On the south side of Mooresville, the original alignment of SR 67 passes behind what looks like it was once a diner, and then cuts through what is now a parking lot to this stub. Current SR 67 cuts across perpendicularly, but old SR 67 is straight ahead on the other side.
You might think that to follow the oldest alignment of SR 67, you stay on that road. It’s marked Old SR 67, after all. But in reality, you make a quick left to cross the railroad tracks, and you follow a road on the east side of the tracks. The blue path is still drivable; the red path is not. (The green path is a detour built while the current alignment was being built.)
It’s signed Country Club Road, and it looks like this.
When Country Club Road reaches the small town of Brooklyn, it becomes Church Street. The original alignment of SR 67 turns west onto Mill Street, and then south onto Main Street, and makes its way out of town. The next alignment of SR 67, marked as Old SR 67 on the map, also passes through Brooklyn.
Here’s Mill Street in Brooklyn, the oldest alignment of SR 67, southbound.
Brooklyn was laid out in 1854. In 2020, its population was about 2,500, which is remarkable when its population in both 2010 and 2000 was about 1,500. Little Brooklyn is growing. There’s not much here, though. Could Brooklyn be taking on people who commute up to Mooresville to work?
Brooklyn is big enough to have its own police department, and not rely on the county sheriff.
This building on the southeast corner of Mill and Main looks to me like it might have been a filling station at one time. But that’s just a guess.
Here’s Main Street southbound on its way out of town.
Outside of Brooklyn, Main Street becomes Center Valley Road. Where it makes a hard 90-degree left turn, it becomes High Street. When it makes a T intersection with Centerton Road, it turns west. The small town of Centerton sits in the northwest quadrant of this intersection. I’ve marked the route in blue as the roads are not all marked on this map excerpt. When current SR 67 was built, Centerton Road was curved to cross the new highway at a cleaner angle. The original path is marked in red.
Here’s Centerton Road, the original alignment of SR 67 northbound, from where it intersects with current SR 67.
On the other side of SR 67, old SR 67 continues straight west until it reaches Milhon Road, where it turns south to reach current SR 67. Here current SR 67 more or less assumes the original alignment. I have to think that improvements over the years saw it smoothed out and perhaps slightly moved in some places.
One of those places where the original road was obviously moved is on the west edge of Martinsville, about 6½ miles south. To go into Martinsville, you turn eastward onto SR 39. But at this intersection, a short original alignment of SR 67 remains.
Detour: If you follow SR 39 into town, you will be able to see an old alignment of that road that is still paved in brick. See it here.
This short bit of road provides access to the Royal Motel and other properties.
Here’s a northbound view of this road to where it dead ends. Headed southbound, it merges into current SR 67.
Next: A historic bridge on the original alignment.
To get Down the Road in your inbox or reader six days a week, click here to subscribe!
To get my newsletter with previews of what I’m working on, click here to subscribe!
