I know most of the old timers are passing away and there are very few people that remember the original road that went from the south fork of Roanoke River to top of Mattox Mountain. One of the first trails came from s.r. 653 as you entered Floyd County from Montgomery County. The bridge was known as "The Iron Bridge" and the the trail turned off of s.r. 653 after crossing "The Iron Bridge" to the right and was very steep climb to top of Mattox Mountain. This was only for foot travel as it was only what could be carried by people and/or animals. This was used by settlers traveling west as told to me. Then the second road or trail was a few miles south on s.r. 653 (Shawsville Pike) about a half mile before intersection s.r. 660. This road turned right and twisted up the mountain to to of Mattox Mountain. About three fourths the way up mountain a curve was so sharp that to get a automobile around the curve it had to back up at least once to get around curve. The last road was a one mile section from s.r. 660 to top of Mattox Mountain. It is not part of the State Hwy road system at this time. It was assigned a s.r. number at one time. The 1999 Floyd County road map list it as GRAHAM LANE. It is my desire that a record be made of the first mile of road from s.r. 660 to top of Mattox Mountain was built by my dad James Noah Vest. He did have a few others work occasionally to help build this section. But he did most of the work that consisted of pick and shovel, star drilling by hand to use dynamite to loosen the heavy rock that he was unable to break with other means. He was no surveyor, but later was told that it was the best layout that could have been made by a surveyor.
Contributed by:
Edgar L. Vest