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3,556 Miles Away
July 10, 2008

O

riental has graced the pages of Southern LIving magazine more than once. Now, Oriental’s a part of some very northern living.

A few days ago, two Oriental residents, Kirk and Sylvia Nelson, attached a sign to a post in the town of Watson Lake in the Yukon of Canada. It reads, “Oriental, NC 5,724 km”.

The Sign Post Forest there is tradition that began during WWII. A homesick GI working on the Alaska Highway as part of the nation’s defense system, put up a sign showing how many miles it was to his hometown in Illinois. It grew from there.

Kirk Nelson first saw the Sign Post Forest 31 years ago while on a motorcycle trip across the continent.

Kirk at Watson Lake in 1977.

So this spring, while planning a trip to Alaska and the Yukon with Sylvia, Kirk decided to revisit Watson Lake, a town he describes as “not much more than a bump in the road.” But he was on a mission.

He went to Village Graphics and paid for a sign to be made up to the kind of specs the Town of Oriental uses, he says.

One day this spring, he practiced placing the sign on a phone pole near their home:

It looked good on the pole in Oriental, the pole was just 5,724 km away from where it needed to be.

Then he went on his trip, packing the sign and a cordless screwdriver. And on a weekend when Oriental was in the throes of the Croaker Festival, the Nelsons arrived at Watson Lake.

Watson Lake Sign Post Forest.

As might be expected after 31 years, the place had changed. It was reorganized, Kirk says, “with older signs mixed in with newer, neatly lined up in row after row.”

One of the newest is the sign from Oriental.

Installing the sign at Watson Lake.

Oriental’s sign may get more eye views than others. Kirk reports that “a new row of posts had just been installed at the very front of the display so the Oriental sign is right out front, visible from the highway.”

Sylvia and Kirk Nelson after putting the Oriental sign on a post.

Posted Thursday July 10, 2008 by Melinda Penkava