A Trip to Front Royal

On Saturday afternoon I trekked over to Front Royal to look at the antique and thrift stores. I'm desperate for furniture especially bookshelves and storage cupboards but don't want any junky stuff so was hoping to find some bargains. There were plenty of antique and thrift stores but pricing was either too high or the stuff was just trash. But it was a fun afternoon and great to walk down a main street without crowds of people.

There was a cute abandoned house at one end so that endeared me even more to the town.

This general store was fabulous and I'm sure it didn't look any different 40 years ago. There were racks of outdoor wear with tools and gadgets and I loved the gas fire in the cowboy boot display.

This store looked interesting from the outside but inside was full of cheap wares and stuff I'd never seen before and quite frankly, stuff I didn't want to see again. I mean, seriously, would you want one of these tasteful candelabras as a centerpiece on your dining table? I really couldn't see myself buying anything from this store and scuttled out quite quickly.
I walked around a lot of the town and visited all the thrift and antique stores but found nothing suitable so got back in the car and took a slow drive home, traveling the back roads which were empty, so I had plenty of time to look around and stop every now and then as interesting buildings appeared.

I found a couple of houses that were abandoned and really wanted to thoroughly explore the white house above but I only had my phone camera and also the weather forecast had been threatening a snow storm for this afternoon so I wanted to be up on top of my hill for that and not trapped at the bottom. It was frustrating having to drive away but I will come back to this place.

I followed another narrow lane that was meandering its way through the countryside in the general direction of my house and was amazed when I turned the corner and saw this huge wall along the side of the road. I parked Stuart at the side hoping to emphasize the size of the rocks but again will have to return to here and get better photos. This wall was about a mile long and I would love to know the history of it and why it was built. It must have taken a very long time and where did all the rocks come from?  The upright slabs reminded me of Stonehenge and there was a definite pattern in its construction. It was amazing, especially standing up against it.

Many of the roads were unpaved as I weaved my way back to Meadow House and I was actually surprised at myself for being annoyed about the oncoming snow as I wanted to continue exploring rather than sit at home waiting for white flakes to appear. But there would be other days and so I behaved very responsibly and drove home, stopping to grab some milk, and then piling up the hearth with logs for the rest of the weekend.