Try to pin down Scottsville’s Mayor R. Stephen Phipps on the era the town’s shooting for in its downtown streetscape redesign, and he won’t get specific. “It’s not a certain era, per se,” he says, “just a time when we didn’t have power lines.”
Scottsville is just one of the towns across Virginia that’s returning its downtown to a more quaint, tourist-friendly look. Gordonsville has plans to begin its own $392,285 project in the next 12 to 18 months, one that will bury power lines, replace sidewalks, lay bricks in crosswalks, install retro street lights and generally turn back the clock in an attempt to improve downtown aesthetics and attract tourists.
 The power lines will go underground on Valley Road in Scottsville, an effort to make the main drag more attractive to locals and tourists alike. “I’m trying to be positive and think about the end result,” says local business owner Billy Milstead. |
“A lot of folks are interested in history, especially with the James River,” says Phipps. “It’s a way to escape, if you will.” Scottsville is at the tail end of its seven-year project on Valley Street, its main business strip. Phipps says Scottsville is retro-ing Valley to boost tourism, to attract new businesses and to make it more appealing and safe for residents. Right now, though, it’s still a muddle of black power lines overhead and gravel underfoot. “It’s been messy,” Phipps says. “We’re ready for it to be finished.”
According to Clark Draper, the town administrator, the Valley Street project costs roughly $1 million, paid for by five Federal Highway Administration grants. And while the project’s messy—Valley Street was just paved two weeks ago—businesses have stayed open, though some have taken a hit.
“Oh yeah, it’s been slower, especially during the day,” says Billy Milstead, the owner of the “World Famous” Dew Drop Inn, a restaurant and bar. “It’s kind of been a long thing. Whatever. I’m trying to be positive and think about the end result.” Milstead says that while people might have been staying away as construction equipment littered the dug-up sidewalks, the project will be worth it. “Our history is what makes the tourists come and see things.”
Not all businesses have been adversely affected. As Lori Roberts begins to close up for the day at Pee Wee’s Pit Barbecue, just across Valley from the Inn, she says business has actually picked up from construction workers coming in on breaks and during lunch. “Since they’ve been doing the work on the street,” she says, “we stay slammed.
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