Dear Editor,

I am so pleased that something is being done at Crafton’s Gate. I hope the stoplight will be the solution needed to keep motorists safe.

However, I will admittedly miss being able to say I live in a county with no stoplights. It was always a colorful way to describe our community. 

I grew up in Charlotte County then lived away until returning last year. When people asked where I was from, the conversations inevitably went something like this:

Me: I grew up in Charlotte County, Virginia.

Them: Oh, Charlottesville. UVa. 

Me: No. Charlotte County. It’s on the south side.

Them: Of what?

Me:  (Sigh.) Of Virginia. Kind of along the middle of the southern border of the state. 

Them: Is it near Richmond?

Me: Farther.

Them: Roanoke?

Me: Not that far. It’s near Farmville.

Them: Like the game?

Me: Same name. Crops take much longer to grow. It’s near Appomattox.

Them: Like the Civil War?

Me: Exactly.

Them: I don’t know where that is.

Me: (Sigh.) It’s a good-sized county with 11,000 people and no stoplights.

Them: No stoplights? Really?!

Me: Yep. But lots of rich red clay, little league fields and a courthouse (previously said to be) designed by Jefferson. You should really check it out.

Now what will I do? How am I going to explain to strangers about this bastion of rural life when every city is sprawling into county after county? How will I make them understand that we have to plan a run to the store and create our own entertainment? How can I evoke days that pass slowly while the years seem to slip by quickly? 

I guess I can always fall back on a story about when a sneaky skunk in the treasurer’s office made the headline of the local paper.

Leslie Bradner

Charlotte Court House