The story below is from our November/December 2021 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
Some Roanokers recall some great hills for zooming down in their Flexible Fliers. Will those days return?
Eric Fitzpatrick
Snow sledding in the Roanoke Valley during the past two winter seasons has been … well, it hasn’t been.
We can discuss climate change, weather patterns, lack of moisture in the air or any of the myriad arguments about why the snow has gone elsewhere for the past two years, but the fact remains that the Star City and environs has had one — ONE — legitimate snow day, good enough for sledding, since 2018. And that lasted just long enough to get a few photos for this story celebrating what is quickly becoming a rare and all but inconsequential weather event.
Since Roanoke rests in the Blue Ridge mountains, one would not be faulted for assuming that snow at this altitude and this far north would be a common event. Frankly, it has been just that in previous seasons. And maybe it will return in 2021-2022, but for now our only alternative is to celebrate the past by recalling some of the truly elegant snow sledding opportunities presented by the rolling landscape of our corner of the world.
We’ll begin with Stanley Avenue in South Roanoke, which according to noted Roanoke artist Eric Fitzpatrick, was unparalleled. Eric painted the Stanley Avenue scenes accompanying this story.
It was “our old neighborhood hangout,” he says. “I had an incident there in which I wrecked on my brother Bev’s old sled which wouldn’t guide. I caught my finger between the runner and the curb and sliced the tip off of it. I remember seeing the bone amid the blood. Mom and dad ended up buying me a new Flexible Flyer sled as a result. It’s the sled hanging in the ceiling of the studio. “The city used to block off Stanley with barricades and there were bonfires lit to warm your hands. They wouldn’t plow it for days. It was the best.”
Becky Ellis remembers Stanley as not only the best sledding hill, but as “the same street that has ‘thousands’ of children that show up to trick or treat on Halloween.” Frank D’Alessandro recalls “Stanley Avenue off Neuhoff hill [when] the street was closed, fire barrels burning and cocktails a flowing.” Bill Elliott has similar memories of Stanley Avenue and later “Peakwood in my teens. Helluva ride.”
Lisa Ann Thomas recalls that “folks knew not to park on the street and sometimes neighbors had a fire going and hot chocolate” for the sledders. “It was a major scary hill but super fun. She also had great fun at “the [municipal] golf course in Salem because “it’s beautiful with lots of tracts and loads of folks and the best views of the mountains with amazing sunsets while sledding.”
Barbara Norris Duerk remembers sledding the “backside of Peakwood Drive [where] Mr. Bush of Bush-Flora Shoes, would pull us up the hill with his Jeep.”
Nearby, Clair Kennett and her pals would start “at the top of the hill above 27th Street, with permission from Lorenz Neuhoff to use his large hill to get up speed. On a good day you could sled to 24th Street or further. A bonfire was built at 27th Street, and side streets below were blocked off by Roanoke’s finest … until that fateful day when an unnamed sledder hit a policeman and broke his leg. That was the end of the bonfires and police-barricaded side streets, but the parents and kids guarded these areas to keep cars out after that.”
Kennett noted that “another good spot in South Roanoke was 24th Street between Wycliffe Avenue and Carolina Avenue, known as ‘Beerbottle.’ You can imagine how it got it’s name (but I never rolled one down that hill). Very, very steep and impossible to stop at the bottom. The last time I did this I was 40 years old and went all the way to the firehouse on Crystal Spring Avenue before running my sled into the curb to stop.”
Irvin McGarrell insists the best hill was on Wilson Street in Southeast Roanoke. “You go south and you end up at the old Viscose Plant, go north and you end up at Buzzard Rock Ford. Three curves north and two south. And it was a long way back.”
Charlie Boswell recalls that “back in the day before Fallon Park School was built, there were two hills on Fallon Park in Southeast Roanoke. You started at the top, came down the small hill, hit a short straight section and then went down the big hill toward Dale Avenue.”
John Garland says without hesitation that the “best was, and still could be, Grandview Avenue starting at the top of Round Hill in Northwest Roanoke. When I was young, the city closed Grandview during snow events and provided a barrel for a fire to keep us warm. [The city] packed the snow down for faster results. It was not for the faint of heart, but we did use old-school sleds with rails that you could steer. You could start at top and sled down to Floraland or turn on Cedarhurst Avenue and sled down to Richland. It was a long walk back up and I’d be worn out after a couple trips.”
Colbert L. Boyd, who lives near Grandiew now, says he “wasn’t around to see sledding from the top of Grandview north towards Broad Street, but that would have made a great, eye-opening ride.”
Marge Spillen recalls that “Spring Road off Tillett gives you a good ride. It is steep enough to get some speed going but not so long that it takes forever to get back up it.”
Blues singer Kerry Hurley echos the oft-heard refrain of, “Yeah, the hill under the ‘Jesus Saves’ sign right off of Memorial [Villa Heights Baptist Church]. A stone’s throw from my house. I walk down there just to watch the kids.” That is Ghent Hill Park and it is easily the most visible of Roanoke’s sledding hills. A few years ago, the bottom of the hill became part of the Roanoke River Greenway system, but the new pavement did not even slow the sledders, who often show up in large family groups.
Allison Greeley says it is “popular and off-road” and also recommends the Norwich section near Grandin Village, which “is huge and when covered in ice, incredibly fast. Seems like an Olympic ski jump when staring down from the top.” Becki Robertson Morrison says that Ghent Hill is “deadly but fun.”
Marcia McDade recalls that “growing up in Southwest Roanoke County Writer Dan Smith and his granddaughter, Madeline, take a tumble on a popular Roanoke Hill at Ghent Hill Park. Says Kerry Hurley, “Ghent Hill Park (overview photo, right) and it is easily the most visible of Roanoke’s sledding hills. It was a big plus to live on Sugar Loaf Mountain. We had great sledding there.”
Stevie Holcomb was pictured “in the Roanoke Times in the early ‘80s with my sled on Merriman Road [in Southwest County]. Guy stopped as I was heading over there and asked to take my picture for the paper. Today, I probably think he was a creep or something, but it did show up in the paper. The sledding hill is gone now.”
Erica Austin says that “there were always big crowds at Parkway Church” on the hill behind Monterey Elementary in Northeast Roanoke.
Wendy Schuyler likes Raleigh Court Park at Woodrow Wilson Middle School “because it’s like a big neighborhood party. Everyone comes together and kids and parents alike share sleds and play and laugh. It’s great.”
And that is pretty much what snow sledding has always been about: the party. We will hope that with the coming of winter that party will rock again with sledders, slick snow and lots of laughter and kid-style danger.
The story above is from our November/December 2021. For more stories, subscribe today or view our FREE digital edition. Thank you for supporting local journalism!