"b1bob does South Boston, VA" a South Boston Travel Page by b1bob

For those of y'all who were looking for South Boston, Massachussetts, I'm sorry. This is South Boston, Virginia. Since it became incorporated together with Halifax County in 1995, it became the county's largest city with about 6500 people.

South Boston, VA holds special memories for me because my mama's parents lived there all their lives. Grandpa Terry (1897-1989) was a jeweler. His boyhood friend, William Munford Tuck, governor of Virginia (1946-50) and congressman for the 5th district (1953-69) would come down from Washington, D.C. just to have Grandpa repair his watches. Grandma Terry (1909-1992) was a seamstress at Fuller's which was located downtown within walking distance of their house shown in the travelogues.

Since my grandparents on my mama's side passed, so too has downtown. The decline started when Leggett's Department Store moved from downtown to a strip mall a few miles to the west. The decline became noticeable and hit home when my favourite toy store Carroll's and the local drug store Faulkner & Lawson's with its lunch counter went out of business in the mid to late 1990s.

I will never be completely satisfied with this page. When I was younger, I foolishly assumed that downtown South Boston would stay the same. I took it for granted that Leggett's, Carroll's, Newberry's, Faulkner & Lawson's, and Carroll's would never close in a million years. Worst of all, I never took any photos of Elsie Long, Grandma Terry's lifelong friend and longtime neighbour. I used to love to join Elsie on her front porch swing. Sadly, on 18 February 2002, Elsie joined Grandma and Grandpa 10 days before her 91st birthday.