Wangle Junction reappears in book

Rex Bowman’s new book includes stories about Floyd County. He is perhaps the perfect person to write such a book.
Bowman is a columnist for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, specializing in features on places off the beaten path, and he is a Floyd County native.
“I was born on Route 8,” he said. “My mother gave birth to me in the car on the way to the hospital.”
His new book, “Blue Ridge Chronicles: A Decade of Dispatches from Southwest Virginia,” is published by History Press as part of its American Chronicles series.
“Rex knows the lore, knows the culture, understands what Appalachia is all about,” said reviewer Dan Smith. “He writes with the authority and the sympathy of a native son, gone to town and returned for supper.”
Bowman has a knack for discovering the lost world crossroads community that began disappearing from the American landscape in the 1950s. His finds are a real life Mayberry or Lake Wobegon.
The centerpiece of “Chronicles” is his chapter on Wangle Junction, a forgotten community located somewhere in north-central Floyd County. Bowman was fascinated by the name, which appears on USGS maps and Doppler weather map close-ups, and returned to Floyd County to find out the origin of the community’s name.
“It’s difficult to find a place when even the people who live there don’t know where it is,” the story begins. “Where in the world is Wangle Junction?”
Bowman asked long-time residents Walt Lee, John Dickerson, and Linwood Altizer where the name came from. No one had any idea, even Altizer, who had lived there for more than 80 years. They didn’t even recognize the name.
The column was reprinted in The Floyd Press and was so popular that the current-day residents of Wangle Junction were inspired to hold a community reunion and picnic.
(The best guess about where the name came from: during the 19th century, residents were able to “wangle” road funds from the county for their area.)
Bowman’s book also includes chapters on the rock churches built by Rev. Bob Childress, the “man who moved a mountain,” and the Country Store, an account of the Friday Night Jamboree before it gained national and international recognition.
The cover of the book had an unexpected Floyd County connection. Bowman said the publisher “chose a photo from the Earl Palmer Collection and didn’t know if it was from Virginia, West Virginia, or Kentucky.”
At a recent book signing, Bowman was approached by a man who said he was the boy in the photo. “He said it was taken at Duncan’s Store in Floyd in 1959.”
Other Virginia towns and communities featured in the book include Novelty, Stonebruise, Bonny Blue, Elamsville, Darwin, Strom and Goose Pimple Junction.
Bowman has written for Time magazine and has also published a novel. He was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.
“Actually, my working title for the book was “Dateline: Wangle Junction,” Bowman said. “But the publisher wanted a title that was a little more accessible.”