Another Popular TV Show’s Hometown! (Barnwood Builders)

…continuing with day 21 of our mostly back roads exploration of parts of the northeastern United States.

In the past, we’d visited Roanoke Virginia, home of the TV show, Black Dog Salvage and shopped in their salvage yard/store.  We also stopped by Chip and Joanna Gaines store in Waco Texas.  They’re the stars of TV’s Fixer Upper.  Another memorable experience was shopping and dining at The Mercantile in Pawhuska Oklahoma.  The Mercantile is the creation of Ree Drummond, star of the Food Network’s TV show, The Pioneer Woman.

This was the opportunity to add one more of Laurie’s TV favorite shows to our list of destinations, and of course retail stores…

The Barnwood Builders show, which is featured on the "DYI" channel has its base of operations is near the small town of White Sulphur Springs West Virginia.  Their relatively new brick and mortar retail venture, “Barnwood Living” is based in this modest stone building near the center of town. (I beleive this building use to be a paint shop in it's former life.)

White Sulphur Springs was dubbed the southern “Queen of the Watering Places” in the first half of the 1800s.  It was the standard summer destination for wealthy Virginia Low Country residents trying to escape the heat and humidity of the ‘sickly’ season.  As it gained status as a socially exclusive site, elite guests visited from all over the south.

The photos above are intended to give readers a look at the variety of available offerings for shoppers in the store.  They range from souvenir t-shirts and other clothing items to quirky wooden signs and other creations, home goods, wooden furniture and a variety of wall décor items. 

The sales clerk/manager on duty was very nice indeed and quite helpful.  Laurie asked her if the ‘guys from the show’ ever stopped by the store.  She said that it was very rare and she hadn’t seen anyone for at least a couple of weeks...and it was usually early in the morning.

 

…and then Laurie got lucky!

In walked 4 of the guys from the show!  In this photo starting from the left, there is Travis, Alex, Laurie, myself, Graham (Graham  and Travis are brothers) and Sherman. Laurie certainly gave the crew a good dose of fan appreciation, that’s for sure… The guys were very friendly and more than accommodating. 

Of course, we still didn’t get to see the 3 other big stars of Barnwood Builders,  Mark Bowe, Johnny Jett & Tim.  But nevertheless, I had a happy wife and I earned a few more ‘points’ for including this stop on the travel itinerary.

Well…we weren’t done with Barnwood Builders yet!  Laurie wanted to see what Mark Bowe, the company’s owner, calls the ‘boneyard’.  It’s where the inventory for the operation is stored.  Barnwood Builders purchases old barns and cabins that people want to sell either for the cash or because they can’t maintain them properly.  Many of the barns and cabins purchased by Mark and his company have been in families for multiple generations. You can check out Barnwood Builders on the DIY Network. Laurie hardly misses a show!

We knew in advance that we couldn’t actually tour the ‘boneyard’ but since it’s been featured on the show so many times, it was worth checking out…

Most of the logs from the old barns and cabins that the Barnyard Builder’s crew carefully take down are trucked back here and put into inventory for future building needs.  Customers contact the company and ask them to design and build log cabins using the old logs… Barnwood Builders assemble some of the cabins here…either to show clients what they can do or to put a cabin together, marking the logs and then reassembling the cabin wherever needed.   

We also drove over by The Greenbrier Resort to see what we could see.  However some big conference was going on and gaining access to the property was ‘above our paygrade’.  Also I’d feel a little out of place at this upscale resort in my t-shirt and shorts!

Then we spotted this “Christmas themed” old railway depot directly across from the entrance to the resort.  It turns out that the depot was built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1931 to better serve wealthy clientele coming to The Greenbrier.  There were even sidings for private rail cars…

The resort was actually purchased and renovated by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, reopening in 1913 as The Greenbrier.   As of 2009, a local entrepreneur bought the property and returned it to a 5-star status.  The depot was transformed into a year around Christmas shop…

Despite the fact that the old depot is now a Christmas shop, the adjoining railroad platform is still in use!  Although Amtrak doesn’t provide ticketing or baggage service here, 5,680 rail passengers used the platform in 2018.  Amtrak actually offers Business Class service to The Greenbrier/White Sulphur Springs from Washington D.C.  Amtrak’s Cardinal Route travels from New York City to Chicago via White Sulphur Springs 3 times each week.  Sounds like politicians from 'the swamp' are still big business for the Resort!

Notes:

·       One of the most famous and revered golf pros of all time, Sam Snead, started his career at the resort in 1936.  In 1948 he returned and he served as Golf Pro Emeritus until his death in 2002.

·       In the 1950s and 1960s a large bunker was secretly created under the grounds of the resort.  It was to be used to shelter the entire United States Congress in the event of an attack using nuclear weapons.  It was decommissioned in 1992 after a new story revealed its existence. 

  

While any place that doesn’t let me wear shorts or blue jeans doesn’t appeal to me, it would be an experience in luxury that many would enjoy.  For information about The Greenbrier Resort, as well as a plethora of photos, go to http://www.greenbrier.com/.

For our lunch, we selected the Route 60 American Grill and Bar near the center of White Sulphur Springs.  We actually drove by it once before we spotted it.  It doesn’t have a lot of the usual ‘curb appeal’.

The bar is large and fairly long…and you can see the cook, waitress and bar tender working at the grill.  The dining area was clean with minimal décor and a mixture of seating.  I’m not sure whether Guy Fieri would classify the Route 60 American Grill and Bar as a joint or a dive but it could go either way depending on one’s experience.    

As you can see, the menu is pretty basic!  There are sandwiches, burgers and beverages…straightforward and simple.  The prices are definitely a positive!

I went for a nice Bacon Cheeseburger with some tasty salty French fries.  This was a very enjoyable burger...cooked just right!  Of course, flattop grills do add flavor to any food prepared on them.

Laurie ordered her favorite sandwich…a Patty Melt on rye with lots of cheese and grilled onions.  For her side, it was a big pile of potato chips!

The Route 60 American Grill and Bar is what it is!  It’s a downhome local joint with good sandwiches and a hardworking helpful staff of one while we were there… They must be doing OK as this place has been here since 2001 and it even survived the big flood in 2016.

The Route 60 American Grill and Bar is located at 12 West Main Street in White Sulphur Springs West Virginia.  Phone: 304-536-4666.  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Route60AmericanGrillBar/.

That’s all for now… Only 1 more post about our August 2018 trip and I’ll move on to more mundane day-to-day topics.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave