I've mentioned about a half million times how much I love our neighborhood and it just recently hit me that I've never actually shared photos of Grandin with you on Secondhand Sundays. This can not be born, and so today I'm sharing with you all of the amazing bits of where we live.
Grandin is a small, distinct area right outside of downtown Roanoke (a borough if you will), and it seems almost untouched by time. Grandin saw it's heyday in the earlier parts of the 20th century and has kept it's midcentury charm with old signs, original businesses, and a community driven to maintain it's historical past. From a rickety old grocery store that my Papaw remembers shopping at, to the Grandin Theatre, a small independent movie theatre in the heart of Grandin, this place has charm for days. The longer I live here the harder it is to justify ever leaving.
When I was a little girl I lived in a neighborhood very similar to Grandin; where neighbors shared sugar, and all the modern conveniences were just a block away. When we moved south it was one of the things I missed the most about living in Ohio, and I dreamt that one day I would live in the city again. I've finally found my oasis a place where I have both the convenience of the city, and the slow pace of home life.
It's all the little things that make me love Grandin, like a mini outdoor amphitheater next to the Baptist church, a mosaic just because it looks pretty, the community market on saturdays, locally owned restaurants, and the theatre. There are restaurants, and boutiques, and doctors, and salons, and they're situated in old brick buildings and homes. Grandin has everything that a 1950s sitcom would find necessary to sustain a perfect home. Sometimes it feels surreal living here.
Once you turn right onto Memorial the businesses quickly give way, and for a brief moment you're introduced to bigger lawns and a road that leads to the Greenway, but the Greenway is for another day. Just over the Memorial bridge you drive 2 miles and you're in the heart of the city. I love our little neighborhood and can't imagine living anywhere else. big kiss, bekuh
