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Mt. Joy Drive-In
US 11 south of Buchanan, Va.
years of operation: 1952-64+
currently: trailer park; snack bar/projection building still stands

   "My early childhood is filled with wonderful memories of the Mt. Joy Drive-in. Our family of seven children, Mom and Dad lived in a place called Pico Holler (like Loretta Lynn's Butcher Holler), in a shack-looking house. I was at kindergarten age at that time. My father was a painter and he painted the drive-in screen. As I looked through the old family photos (I am 56 now), it was like watching a movie playing on that same drive-in screen. There was one of my Dad standing on the scaffold painting the screen; he looked so tiny against the backdrop. As small children with no television, no modern facilities, we would entertain ourselves by walking the long winding dirt road to the Mt. Joy Drive-in, crawling under the bobbed wire fence, sitting on the ground by the speaker, and watching the movie that was playing. (Of course, we did not get permission from our Mother!!!) It was easy to disappear in those days because we always played in the woods, and there weren't any close neighbors to tell on us.
   "Well, the inevitable happened. One night, my brothers and sisters had crawled under the fence, and never bothered to wait up for me; I was scrambling to catch up. When I was crawling under the fence, my clothes became caught by the wire, and it ripped the backside of my pants. How did we explain the torn clothing?????? Didn't have to be explained, we thought our Mom was psychic!
   "I still have Mom's photos, she passed away in 1978. They were shot with Mama's little Brownie box camera she had at the time.... Just wanted to tell you my story." -- Lynda Saunders

Rear and front views of the concession/projection building.

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