Hillsville VA - A Dark Past Drive Thru

In the Blue Ridge Mountains lies the tiny town of Hillsville, VA with a population of approximately 2,900 residents. It got its name from the rolling hills and farmland for rye, wheat, corn, cattle and produce. It began as a trading post along a stagecoach road. The town boasts a Farmer's Market, but also the largest flea markets (held Memorial Day and Labor Day) this side of the Mississippi.
The dark past is related to kerfuffle at the courthouse March 12, 1912. Apparently, the perpetrator, Floyd Allen, was trying to get his nephews out of jail free when the tragedy occurred. (Frank eventually got the electric chair.) It seems the story was the headline of the day until the Titanic tragedy struck a month later, April 14-15, 1912.
Notable: Miss America 1979, Kylene Barker, graduated from Hillsville's Carroll County High School. She seems to have experienced her own run-in with the law with her first husband. We'll leave it to those curious to Google her past.