1. Mill Mountain

We have a mountain in our city! How cool is that? Actually, we have two mountains, but the taller Roanoke Mountain doesn't get the love we lavish on good ol' Mill Mountain. That's probably because of the joy derived from misty-eyed views, the zoo, the trails and that neon heavenly body capping the 1,700-foot summit like a jewel in our crown. A gift from the Fishburn family to be used as a park, Mill Mountain is beloved by everyone from the outdoorsy types who want to preserve its wooded sanctuary to those who want to cap it with a swanky hotel.

2. Roanoke City Market

Other towns have tried to re-create downtown farmers markets. We never let ours go. You can buy peaches in the summertime, apples in the fall and a cornucopia of other fruits and veggies year 'round. The market building's food court adds, ahem, international flavor to downtown. Plus, as you shop for fresh flowers or dart into the cafes and quaint boutiques along Market Street during lunch hour, you'll run into about a half-dozen people you know. That's why Roanoke is the largest small town in America.

3. Hotel Roanoke

Of all the landmarks that greet you when you drive into the city along Interstate 581 -- the Mill Mountain Star, the Wachovia Tower, the spires of St. Andrew's, the Dr Pepper sign -- nothing says "Roanoke" like the Tudor-style hotel on the hill. Its restoration and reopening in 1995 melded old Roanoke with new and ushered in positive changes to downtown and the neighboring Norfolk & Western buildings, which now house the Roanoke Higher Education Center and deluxe apartments.

4. The Star

The next time you look up to Mill Mountain just after dusk, and you see the neon gases glowing in iridescent reds, whites and blues, just think about all the other eyes that are at that moment transfixed on the same thing. From Southeast Roanoke to Salem, from the City Market all the way to Interstate 81, people are looking and pointing and exclaiming, "Look, it's the star!" And they know they're home.

5. Old Gabriel

Almost as long as there has been Roanoke, there has been the whistle that signals the start, lunch break and end of the workday at Norfolk Southern's East End Shops. Even when the shops nearly ground to a halt years ago, Old Gabriel blew, a testament to the city's blue-collar roots and perseverance.

6. Williamson Road

Snack bars, beer joints, car lots and a community that loves all of it. Sprawl from a time when it at least had local flavor.

7. Texas Tavern

Cheesy and a bowl with, please. Well into its eighth decade of providing 'round-the-clock gastronomical adventures, the Texas Tavern still seats a thousand, 10 at a time. Unless a stool is broken, then it's 900.

8. Grandin Theatre

The last of Roanoke's grand old movie palaces, the Grandin is a theater we just can't let go. A repository of art movies and the occasional blockbuster, the Grandin is the centerpiece of the Grandin Village neighborhood. If you live nearby, you can go to dinner and a movie and never get in your car.

9. Railroad tracks

They're what made the city in the first place. They bind us together and divide us. They delineate neighborhoods and quadrants. In Roanoke, it is still possible to know people "from the other side of the tracks" and cross over and make new friends.

10. Center in the Square

History, art, science and theater, all under one roof. And don't forget lunch at the Roanoke Weiner Stand just outside the center's entrance.

YOUR TURN

Did we miss one of your favorite landmarks? Share your list with us before 9 a.m. Monday, so we can get your picks in next week's issue.

E-MAIL ralph.berrier@roanoke.com

MAIL to P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke VA, 24010

ONLINE message board at www.roanoke.com/entertainment

Ralph Berrier Jr.'s family roots in Roanoke go back 80 years and include bus drivers, musicians, silk mill workers and soda jerks.