One day last week, I and three others arrived at the same time at the four-way stop at the intersection of German and Duke. It happens. Not often. But it does. It was awkward.
We all feint a move and then squint across the intersection at each other like it’s high noon at the O.K. Corral.
HA! Good one!
The O.K. Corral. I’m Doc Holliday.
Who draws first?
Oh, wait. Not so funny. West Virginia allows open carry, so there’s a 75 percent chance one driver has a finger on a trigger and is muttering, Go ahead! Make my day!
I remember less stressful times.
When I arrived in Shepherdstown in 1974, there was no four-way stop. There was a traffic light. The pride of Shepherdstown. We had the only traffic light within a 20-mile radius. Sharpsburg had none. Kearneysville had none. For years it hung staunchly, swaying in the breeze.
Shepherdstown was a small village then, surrounded by farmland and orchards. Everything you needed you could get in town: hardware, lumber, art supplies, medications, milk and bread, butchered meats, pizza.
You had your choice of six gas stations, six churches, and six bars, all protected by one policeman named Lewis “Buzzy” Carroll. He had a whistle. I’m not sure he had a gun.
Anyway, there I am at the four-way stop, musing on old times and not remembering who goes first.
I think the car on the right goes first, but then which car doesn’t have a car on its right? Or is it the left?
I’ll wait. Someone else go first. I don’t want horns blaring at me—or some gunslinger shooting at me.
I continue musing.
I remember the time a town worker stood atop a garbage truck and strapped a black trash bag around the traffic light. It was on the fritz—again—and the mayoral candidates were debating whether to repair it or put up stop signs. Stop signs won.
I once saw old Tom, a wrinkled, sunburned farmer, roll through the intersection in his battered pickup without stopping. When I saw him at Betty’s Restaurant the next morning, I asked him about that.
Yeah, it’s true. I didn’t stop. I never stop there. Them damn signs were put up for tourists.
Those were the days, my friends. We weren’t worried about saving democracy.
A horn blares behind me.
I roll on through.
_______________________
See Paula’s photo on the home page. Posted June 2, 2024.
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Love to hear your 50 year perspective on our four way stop ( we all know the one). Vivid scenes of the swaying light on the fritz again, & the town-folks’ frustrations.
Kindness usually reigns there most times, for me; but the road rage incidents I hear about do keep me extra aware wherever I go.
My first memory of “the four way stop” was its description in my road directions (remember pre gps?) from Falls Church to my new friend’s place on “the river” (you know the one).
Take Rt. 7 to Rt. 9 going towards Martinsburg. Turn Right at the Sheetz (what’s a Sheetz?)…ok. Then go 4 or 5 miles ‘til you get to “the four way stop”. Which one? I asked…”There’s only one”…My city mind strained to imagine such a place… I turned Right, as she instructed; & the rest is history. I kept coming back, charmed and soothed by this town, and the people I met over 30 years ago. Thanks again, Randy… Sunday mornings here “on the river” are delicious food for thot…
You know you’re living in a dream when the right turn is The Right turn. Nothing left to do but shout: Hallelujah! And wake yourself up.
Thanks for the remembrance of Shepherdstown. The slower pace. Allows time for musings.
So right. Hence, Muse Mints.
Chicago reader responds: Last week’s post reminded me of how much you and I have in common – Youngstown; SHS Class of ’65; blue collar, fundie father, etc.. Today’s post – not so much. I sit at the breakfast table now and look out on Lakeshore Drive – averages 155,000 vehicles daily. I turn around and look onto the “L” – the Red Line up here averages 55,000 riders daily. One of us got lost somehow. Not sure which one. Maybe both.
Randall my old friend, if I’ve told you once, I’ve told you (WARNING: exaggeration ahead) a million times, you’re not the lesser, you’re the wiser—-as your comment clearly shows. I’m lost. You’re lost. Everybody’s lost. And that’s okay. It’s just that some of us know it and the rest have yet to figure it out.
There are times I land at the 4-Way stop of uncertainty and try to give a c’mon hand motion, a nod, or inch out. I reflect on Mrs. Tom Walker and her beautiful daughter Pamela facing this very same dilemma. The later was driving the car that eventually got hit by a man who had obviously been to a bar.
John Prine’s The Accident (Things Could Be Worse) refrain provides a perspective of not knowing how lucky they are and, in turn, how lucky we are as well. Yep, “they could have ran into that tree, got struck by a bolt of lightning, and raped by a minority.”
Count your blessings and be prepared for the stop signs and traffic lights to come.
It is frightening to hear (from law enforcement) how many folks drive under the influence. Our local newspaper usually has a surfeit of DUI, DWI, and so on. Good to be diligent.
Indeed. Good to be diligent. Good to be sober. Good to know your way around aroundabout and where to get out.
Almost every time I stop at the Four Way Stop, my brain says without prompting “And the yield went around and around and around till Pamela finally tried. . .”
It could be worse.
Thanks, Jim, for your last bit of wisdom: count your blessings and get ready for a rocky road in weeks and months ahead. Whatever happens there will be people to love and values to live by and a place for us to live lives of humans practicing cooperation and the common good.
Not sure that’s a good idea, Jim. If we all stopped at the 4-way and counted are blessings there’d be backups a mile long in all 4 directions. So count your blessings before you leave and don’t dodder at the 4-way.
Thank you for your historical perspective on the four-way stop. Many years ago, when I first encountered it, I asked the mayor why there wasn’t a light there instead of stop signs. Wouldn’t it be easier on drivers—less confusion, less tension? His response was quick and to the point: “No,” he said, “That didn’t work. There was a light for some time but people would shoot it out!” Another history lesson learned! Perhaps all we can conclude is that common courtesy, flexibility, alertness, caution and a sense of humor make for a mindful driver, especially at that corner.
Thanks, Larry. Of course this was easy since at my age that’s all I have left—-historical perspective. Here’s to all the mindful drivers who don’t mind letting another go first. Let’s hope such charity and courtesy prevails at the OK Corral on CNN Thursday night.
Thanks again so much for your thoughts and musings and wisdom. As a relative new comer I experience Shepherdstown today the way you describe it’s past. Quaint and quirky full of loving and thinking people all sorts of folks making art and beauty with a welcoming vibe. What a perfect place for a small town country boy who spent his entire adulthood in hard cities.
Some newcomers fit in so well they seem as old and familiar as the sidewalks. You, my friend, are one of those! Not that anybody’s going to walk all over you.
A small village surrounded by farmlands and orchards. 😢 sigh.
One of my favorite 4-way stop quotes from my dad I heard repeatedly as a child…
”Somebody do something even if it’s wrong.”
i like that comment !
I like this comment!
Reminds me of a similar saying: Don’t just sit there. Do something. And the Buddhist version: Don’t just do something. Sit there. Ah, the good old days when you and your peers (my sons!) sat for hours on the wall across from the police station doing nothing. Or pretending so.
We wasted a lot of time sitting on those old fort stones didn’t we? Or maybe that was just character building.
If you were truly modern, college town and all that, you would install a roundabout.
We are a college town but we are not a truly modern town. We live in the past. We walk around a lot. We get our mail at the post office. What’s a “roundabout?”
The roundabout is going in up by the dollar general. I don’t think there’s enough space to preserve the historic structural integrity of the buildings at the 4-way for a roundabout.
Oh My God, I love this! I was here when Shepherdstown was as you describe. It was such a community then and I do miss the closeness and connections that come with such simplicity. I remember sitting on the Town Wall with John Doyle and Buzzy walking by and saying, “Y’all aren’t smoking any dope are you?” And we said, “No, Buzzy, we’re not” and he said, “Good, well, just don’t be smoking any dope, y’hear?” And he strolled on past us to take care of more business. Thank you for this little portrait of our town.
Ah, but we were so much younger then, we’re older than that now. And perhaps wiser too. Jury’s out on that one. Here’s to cops walking a beat, knowing the denizens, and being with us and not against us.
Love this
The stoplight was there when I arrived in be town. Green on top red on the bottom. I can honestly say once I got my drivers license I went through that 4 way hundreds of times lol. I loved to drive.
Are you sure green was on top?
It has always ( maybe not always) been my understanding that the person who goes last, wins. Sometimes I let other people win. I love 4 way stops. Makes people ponder.
Good and sagacious point. The last shall be first.