Nash County, North Carolina

I hadn't planned on stopping in Nashville, North Carolina, on my July 1 trip to Merchants Millpond State Park, but I needed gas, and it was right off the road. Nashville, dubbed on at least one local sign as the "original" Nashville, turned out to be a neat little town, and I'm glad I decided to explore.




This is the Nashville convenience store/station where I stopped for gas, and I was pleasantly surprised by the price of gas, which was several cents cheaper than the Sheetz near home. To make the deal even sweeter, I got a free car wash for filling up. Since my initials are LL, I took a picture of the sign.






Nashville is the county seat of Nash County, even though the largest town in the county is Rocky Mount. (As it happens, Rocky Mount is part of both Nash and Edgecombe Counties.) Both "our" Nashville and the one in Tennessee were named after Francis Nash, a North Carolinian of American Revolutionary War fame. Here's a picture of the Nash County Courthouse.



As I cruised down the main street, I saw this house, which I liked a lot. Ironically, there's a CVS (drugstore chain) going up on the other side of the home. I don't know if you can tell there's construction going on from the far left side of this picture.





Here's a picture of the same house, but from across the street. Very southern looking, no? I like the little white birdhouse in the middle of the bushes, there in the foreground.






Here's the home of the Nashville Graphic, the town's newspaper.









I like old churches, so when I saw this from afar, I decided to see what its story was.







It turned out to be the local arts council, looking for members.







Just down the road from the arts council, I saw a sign for the town of Red Oak, so I decided to follow on a whim. (I thought it sounded quaint!)On the way, I saw this pretty farm field--I think this is tobacco.






Once in Red Oak, I found Red Oak Baptist Church.









Here's a picture of Red Oak Elementary School, which used to be Red Oak High School (according to a sign on the building). Thir mascot is the bear.