James Meek

James Meek of Glad Springs sat in his horse-drawn carriage with $20,500 of gold underneath his seat in order to purchase 2,240 acres in Burke’s Garden. After he bought the “Lovely View'‘ in the heart of the community, he never saw it again. After traveling to Lynchburg to obtain the gold, he stopped to eat a large quantity of ears of corn. Between the excitement of the sale and the exhaustion from the long journey, he had a heart attack. Although he lived for 10 days after the event, he never saw his land again. His grandson, James Meek Hoge, inherited one tract of the land from his mother, Jane Meek Hoge. The lesson from the tale was to never eat more than three ears of corn at one time.