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Late in the thirtiew there were signs of recovery gradually appearing in Rappahannock County. Down the road from the Beech Spring* camp Mrs. Swindler opened the Meadowbrook lunchroom and chicken and ham dinners for 10 cents. Charlie Estes was dispensing hospitality at the Cab Inn, which also served homecooked meals. The Swiss Chalet served meals to tourists on their way to the new Virginia park. Popeye Miller brought in two old streetcars to make a diner on the grounds of what later became the Skyway. Estes said that the opening of the park combined with the World War I veterans receiving their bonus checks really broke the hard times locally. “One day folks just looked out and saw cars bumber to bumper going to the drive,” he said.
Fruit stands started springing up on the way to the park, combining the new tourism with the traditional agricultural products of the county. Farmers had built the cold storage plant and the “evaporator” in Sperryville and had learned a lot about combating low prices by working together. The country was gearing up for the second world war and these preparations soon lowered the unemployment rate to the point where conservation camps were no longer possible in Virginia or anywhere else. Rappahannock County enjoyed a few very prosperous years before the war that was to change the face of rural America forever.
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