A Country Drive to Paint Bank

Remember last fall when I told you about my Drive in the Country with my Mom? We took a day trip through Botetourt County, Virginia to find some cows to photograph and ended up having a great day in the country. Well, this past Memorial Day she came to visit and we took another Country Drive to Paint Bank, Virginia.

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Paint Bank is an unincorporated community in Craig County, Virginia. From Roanoke, it is about 40 miles or so, but the way you get there takes you over several mountains, so it makes a great day trip. And the reason we headed there was so Mom could photograph some Buffalo.

There are a couple of Buffalo farms there, so once we got there we turned off Route 311 onto Route 18, which takes you to West Virginia. In fact, we actually ended up slightly over the state line before heading back.

Not far down the road from town we came across a herd at the edge of a field and pulled over to get some pictures.

It was a beautiful sunny day, one that was not hot and humid and we had beautiful blue skies.

We could not have asked for better weather.

Everything was green and lush.

The only thing was, our Buffalo were all the way at the edge of the field under the trees.

But we still had a lot to take pictures of.

Tons of blue sky with fluffy white clouds.

There was a creek at the edge of that field where those trees were, which probably was another reason the Buffalo were hanging out over there under them.

Every now and then we could even hear them snort.

There was not a lot of car traffic, so it was easy to hear them.

There were quite a few of them.

And the scenery was so amazing. Usually in the summer heat in Virginia we have high humidity which creates hazy conditions.

The sky was so blue the contrails really popped.

This road was inviting.

Such wonderful scenery and inviting vistas.

We said our good byes to this herd and went down the road to see what else we could find.

We soon came upon another herd of Buffalo at Potts Creek Outfitters. Here you can see Mom capturing shots of the herd.

These Buffalo were closer to the road, which allowed us to get closer shots.

With the exception of this one, they were all laying down, taking an afternoon siesta.

But this one seemed to be the Lookout.

We really enjoyed being able to capture so many in photographs.

Finally this one came over to the rest of the herd.

And the Lookout was still watching us.

It was fun capturing these majestic creatures in photographs.

And here is Potts Creek.

There were several people fishing on the creek while we were there.

We decided to head back to the “town” of Paint Bank after getting our Bison pictures.

There are only a few buildings in the “town” of Paint Bank. One is the General Store. We stopped here for water and shopped in their store. They also sell buffalo meat, fresh from the surrounding farms. And, they have a famous restaurant, The Swinging Bridge. Lots of people come here for their food. Bus loads arrive, so lots of times there is a wait. Although we didn’t eat here on our trip, we hear the food is delicious. And there is an actual swinging bridge in the restaurant. You will have to visit to see that!

And there is a Bed & Breakfast, called the Depot Lodge, as seen above. And from looking above, you can tell this is also a really popular spot for bike enthusiasts. There were loads of them on the drive up and back, not just these few parked here across from the General Store. Oh, and behind the General Store is Tingler’s Grist Mill. I didn’t get any pictures, but it is another historic building in this small community that is open to the public on weekends with crafters and demonstrations. They were busy when we were there but we had an evening commitment back in town, so we had to head back home.

But not before first getting a few shots of Humphrey’s Chapel United Methodist Church.

I haven’t been able to find out a lot about the church, but on the Tingler’s Mill site, they mention that from 1897 to 1971 the Mill was known as Humphrey’s Mill, so I imagine that must have something to do with the name of the church.