Through the Forest to Luray Virginia

...continuing with our September/October 2024 road trip...the final phase of which was working our way south through Virginia toward our home in East Tennessee.  After our brief stop in Edinburg, we head south and east on back roads toward Luray Virginia. 

Following VA Hwy 675, we wandered through a narrow portion of the George Washington National Forest.  This particular National Forest covers 1,064,176 acres, about 33,600 acres of which are located in Page and Warren Counties that we were passing through. 

Administratively, the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests are managed as one unit.  Between the 2, a total of 2,800 square miles of land is protected.  Almost 140,000 acres of the National Forest have been designated at "wilderness areas"...no vehicles and no development allowed.

Note: These two National Forests cover an area larger than the State of Delaware.

This is a great example of our favorite style of highway driving!  Peaceful and almost no traffic... We wandered through the woods across the ridge that is part of this portion of the George Washington National Forest.

This view was one of our 'rewards' from following this byway from Interstate I-81 toward Luray.  That's the part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, itself a portion of the 2,000 mile long Appalachian Mountain chain.  I'm guessing that those little red flags will be replaced by guardrails.  

Once we reached Luray Virginia, our goal was the Luray Caverns attraction.  The fact is that we've done a lot of cave walking over the years and at my age and stage, there is no way that I could tour a cave.  But, the fact is that Luray Caverns is much more that an interesting big cave complex.  

I had called ahead and talked to the front office at Luray Caverns.  I told them that I was unable to tour the caves but that I sure would like to visit the remainder of the attraction.  Was there a way we could do that without fronting $64.00 for Cavern tickets?  I was told that all we had to do was to tell the admissions that we could visit the rest of the attraction without paying...and if there was a problem, just have them call the office.  Now this was a deal!

So, other than the caverns, (obviously the main attraction), there are 4 other attractions at Luray Caverns.  There is a Rope Adventure Park (not for us), The Garden Maze (not for us), Car and Carriage Museum (yea!), Shenandoah History Village (yea) and, there also is a toy museum. (ok) Plenty to see and do!

The toy collection or museum at Luray Caverns isn't hyped as much as the other attractions but Laurie and I both enjoyed wandering down "memory lane".  This large model railway display occupies the center of the space.  

Laurie took this photo of the railway bridge over the canyon.  If you look closely, you can see the images of a couple of toy airplanes hanging from the ceiling as well as a carousel horse behind the railway display's church steeple. 

I've always been fascinated by miniatures and love the close-up detail one can create.  I do remember when Trailways and Greyhound buses looked like the one in this photo...and love that Ford 'ragtop'! 

Being from the Midwest, we never saw electric power locomotives like this one.  I still prefer the look of, if not the smoke from, old time coal burning locomotives.

This is one of the few photos we took of toys that weren't part of the train exhibit.  Its the only one that I liked.  While a variety of "Rocket Racer" cars were produced and can be bought on the Internet, this is one of the truly rare ones.  From the 1930s, this is a rare Marx Rocket Racer Tin Lithograph Wind Up Toy.  It is roughly 18" long.  I found one on sale on eBay that isn't as pristine as this one is.  Asking price $499.95.

If you are over 55 years old, you should remember Marx toys.  Louis Marx and Company was in business from 1919 until 1980.  Toys that the company produced included tin toys of many types, toy soldiers, toy guns, action figures, dolls, toy cars and model trains.  Rock'em Sock'em Robots and Big Wheels tricycles were Marx products.  Marx's larger and costlier toys were staple items for catalog and departments store retailers, including J.C. Penney, Sears and Montgomery Ward. (The latter company being one of my key career stops)

These last two photos in this blog post are indeed children's toys, but they also lead into future posts from Luray Caverns.  Note that these are technically 'wheeled vehicles'.

Reading the plaque at this angle is challenging, so I'll do it for you.  This elaborate child's goat cart...powered by two 'billy' goats...was built in 1905 at the J. W. Clinedirst Factory in New Market Virginia.  Why was it so fancy?  Simple answer...it was built for the factory owner's grandchildren.  Looking on-line, no actual goat powered carts are shown that even approximate the look of this luxury toy.

Technically, this isn't a child's toy but rather a toy or prop designed to entertain children.  This horse tricycle was built sometime in the mid-1920s or 1930s for clowns to use in a circus.  It moved by pumping the handlebars up and down and as it moved, it 'rocked' like a child's rocking horse.

Do you remember the excitement when the traveling circus came to town?  Laurie and I remember the colorful and very impressive Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Baily Circus train passing through Des Plaines Illinois.  On one occasion Laurie visited the site of the fair near O'Hare Airport in Chicago... Her mission was to collect animal 'poop' from the elephants, horses and tigers that she could use to fertilize her flower beds.  It was free!  

The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, the largest circus in the USA, closed its traditional big top in 2017.  New types of entertainment including video games as well as animal welfare campaigns significantly contributed to the demise of most traveling circuses.  In 1905, there were 46 traveling circuses in the USA and by 1937 there were about 300 traveling circuses or shows of varying sizes.  Today there are just a handful of relatively small traveling circuses, many of which don't feature 'wild' animals. 

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them...

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave