Along Route 55 in Thoroughfare Gap.

Broad Run Post Office.

I've posted plenty of post office pictures because I am a fan of our postal service and the dedicated workers. This particular one reminds me of a time many years ago when my kids were little. This was a store at that time and we would stop here for snacks, particularly country bologna and hard cheese. 

Now it's a post office. To the left is a rocky outcropping and and old house that's been abandoned as long as I remember. It is falling down now. 

Also in Thoroughfare Gap you'll find I-66, Chapman's Mill, and the community of Thoroughfare. This historical marker was erected in 2004. 

 Free People of Color at Thoroughfare

Families of African-American, Native American, and mixed ancestry migrated here from Fauquier, Culpeper, Rappahannock and Warren Counties after the Civil War. The Allen, Berry, Fletcher, Nickens, and Peyton families, along with former slaves from this area acquired parts of former plantations, built homes, and established the farming community of Thoroughfare which prospered through the 1940s. Many of the “Free People of Color” who settled here were illiterate but their families were not accepted into the schools and churches of their white neighbors. In 1885, the North Fork School was built by local labor with county funding on land donated by the Primas family. In 1899, community growth compelled the families to construct a second floor room and hire an additional teacher at their own expense. Also, in 1909 members of the community built Oakrum Baptist Church, on donated land and selected their own ministers.

Signs, Signs and  Little Things Thursday

These shops are across the road from the marker. Here's a view of the map from my navigation screen. I often record the map for my own information. 

I mentioned Chapman's Mill and I have another picture of it; scroll to item 4 in 3/4/2016.

Here is a slightly lightened version of a photo I took long ago, before a fire destroyed the wooden portions of the mill. We called it Beverley Mill then, and it had several names over the years.