If I had to estimate, I’d guess I spent about half my childhood roaming through junkyards and part stores.

My dad was, and still is, very mechanically inclined.

If it has a motor, you can bet my dad has tried to fix it. I’d be willing to bet he got it working, too.

He taught me early on that stubbornness will get you a long way when you’re fixing things.

Going to town with Dad felt like stepping out with a celebrity.

There was no paparazzi, but it seemed like every other person we saw knew his name.

“Hey there, Danny Ritchie! You still working at the Hatchery?”

“Dan! How’ve you been?”

And on, and on, and on. We’d round another corner and someone new would appear, wanting to chat.

Running out to grab milk could turn into a half-day ordeal.

As it turns out, knowing how to fix things and not charging folks when you do helps a person make a lot of friends – at least in a small community.

Re-tired old fence

In Broadway, VA just around the bend from my grandmother’s house, there was a junkyard.

The yard and the automobile graveyard on it was owned by the late Harry Custer. It was a “pick your own parts” outfit.

If you needed to get parts, you’d go to the office and see if Mr. Custer had what you needed.

The office was a small wooden shack at the front of the property.

In the winter it was heated by a crooked potbelly stove.

In the summer, it was cooled only by the grace of God. (That is to say, the fan would run and the front door would get propped open. If you were lucky, a cooling breeze would blow.)

At some point, before Mr. Custer passed, I believe he invested in a small window air conditioner. I had stopped making part runs with Dad well before that, though.

The thing I remember most about the junkyard, more than the packed dirt I got on everything or the trouble I got into for throwing rocks at junked cars, was the scandal of the tire fence.

Mr. Custer was proud of his tire fence. So were many of the patrons.

“Finally!” They thought. “Something to do with all those old tires!”

The construction was simple. Mr. Custer dug a hole, planted a fence post, and then dropped 10 or so old tires over it, ring toss style.

The junkyard didn’t have a real fence before that. So in addition to being a way to reuse old tires and an eyesore, the fence offered some protection for the lot.

An official from Rockingham County eventually happened past. He said the fence was a fire hazard or an environmental hazard. I don’t recall which the county man said, though it was certainly both.

Now visitors to the old Custer junkyard have a different experience.

Now a’ days

The office still sits on the property. The vehicle graveyard is long gone, and so is the tire fence.

Most of the property is covered by grass, now. There are dozens of wellmaintained plants and shrubs in beds of mulch.

Where the tire fence once stood, a field of wildflowers blooms in the spring and summer.

Toward the rear of the property, a Hobbit-style cabin has been dug into the earth. It sits near where my dad dressed me down for pitching rocks at a rustedout sedan.

In my defense, he had spent a very long time trying to pull a stubborn alternator, and kids get bored.

A few yards away another underground Hobbit cabin is under construction.

From the Airbnb listing, it appears to be a small, 1-bed, 1-bath underground cabin. The local ties seem designed to attract art-loving Blue Ridge Mountain tourists.

There is locally sourced, hand-crafted furniture and pottery. The countertops are made with stones found on the junkyard lot. The cabin also boasts heated floors and a waterfall shower.

The Tolkien-inspired luxury is a far cry from the single-room office I remember. Now only an abandoned RV at the far side of the field reminds passersby of what once was.

Who’d have thought gentrification would hit, even back in the sticks?

Want to stay in a Hobbit style cabin on your next trip to Virginia? At the time of publication, the Broadway underground cabin was unavailable for booking, but one in Fairfield, VA is sure to thrill Tolkien fans and nature lovers http://bit.ly/hobbitcabininva .