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Ruth Cummings is never alarmed when she sees a stranger walking through her yard.

When you have a garden full of windmills you expect to attract attention.

The windmills — 19 of them — spin in the lot beside her home on Setliff Road, northwest of Reidsville. They are the handiwork of her late husband, David, who built them from salvaged objects.

The windmills are just a few of the roadside oddities and art that you’ll come across if you get off the beaten path in Rockingham County.

Windmills
David Cummings was that back-road kind of guy.

“He always liked to find a different way to get somewhere,” says Ruth Cummings about her husband, who died in 2009.

It was on one of his back-road excursions in the 1970s that he drove past a windmill in a yard.

After that, he scoured junk stores and salvage yards, looking for items he could use to make his own windmill. He assembled old license plates, bicycle wheels, augers, hay-rake wheels, scrap aluminum and poles of any sort — anything that could serve as an axle, hub, blade or pole.

After building one windmill, he just never stopped.

Ruth Cummings surrounded the windmills with azaleas, hostas, peonies and roses.

Now, it looks like a small park, and it’s a nice tribute to David Cummings, his ingenuity and his fascination with windmills.

Carved wood sprites
You’ll want to take your time when you pass Nellie Axelong’s house on Salem Church Road, north of Reidsville.

Tucked into the elbow of the road, her home is surrounded by a grove of trees, and that’s where you want to focus.

Look carefully at the trees and you’ll see them — craggy-faced creatures carved into the bark.

The carvings are the work of Joe Mayen-Valdez, who once did landscaping work in the area.

There are at least a dozen wood sprites carved into the trees, making the yard look a little like an enchanted forest.

Outsider art
Benny Carter’s art has been exhibited at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, The Palmer Art Museum at Penn State University and galleries in New York City, Boston, California and Florida.

But you also can see it by driving down Peach Orchard Road in Mayodan where Carter displays a collection of his art in his yard.

Similar to folk art, Carter prefers to call his work “outsider art,” which refers to art that isn’t conventional.

To find Carter’s place, take Peach Orchard Road then turn onto the gravel drive across from Martin Road. You’ll spot Carter’s place on your right. In fact, it would be hard to miss his outdoor exhibit — outsider artists call it their environment.

Carter’s front yard is full of airplanes, birdhouses, angels, each embellished with his whimsical style that sometimes parodies religion and politics. You’ll notice reoccurring themes such as taxicabs and the Statue of Liberty.

Carter is used to visitors. Film crews from Canada, New Jersey and Missouri have visited, and his art has been featured in several books.

Igloos
When the staff at Cirrus Construction gives directions to their business, they tell people to drive to the end of Calvary Road, west of Eden, and look for the igloos.

OK. So they really aren’t igloos, but it’s easy to see why they refer to their three white, dome-shaped buildings that way.

In 1984, Charlie Hall built the domes with his father. At the time, the two owned an insulation business and one of the materials they used was sprayed-in-place polyurethane foam.

When they needed an office and warehouse for their business, they decided to make it with the foam. They inflated a hot-air balloon, sprayed the foam over it and watched it expand and harden.

“It’s kind of like shaving cream,” Hall says .

When they removed the balloon, they had a structure with 8-inch-walls.

Since 2005, those three interconnected domes have been the home of Cirrus Construction, owned by Hall and Scott Flanagan.

They have about 4,500 square feet of space. People are amazed at how roomy it is inside. There’s even a second floor.

Needless to say, it’s very well-insulated.

“We sometimes need the air-conditioner in January,” Hall says .
 
Contact Myla Barnhardt at 627-1781, Ext. 116, or myla.barnhardt@news-record.com.