ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 13, 1997 TAG: 9704140009
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN SNIDER THE ROANOKE TIMES
Ada Karnes knows a thing or two about traffic at the mall - she's lived in the neighborhood since the land was still open country.
The planes whooshing overhead and the traffic whizzing to and from Valley View Mall don't bother Ada Karnes anymore. She got used to them.
"We don't pay attention to it now," Karnes says.
It's just part of living where she has for 46 years, at Edinburgh Drive and Huff Lane. Karnes, 73, can see the stoplight next to Shakers restaurant from her front yard, but because of a landscaped berm, she can see the mall only from an upstairs window.
Before the mall was built, she could look across what then was a wide, open field and see Peter Huff's house. "They always left the back porch light on - day and night."
She often walked across the field with her children on trips to Cove Road for ice cream, and their neighbor sometimes rescued them from the summer heat. "Mrs. Huff would get us in the car and drive us home because she thought it was too hot to be out there."
When the mall project was announced, Karnes and her neighbors were not happy. They had been led to believe there would be no further development between their homes and the airport.
The mall's arrival also meant one of the city's last farms would disappear. The Huff Farm dates back to at least the 18th century when it was called the Barrens; Peter Huff, who later would become the first Virginian to sell milk commercially, bought it in 1905.
"I was real sad because, like I say, it seemed like the last farm," Karnes said.
Once the mall was built, Karnes had a part in opening it. After working at the JCPenney store at Crossroads Mall for several years, she helped relocate the store to Valley View and used to walk around the mall's common area for exercise. She retired in 1988 after three years at the new store.
Living next to the mall may not be the ideal situation, but her house is paid for and the location is convenient, she said.
But the traffic does prevent her from crossing the street that now occupies the field she used to cut across years ago. She drives there only on weekdays, and she does her walking at Crossroads Mall. It's less hectic.
All in all, she has few complaints.
"I hated to see the mall come up, but yet it's convenient for me now."
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY/THE ROANOKE TIMES. Before Valley View, Adaby CNBKarnes could walk across Huff Farm's open fields. Now, the traffic
keeps her from visiting her new neighbors on foot. color.