Since we are only scheduled to stay here near Roanoke, WV, for 48 hours, we decided to go into the nearby town of Weston. Due to the local terrain, Weston is built in a skinny hollow in the hills. The boom-and-bust economies of timber, then coal and now pipelines over the last two centuries has been tough on the people here. There are some beautiful buildings in and near town but they are getting run down. It is plainly evident that whatever happened here happened in the past and almost everybody has left.
However, Weston does have a couple of neat features. For many years it was the home of the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum that, despite its horror-inducing name, is an architectural masterpiece. There must have been a lot of lunatics in West Virginia because the place is massive and there are bars on almost every window. The main building was the largest cut stone building in the world when it was built and for many years after. Another of Weston’s features is it is the home of the Museum of American Glass. This museum holds extensive collections of all things glass, from mere fruit jars to magnificent glass sculpture and blown glass art. We met a docent named Gunther who explained where stuff was and then cut us loose for a bit of ogling. All of the glass in the museum was made by American manufacturers and artists and the collection is stunning. There is a magnificent all-glass doll house with all glass interior furnishings. All the doors are operable. The tiny interior furnishings are very snazzy and I would be delighted to have furniture that looks like it in my house, only bigger and not made of glass.
Before leaving town, we stopped at a fantastic restaurant named the Hickory House where I had maybe the best serving of baby back ribs I have ever been lucky enough to find. I ordered half a rack but when it came, the waitress noticed it was actually a full rack but, since the cook was in error, she only charged us for half a rack. Quite a bit of the ribs went home with us for future consumption and delight. Half a rack with three sides was $18. Peggy got a pulled pork sandwich with two sides that had a pile of meat on the bun that precluded eating with only two hands and minimal spillage. It was $12. The waitress also brought us some free pickles made on site that were great and that is coming from a guy who doesn’t normally eat pickles. I think the last time I ate one intentionally, prior to today, was in 1960.
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