia, 2000.

GRWG

Lowcountry South Carolina, 2000. The classic Southern roadside message (tied, I suppose, with "John 3:16").

Burglar alarm

Big thanks to Jane George of Hillbilly, Please for this fine study of concrete fauna. She took these pictures at a lawn statuary...place (shop? emporium?) outside of Mount Airy, NC. Coincidentally, several years ago when my husband and I got married, some of our best friends went to this very same yard ormanentarium, and commissioned as a wedding gift a concrete baseball player painted up as a NY Met.

Garinger High School, Charlotte NC

Charlotte, NC

Charlotte, NC

Hot Kid Milk Drink

Supermarket at Asian Corner, Charlotte NC

Super Boy

Super Boy on South, Charlotte NC

NYC

Thank you, Uncle Monty, for this excellent Spanglish.

The Ice House, Charlotte

Hendersonville, NC
THANK YOU to Steve Rankin for this best name ever.

Back to School Sale

Wilmington, NC

Brunswick County, NC

Moore County, NC

Only in North Carolina

Don't forget to visit
The Beatinest Things
for the belles lettres equivalent of What's Good

Mountaineer Inn

Asheville, NC

Camera Shop

Marion, NC

Executive Plaza

Marion, NC

Live bait machine -- West Virginia, c. 1998

South Carolina, 2001

Kinston, NC

Eat fish

Near Snow Hill, NC.

Stomp

Eastern North Carolina.

This disturbing tableau appears at Christmastime outside Saxapahaw, NC.

Eastern NC.

Eastern NC.

Central North Carolina

Andrews, SC, courtesy of Steve Rankin. Thanks!

Eastern NC, around 2000.

Krzyzewskiville at Duke University, leading up to a UNC-Duke game. Around 2004.

My dad was a designer of miniature golf courses. (This is one of his Jungle Golf courses in Myrtle Beach, SC.) From time to time I'll be uploading some good miniature golf scenes.