Editor, Gazette-Journal:

I have been visiting friends in Mathews and some in Gloucester since the early 1940s, and attended shows at Donk’s Theater on a regular basis from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, so I have a lot of friends over there. Poor health and the lack of money have kept me from going over there much since then.

I enjoy reading the Glimpses into the Past column. When I saw the Dining Guide section in the Aug. 22 issue, with pictures of past and present restaurants, it brought back memories.

I remember when all of the roads, including Route 17, were all two-lane roads with no stoplights, and nothing between Gloucester Point and Gloucester Court House but a Tastee Freeze and I believe a Texaco service station at Hayes. Now it is mostly four-lane divided highway all the way to Mathews Court House, and I believe at last count 12 stoplights.

In addition to the two buildings at Hayes, I remember the Dairy Freeze at Ward’s Corner, Routes 14 and 198, and th...