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On Shopping Center Road, there’s Ciro’s Pizza (tel. 540-465-5125), and Great Wall Chinese Restaurant (tel. 540-465-8336). Fox’s Pizza & Chicken is at 289 N. Massanutten Street (tel. 540-465-3251).

Lodging

Pet-friendly: Hotel Strasburg is an 1890 Victorian hotel within walking distance of everything in town. The former hospital is now outfitted as a Victorian hotel with all the amenities: restaurant, Victorian pub, and comfortable beds piled high with quilts. Some have bathrooms with deep, claw-foot tubs; others with whirlpool jetted baths. The 29 rooms, dining rooms, lobby and Victorian pub are all furnished with antiques, many from the Strasburg Emporium and for sale. No extra charge for pets, but please call ahead. (213 S. Holliday Street, tel. 800-348-8327, shenandoah.org/thehotel, $$)

The Hyde Away Bed & Breakfast is a remodeled Victorian with wicker chairs on the front porch. Guests are greeted with English Tea in the parlor and fresh flowers in their rooms. In the morning, coffee and tea are served upstairs before a full breakfast in the dining room. The hosts grew up in the hospitality business: Maggie Hyde was raised in her father’s hotel in Australia, and John Hyde in his family’s famous Purefoy Hotel in Talladega, Alabama. (362 W. King St., tel. 540-465-8680, www.HydeAwayBandB.com, $$)

Out on Old Valley Pike are the Budget Inn, which takes pets (tel. 540-465-5298, $); and Valley View Motel (tel. 540-465-8510, $).

Information

Strasburg Chamber of Commerce, tel. 540-465-3187, www.stras­burg­cham­ber.com.

Event

Mayfest, held the second weekend in May, brings crafters and a parade to the streets of Strasburg. For information, contact the chamber of commerce, tel. 540-465-3187, www.stras­burg­cham­ber.com.

Front Royal

Our friend’s grandfather moved his family to Front Royal from Philadelphia more than 50 years ago. Now 92 years old, he doesn’t have time to explain all the reasons why he loves it so, except that “it’s God’s country,” as anyone with two eyes can plainly see for themselves.

Surrounded by the Massanutten range and the Blue Ridge, Front Royal is the northern entranceway for Skyline Drive and Shenandoah National Park. It began as a frontier settlement at the crossing of trails, like many old Virginia towns. In this case, trails from Manassas and Chester Gaps met at the foot of the Blue Ridge near the mouth of Happy Creek, then continued on as one for half a mile, giving Front Royal a distinctive Y shape.

The city is still a major crossroads, now of modern motor trails, interstates 81 and 66. From Washington DC it’s a scant 40 minutes on I-66, sure enough the fast lane to God’s country.

In the beginning, many referred to Front Royal as Helltown, for all the raucous doings a trail town can muster, but others, probably the more devout, called it Lehewtown, in honor of an early French Huguenot settler. The present name came about because of a huge oak – the Royal tree of England – at the joining of Chester and Main Streets today. During colonial times the clumsier militia-in-training were told to “front the royal oak,” meaning salute the tree. Hence, the town’s name, as well as Royal Oak Tavern, Royal Oak Bookshop, Royal Oak Computers… you get the gist.

Around Town

The first railroad into the Shenandoah Valley made its grand entrance by Manassas Gap and Front Royal on Oct. 10, 1854. Even though passenger service ended in 1946, the railroad legacy is clearly visible in the form of the historic train station at 414 E. Main Street. Restored in the 1980s, it now houses the Front Royal Visitors Center (800-338-2576, www.front-royal.va.us). Next to it is a caboose donated by the Norfolk and Southern Railway Company that rests on some original tracks.

The train station is the starting and ending point for a self-guided walking tour. There’s plenty of parking adjacent at the Village Commons (you can’t miss the gazebo), which is where the Royal Oak stood.

The one-mile tour has 34 stops, primarily on Chester and Main streets.