Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1908-01-31
TAZEWElL
THEN AND NOW
Retrospective and Prospective.
The Hospitality of Old Has
Not Diminished in the Least
(For the Clinch Valley News).

Nror the Clfnch valley NeWS).
One, looking at Tazewell through
the lenses of nearly quarter OF a
century, is impressed with many
thoughts. Change has been the order.
IL is written upon the house top, the
field and thoroughfare-the fulfill
ment of the passing vision of that
Knight Errant of old time-"the old
order changeth-'tis but the COM
ing of the new. :"
In one feature, possibly one only,
Tazewell has not changed. Steadfast-
ly il has held TO the old time hospi-
tality which seems To be handed
down from father TO son. Long may
this beautiful trait of her families
live 1T is the one order W hich should
never change!
A stranger visiting the town for
the first time, last week, said TO the
writer, after remaining here day,
these are the finest people ever
met, and they all look alike To me. -
II is due largely 10 the soil, the en-
vironment, and more no doubt, To
tle training, handed down." like
the old Bowen homestead, which
we learned yesterday was now own
eel by the fifth Reese II. Bowen, and
the generous hand and open door to
the passing pilgrim is as IL was i'm
the days of the great ancestor, who
shot the elk at the spring, and chris
tened that living. fountain, Maiden
Spring. and who fell on the field,
at the memorable battle of Kings
Mountain.
Looking westward yesterday, Cnpt.
Thos. p. Bowen pointed 20 Morris
Knob, remarking, that few knew II
10 be one of the points named in the
old line between Washington and
Wythe counties. That was when all
of Tazewell belonged TO Wythe and
Washington counties "Roarks Gap
or Gap Store, is another point nam
ed. "Dial Rock, the silent sentinel
10 the east, like the old Peak To the
South, is yielding year by year her
stately oaks TO the rich sward of
blue grass-th, seal skin cloakwhich
Tazewell has ever so proudly orn.
Looking through the old Buckley his
tory of Tazewell, what is moro
beautiful than ThomasG. Harrison 5
description of Burke's Garden, or
Bickley's view of the Dial Rock?
The ascent on that lovely spring
morning was inspiring. The blazing
dew drop on the blade caught his eye
and fired his soul. Describing IL he
wrote:
II know of drop where the dia-
mond now shines,
Now the blue of the sapphire IL gives,
1t trembles, il changes, the azure re-
signs
And the tint of the ruby now
lives.
Bickley's history, n very precious
book To all Tazewell hearts, is now
almost extinct, or as you would say,
Mr.. Editor, "out of print. II
should be reproduced. This, with the
new order of things would make a
valuable history for those who Will
come after US fifty years hence.
With the progress of photography,
the new as well as the old, il could b6
made a book of beautiful pictures.
Buckley tried in his day To give US
some views of the prominent homes,
\ but the effort was poor.
The writer has been requested by n
number To undertake this work. We
hope with the coming spring To give
IL consideration, and with the help
OF the living 10 bring out work
i'm keeping with the times, faithful
ly and tenderly preserving the mem
ory of those who are asleep this
morning just beyond the border o.
the city-in the silent city, of th'
dead.
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