UPDATE: See my own Glass Castle horrors here in Black and White Bible, Black and Blue Wife.
Earlier this week we returned from Greensboro, after spending a couple of wonderful days with Laura and Bob. The weather was sunny and in the 70s. Now we're back to chilly Grand Rapids. On our way down we spent a night at Twin Falls State park in WV, a nice spot but the hiking trails were covered with downed branches from a recent snowstorm. So besides hiking we cleared trails. From there we went to the nearby town of Welch, WV, where Jeannette Walls of Glass Castle fame grew up. We had a hard time finding her childhood home (perhaps because it is no longer standing). The only house near the 93 Little Hobart St. address looked like what we imagined the family lived in but we could not be sure this was the actual house. I snapped a pic just as a reminder.
From there we went to Jonesborrough, TN. What a wonderful little town, a stop we plan to make every autumn on our way to NC.
Here is an email I sent to my sister who is also a fan of Janette Walls:
We had an interesting time in Welch, WV looking for the Walls home. We were surprised that the town is larger and much more prosperous than most surrounding mountain towns----a lot of nicely kept old brick houses that would have been there in the 1970s when Jeannette was growing up. We had trouble finding 93 Little Hobart St., and finally when we were less than a mile away on a one-way dirt road were stopped by road workers who could not let us by, so we had to go around the long way and finally got there. We think their house may be torn down, though we did find an abandoned terribly run-down house with no address which might be it, but were unsure due to the numbering of a couple of other houses.
Earlier this week we returned from Greensboro, after spending a couple of wonderful days with Laura and Bob. The weather was sunny and in the 70s. Now we're back to chilly Grand Rapids. On our way down we spent a night at Twin Falls State park in WV, a nice spot but the hiking trails were covered with downed branches from a recent snowstorm. So besides hiking we cleared trails. From there we went to the nearby town of Welch, WV, where Jeannette Walls of Glass Castle fame grew up. We had a hard time finding her childhood home (perhaps because it is no longer standing). The only house near the 93 Little Hobart St. address looked like what we imagined the family lived in but we could not be sure this was the actual house. I snapped a pic just as a reminder.
From there we went to Jonesborrough, TN. What a wonderful little town, a stop we plan to make every autumn on our way to NC.
Here is an email I sent to my sister who is also a fan of Janette Walls:
We had an interesting time in Welch, WV looking for the Walls home. We were surprised that the town is larger and much more prosperous than most surrounding mountain towns----a lot of nicely kept old brick houses that would have been there in the 1970s when Jeannette was growing up. We had trouble finding 93 Little Hobart St., and finally when we were less than a mile away on a one-way dirt road were stopped by road workers who could not let us by, so we had to go around the long way and finally got there. We think their house may be torn down, though we did find an abandoned terribly run-down house with no address which might be it, but were unsure due to the numbering of a couple of other houses.
