Rediscovering America_ Exploring the Small Towns of Virginia & Maryland - Bill Burnham [34]
Southwest Virginia
Resembling its closest neighbors, West Virginia and Kentucky, more than the rest of the Commonwealth, southwest Virginia to some degree really is about coal mining and bluegrass music, hollers and pick-up trucks. Yet its small towns are often centers of theater, art and music, surrounded by rugged mountains where you can hike for miles without seeing a soul. The people you do meet are among the friendliest anywhere.
Getting Here
Interstate 81 extends into southwest Virginia before heading south into Tennessee. To get to far southwest Virginia, Route 58 is the main road.
Southwest Virginia is served by Roanoke Regional Airport, tel. 540-362-1999.
Regional Information
Highlands Gateway Regional Visitor Center, 731 Factory Outlet Drive, Max Meadows, tel. 800-446-9670, www.virginiablueridge.org.
Heart of Appalachia Tourism Authority, Big Stone Gap, tel. 888-798-2386, www.heartofappalachia.com.
The Virginia Tourism Corporation (tel. 800-VISIT-VA, www.virginia.org) runs Virginia Highway Welcome Centers on I-81 at the VA/TN state line; I-77 at the VA/NC line; and on I-77 south of the VA/WV border.
Blacksburg
Around Town
One accessory visitors to Blacksburg must pack, besides the requisite toothbrush, is a football schedule. Whether a fan or not, if the Virginia Tech Hokies are playing a home game during your stay, it may take tackling someone to get a room.
As is expected in a college town, a lion’s share of businesses in Blacksburg cater to students, football fans, and visiting parents and alumni of Virginia Tech. This is the state’s largest university (25,000 enrollment) and, while it swells the population to nearly 40,000 between September and May, Blacksburg manages to retain a small town atmosphere.
Taverns and music stores line Main Street closest to campus. An amusing array of shops capitalize on the university football team’s nickname: Hokie Hair, Hokie House, and Hokie Sports, to name a few. You’ll also find several art galleries, eclectic shops, the restored 1929 Lyric Theatre (135 College Avenue, tel. 540-951-0604, www.thelyric.com) and interesting eateries in Blacksburg’s thriving downtown.
The 16-block historic area was laid out on a grid in 1798 after William Black donated the land. A walking tour brochure details the buildings in the area bordered by Draper Road and Clay, Wharton and Jackson streets. Most of the churches and homes date to the mid-19th century. The oldest building on the tour is the William Black Log House, circa 1780s, at 141 Jackson Street. Today it houses the Downtown Merchants Association.
The Virginia Tech campus itself has several sites besides the football stadium to hold interest for visitors. The Duck Pond is a favored spot for picnicking and watching ducks and geese. Adjacent is the Solitude House, the oldest residence on campus, which sits on the site of the Draper Meadow Settlement and massacre of 1755. Shawnee Indians took Mary Draper Ingles captive and her 850-mile journey home is dramatized in a novel and in the “The Long Way Home,” an outdoor drama performed in Radford each summer. (tel. 540-639-0679, www.thelongwayhome.org)
The Virginia Tech Museum of Geological Sciences exhibits minerals, fossils and a life-sized dinosaur model (tel. 540-231-3001), and the Virginia Tech Museum of Natural History showcases North American mammals (tel. 540-231-3001).
Adjacent to the campus, off Duck Pond Drive, is Smithfield Plantation, a 1772 Colonial house built by Col. William Preston. It’s the birthplace of two Virginia Governors. Take the guided tour given every half-hour ($5 adults, $3 students, $2 children) and visit the Museum of Westward Expansion. Open April through the first weekend in December, Thursday-Sunday 1-5 pm. (tel. 540-231-3947, http://civic.bev.net/smithfield)
TRAVEL TIP: A new 460 Bypass completed in 2002 makes getting to Blacksburg from I-81 a lot easier and quicker.
Recreation
If not in town