The Place Setting
Final course: Sauceman bids GTC readers adieu
by Fred Sauceman
Locals joke that Paint Bank, Virginia, is three miles past the end of the world, and a T-shirt sold at the General Store proclaims, “I survived Route 311 to Paint Bank, Virginia.”
Truth is, many travelers pass the little community by, hell-bent for the swanky Greenbrier Resort across the state line in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. After book interviews in Roanoke, Virginia, we were intent on pursuing the day’s agenda of planned stops. That is, until we came upon the angular architecture of Humphreys Chapel United Methodist Church in Paint Bank. And across the street a set of rusting Gulf Super No-Nox gasoline pumps. And a strapping St. Bernard dog in a pickup truck at the Paint Bank General Store.
We knew nothing of the history of Paint Bank, but Mikell Ellison gave us a detailed lesson. She runs a bed and breakfast in the old train depot and oversees the Swinging Bridge, a restaurant in the back of the general store with floors made of wormy Virginia red oak.
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