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Postcard circa 1980s: Kummerlowe Archive
 

Above: In all its circa 1979 Mansard glory, Gold Rock's original facade featured Howard Johnson's version of an "environmental look."

Below: Its Beacons and earth tones long removed, the Mansard's Orange Roof continued to gleam in the early 2000s.

Lower: Even by the later 2000s, the site endured a few minor additional alterations like a canopy and fence for the former HJ Restaurant
 
Photo December 29, 2001: Kummerlowe Archive
 
 
Photo October 2007: Kummerlowe Archive
 
 
Photo october 2007: Kummerlowe Archive

Gold Rock's Howard Johnson's Restaurant was one of the last three in North Carolina -- making it until the middle 1990s. As recently as 2001 the Restaurant's dining room included its original eight sided HoJo's salad bar and many Landmark Supply fixtures. Moreover a poster advertising the Big Blue Pancakes Breakfast was on the door leading from the Motor Lodge lobby, and was a remnant of the Restaurant's last days as a Howard Johnson's.

Unfortunately employees seemed to be unfriendly, unwelcoming, and upset by my interest in their former HJ restaurant back in 2001. The manager went out of his way to forbid photography of the amazingly intact interior.

 
 
Postcards circa 1980s: Kummerlowe Archive
 
 
 
 
 
 
Photo October 2007: Kummerlowe Archive
 
 
 
 
Gold Rock, NC Days Inn -- Photo October 2007: Kummerlowe Archive
 

Just north of Rocky Mount along I-95, Battleboro's interchange became an important site of roadside commerce and hospitality. While the Howard Johnson's was sited in one of the best spots, several other once prominent standardized American chains came to be clustered along the way!

Above: Although its guest buildings had been modified with embellishment and stucco, Gold Rock's original Days Inn featured a remarkably intact Lobby building which had also of course originally housed a Tasty World Restaurant.

 
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