Possibly linked to the Battle Of New Market? Small Civil War skirmish but pretty big in the lore of VMI as well as part of state culture. If that sign went up in 20s or 30s would have still been in living memory.
I loved your comment about "your whole world can be 30 miles". Growing up in rural KS, my world was certainly larger than 30 miles. It was 30 miles to the nearest center of commerce- groceries, auto parts, etc. There were a couple of mom and pop places that locals knew about which could suffice in an "emergency-only" type of situation. Now that I'm living in a suburban locale, any drive longer than 15 minutes for my kids seems like it's halfway across the state! Time and geography are relative, I suppose. When my kids complain about something being too far, I have to pull out the "Back in my day..." card.
Possibly linked to the Battle Of New Market? Small Civil War skirmish but pretty big in the lore of VMI as well as part of state culture. If that sign went up in 20s or 30s would have still been in living memory.
I loved your comment about "your whole world can be 30 miles". Growing up in rural KS, my world was certainly larger than 30 miles. It was 30 miles to the nearest center of commerce- groceries, auto parts, etc. There were a couple of mom and pop places that locals knew about which could suffice in an "emergency-only" type of situation. Now that I'm living in a suburban locale, any drive longer than 15 minutes for my kids seems like it's halfway across the state! Time and geography are relative, I suppose. When my kids complain about something being too far, I have to pull out the "Back in my day..." card.