By Amber Phipps
The Parkersburg News and Sentinel
WILLIAMSTOWN – The holidays are a time of giving, spending time with loved ones, eating delicious food, and for some people – lots of driving.
As the holidays come to a close and families return to their hometowns to ring in the New Year, rest areas and welcome centers are buzzing with traffic.
The I-77 North and Southbound Welcome Center in Williamstown was bustling with activity as families and single travelers popped in and out of the building over the holiday weekend.
Rodney Rock and his mother-in-law Dorthy Peckham stopped by Williamstown for a quick break to stretch their legs on Sunday afternoon.
“We’re on our way back to her home in northern Ohio,” said Rock.
Rock is originally from Ohio but moved to North Carolina with his family. He said they didn’t want Peckham to spend the holidays alone so they drove from North Carolina to pick up her and her German shepherd, named Lacey, to bring her to the family in the Carolinas.
“We’ve been on our way back up and we have about two hours left of the trip,” said Rock.
Peckham said Lacey does very well in the car and doesn’t mind the drive. Lacey was given to Peckham following the passing of her son in September.
Rock said he and his wife have been to West Virginia a number of times and they enjoyed visiting New River Gorge for their honeymoon.
He said Ohio and West Virginia are very pretty and he loves the rolling hills but he likes the warmer weather in North Carolina.
“I’ve also lived in Florida for about 28 years,” he said. He said his hometown is the setting in The Shawshank Redemption.
The grounds coordinator for the welcome center, Dan Clem, said they see all kinds of people from all over the country. He said there have been visitors from Canada as well.
“The traffic through here hasn’t been the same since the pandemic,” said Clem. “There’s been significantly less people.”
He said there used to be thousands of people stopping by but after the pandemic in 2020, the traffic has decreased substantially.
“During the holidays we now see around 300 to 400 people come through those doors in one day,” he said.
There was a steady stream of people stopping by to check out the WV Tourism section in the welcome center as well as let their dogs out in the fenced-in area to play before getting back on the road.
Despite the warmer weather and time of year, the parking lot at the welcome center was notably empty. Minutes would go by without a family entering through the front doors and Clem said there’s been less traffic over the years.
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