What Happened?
According to local resident Willie E. Graham (1887 – 1969), God made heaven and had a little left over so he made Floyd County, Virginia. The county is situated on a high plateau adjacent to the Blue Ridge escarpment in the southwestern part of the state. Because of its unique geological setting, all of its streams originate within the county boundaries, none outside it.
Floyd County was officially established in 1831. From the beginning, its economy has been dominated by agriculture. Newcomers and settlers built homes, raised families, attended provincial schools and churches, grew crops (mostly tobacco), and grazed cattle. There have always been more cows than people.
Then something happened. Substantial homes were abandoned leaving the rolling landscape dotted with residences which now no longer have occupants. Perhaps a family line grew out. Perhaps the farming family could no longer live there. Perhaps … who knows?
