Here’s a good story for the folks from Craig County.
I was in Pennsylvania last weekend to visit my dad and take my wife and grandsons to a Phillies game. We always like to scour the local Goodwill Stores to try and find some bargains. There’s a big Goodwill Store in Montgomeryville, PA, about 30 miles north of Philadelphia, and I was able to pick up a 76ers hoodie for cheap while my oldest grandson got a “never worn” 76ers Elton Brand jersey, with the tags still on it, for six bucks!!
If you’ve been to a Goodwill Store you know they have lots of toys and used furniture and outdated appliances and dishes and stuff like that. I always enjoy looking through the stuff, trying to find a bargain. I always check out the mugs and drinking glasses because they often have writing on them from some college, sports team or special occasion. I have a cabinet full of mugs from things like the Tylersport Fire Station or Lehigh Valley Ironpigs baseball team.
As I was checking out the mugs at this store, I came across something especially unusual. There were two mugs, for 97 cents each, with “Craig County, Virginia,” and a drawing of the courthouse with “1851” underneath. In case you didn’t know, Craig County was created in March of 1851 from Botetourt, Giles, Roanoke and Monroe (West Virginia) Counties and New Castle was named the county seat.
My question is, how the heck did this mug get from New Castle to the Montgomeryville, PA Goodwill Store? The whole county only has about 6,000 people and it’s 400 miles away from Montgomeryville.
I quickly snatched up the two mugs before some other Craig County fan spotted them. I paid for them along with my Sixers hoodie, my grandson’s Elton Brand jersey and several other items I got on the cheap, including a Buffalo Bills mug for another 97 cents.
If you’re reading this column and you have a mug like this, do me a favor. Give me a call or e-mail and let me know where you got it. Was it for some kind of special occasion?
My e-mail is bhoffman@ourvalley.org. Hoping to hear from someone who has a mug like this.
