Power Points: Sortie Into Hillsborough, North Carolina (Take II)

Ever noticed how places that are "power points" are intensifiers for both good and bad? Hillsborough, North Carolina, for instance, has a lot of wonderful things going for it. But there is and always has been crazy stuff going on there, too. It seems the same with all power points that I've ever visited. Hot Springs, Arkansas, percolates with such things, for instance. Greensboro, North Carolina. Detroit. New Orleans. Philadelphia. Findhorn, Scotland. And so on. 

The Colonial Inn, Hillsborough, on King Street: I used to go here with family and friends to share special celebratory meals, the kind where a wide variety of dishes are put on the table and you graze at will. It was a wonderful place. 

The Colonial Inn sign, faded now but you can still make it out, boasts "Since 1759."  Maybe there was an inn or tavern here then and during the American Revolution. The core of this Colonial Inn, however, was actually built in 1838.  It has been called Spencer's Tavern, the Occaneechie  (aka Occoneechie) Hotel and the Corbinton Inn. The interior eatery that I became familiar with began operations after World War Two, and ended before the turn of the latest century.

What happened? Apparently, a bad citizen, a demented miscreant of some kind, purchased the property more than a decade ago and has since let it rot in place. He won't fix it and he won't sell it, either. What a disgrace! Here's an instance where local authorities ought to seize the property and turn it over to someone who will restore its integrity, help it come alive again, and put the reprobated citizen in stocks on the courthouse square for a day so people can throw eggs at him (kidding -- maybe). Something must be done or the Colonial Inn will be lost forever. Use it or lose it!

Today's Rune: Signals.