Editor’s note: A few weeks ago, the Axios news site in Richmond referred to “whatever the hell is west of Roanoke.” That prompted a response from Cardinal News founding editor Dwayne Yancey, and from reader Don Norden of Arlington, who said he had never been to Southwest Virginia but was planning to make a visit. We asked readers what he should see, and Cardinal readers obliged — with recommendations on what to see on the way to Southwest Virginia, and what to see while there. Norden has now made his visit, based on those suggestions, and here’s what he’s shared with us.
Thanks again to your readers and you for the many excellent recommendations:
Unfortunately, having only a week, it was impossible to cover everything, but I did a loop to the Cumberland Gap and back of over 1,200 miles. Below are brief highlights of a most enjoyable trip that had many side forays and ventures. Overall, the takeaway is everyone was very nice and appreciative that someone from Arlington would come so far to visit. I’ll follow up with pictures where indicated below. I intentionally never listened to satellite radio, so I could hear radio local stations and in the evening always watched the local TV stations for news and the political ads.
I-81 on the way down
I left Arlington on Interstate 66 and down the Interstate 81 corridor, but left I-81 many times to check out towns along the way. For example, I’d been by the I-66/I-81 interchange countless times, but never explored downtown Front Royal. I did not stop at Staunton, but I do know it’s “Stanton” and have stayed overnight downtown, had dinner, and explored the museums. Contrary to what Mr. Cao [Republican Senate contender Hung Cao] said, Staunton is no “Podunk.” At one time or another, I’ve been to every city, battlefield and museum north of Roanoke, so I saved most of my time for “Whatever the hell is west of Roanoke,” in the words of Axios-Richmond. Overall, the cities along I-81 seem to be doing well, although I generally only stopped and explored larger ones.
Lexington
Per your reader’s recommendation, I stopped and had coffee at Roadmap CoffeeWorks. Not just a small-town coffee shop, but with all the exotic coffees one would find at a big city place. I ordered a large vanilla latte for the road, but the barista said that’s a lot of shots for the road and don’t get a speeding ticket on I-81 like he did. So I got the small size. Nice city. I’ve been to Lexington and tourist attractions and museums before, including a game at its baseball stadium, but still drove around to refresh my memory.
Fincastle
Almost missed it, since I didn’t see much from the entering highway, until I turned around and fortunately saw the cross sign “Main Street.” It was Memorial Day weekend and pretty quiet, but I stopped at the 1772 Café across from the courthouse. [The proprietor] gave me a full tour of the place and insisted I go to the roof to take pictures. I learned the county is “BOT-e-tot,” defying my logical pronunciation.
Roanoke
Of course, I toured the Virginia Museum of Transportation, as well as generally toured the city and stayed overnight. I say “city” because it’s obviously the main hub of Southwest Virginia. I had no idea what Star Mountain [the star on Mill Mountain] was, but I told [Virginia state Senate Majority Leader] Scott Surovell about my trip and he said to see the plaque to his grandfather there, which I did and sent him a pic (I also know his mother, Glenda Booth, and that’s her dad).
Wytheville
I generally explored the town. Nice downtown and things looked good. I learned it’s pronounced “WITH-vull” not “WYTHE-ville” as I would have said. I wondered why the small town looked to be doing well, since it’s not a college town with extra state spending like Harrisonburg, Blacksburg, etc. Then it occurred to me that being at the junction of both I-81 and I-77 must be an economic asset.
Abingdon
Per your reader recommendation, I stopped for coffee at The Girl & The Raven Coffee Bar. Again, not just a small-town coffee shop, but it had all the exotic specialty coffees one would find in a large city.
To and from the Cumberland Gap
I left the I-81 corridor and drove U.S. 58, “The Crooked Road” (aptly named!), from Bristol going west. The outward economic picture in “coal country” is different from the I-81 corridor. I read recently that U.S. coal production actually increased 2% last year, but it’s the U.S. coal jobs that are declining for two reasons: (1) More automation requiring less jobs, and (2) In western states like the Powder River Basin in Wyoming where strip mining is the norm, it’s huge machines that do not use underground miners. Regardless of the causes and potential cures, this part of our state does need attention. Gov. Glenn Younkin is smart, policy-wise and politically, to focus attention with his recent Southwest Virginia economic development initiative. We’ll see what comes of it. Many years ago, I grew up in Nebraska, where farms became mechanized and needed less workers, causing rural exodus, especially of young people. The sight of the small towns in Southern Virginia reminded me of small towns in rural Nebraska, with no new construction, empty storefronts, abandoned houses, and an aging population. Please feel free to take some of the data centers and other development that over-crowds Northern Virginia.
Bristol
I toured Bristol well. I have no idea how the city manages being half in Virginia and half in Tennessee, with the state line right down the main downtown street. Matters like utilities, garbage collection, etc., plus on one side of the street, abortion and marijuana are legal, but illegal on the other side of the street. Amid that type of confusion, perhaps that’s why country music began there! In any event, a delightful town. I stayed overnight at the Hotel Bristol next door to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. The hotel and museum were excellent. The city does a great job of making the downtown look attractive with its iconic “Bristol — VA — TN” sign and with flags and flowers on the main street. However, as I walked up and down main street, it became apparent that times are not so great. Many if not nearly half of storefronts were empty. I saw the construction site for the big new casino and Hard Rock Hotel. It’s on the edge of town and, I presume, intended to be an enclosed site where people stay at the hotel and gamble at the casino. One must assume inevitably it will lead to costs to the town, such as traffic, potential crime, etc. So I wonder how much it will actually contribute to the economic health of the town and its residents, but we’ll see. I personally do not like casinos and there is not a desire in Northern Virginia for a casino. Having said that, I can see from the empty storefronts that Bristol and Southwest Virginia could use an economic development jolt, so I wish Bristol well on its casino experiment.
Floyd
From Bristol, I continued east with a destination of Floyd, per your reader’s recommendation. It is not easy to get to Floyd! It’s off the beaten path and takes some effort for a traveler. However, the effort is well worth it! What an absolutely lovely town! The downtown looked great, it was full of people walking around on a weekday, and downtown storefronts were all filled with businesses. Per your reader recommendation, I ate at the Outer Space Café and checked out the Hotel Floyd. Unfortunately, I did not have time to stay overnight, but I highly recommend visiting Floyd. Just don’t be in a hurry to get there over winding mountainous two-lane roads. (As an aside, VDOT gets huge cred for taking care of the many two-lane mountainous roads I was on, such as The Crooked Road. The surfaces were good and the striping was good.)
South Boston
After leaving Floyd, I again drove on the Crooked Road (aptly named) to get back to U.S. 58 East to continue on Virginia’s southern tier, on which I had never been before, other than Emporia and Hampton Roads. In Martinsville and Danville, I explored the cities, but did not stay, then stayed overnight in South Boston. I have a friend whose family is from So-Bo, so I took lots of pictures for her. Once in Martinsville I was out of the mountains and into the Piedmont. I was pleased to see that these three river/railroad/U.S. 58 towns appeared to be doing as well as they are, in view of the loss of the textile industry, etc.
After that, I continued on to Richmond to visit my daughter (an academic advisor at Virginia Commonwealth University) on my way back home to Arlington. Entering Richmond, I was struck by the traffic, since I’d not had to deal with such city traffic for a week.
Bottom line, it was an excellent trip and I know our state better now having been to every corner. (I thought about it, but unfortunately due to time, I had to miss Big Stone Gap and Dante.)
To answer the question posed by Axios-Richmond, “Whatever the hell is west of Roanoke,” my answer is, “A helluva lot, so go visit!!!” As Gen. MacArthur said, “I shall return.”
Cardinal News serving Southwest and Southside Virginia? Nay, I say you serve our entire state!
