Attached is a photo of the motel that my grandfather Garten built circa 1953. It is located on the Greenbrier River in Summers County, West Virginia, and was, early on, a place where out-of-state fishermen (and perhaps fisherwomen) would "overnight" during a few days of fishing.
Nonetheless by 1955 or so my grandfather's motel had become known as the local "no-tell" motel. It was located on the highway that led to the village where we lived and when my mother would drive by the motel on the way home (with me in the passenger seat) she would "speed up" the car past the Greenbrier Motel.
I would say to her: "Mother, why do you speed up the car past grandfather's motel?" She would reply: "God knows what the people staying in those rooms are doing."
As an innocent young boy my reply was: "the people in the rooms are probably sleeping, right?" 
I stopped there a few years ago and found the place abandoned. No more fishermen and no more folks registering as "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" at the front desk. 
Small town and rural motels are mostly a thing of the past. But during their time they served their purpose for the traveling motorist, the criminal (think Bonnie & Clyde), and the place of meeting for the adulterous man and woman.
Ed
No comments:
Post a Comment