5 VA Road Trips: Country Roots, Poe’s Ghost, ‘Chicken Bone Express’

VIRGINIA — This state may be for lovers, as the longtime Virginia slogan claims, but it’s also for the curious. No matter what the intrigue, there’s a road trip for that.

If American history is your jam, there’s no better place than Virginia for a road trip. The site of the first English settlement, it’s regarded as the “birthplace of the nation,” and with eight former U.S. presidents among its native sons, the commonwealth is also known as “the mother of presidents.”

As a result, many of the state’s attractions celebrate the historical significance of the state, but they’re not the only reason to pack up and go road-tripping.

Here are five neat trips to take:

Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail

The Crooked Road: Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail that winds through 19 counties, four cities and more than 50 towns is one of the most scenic and culturally unique road trips in the United States. The 300-mile Crooked Road trail, an initiative launched in 2003 as a coordinated tourism experience, includes stops at 60 culturally significant music venues, as well as shopping and recreational opportunities along the way.

Highlights include The Carter Family Fold, a 1,000-set music shed in Hiltons offering traditional music every Saturday night, plays homage to The Carter Family and their traditional Appalachian music. Family patriarch A.P. Carter's old general store acts as a museum, and recent additions include the newly moved and reconstructed original A.P. Carter Homeplace.

In Bristol, don’t miss the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, a Smithsonian Institution affiliate that celebrates the influence of the 1927 Bristol Sessions to today’s music. The exhibition space, which is spread over two floors, includes traveling exhibits from the Smithsonian, as well as a performance auditorium, radio station, and an interactive multimedia experience that brings history to life. The museum hosts the annual Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion music festival (Sept. 15 this year) and is home to WBCM Radio Bristol.

Be sure to save time to flat-foot it in Floyd. Both the Friday Night Jamboree at the Sunday gospel sessions at Floyd Country Store, an authentic country store, offer the chance for old-time, flatfoot dancing — an Appalachian folk dance related to clogging, but less noisy as the dancer’s feet remain close to the floor. The store has a Southern-style restaurant and serves freshly churned ice cream.

If you’re looking to be pampered along the way, book a stay at The Martha Washington Inn & Spa in Abingdon. Originally built in 1832, it has served many purposes — as a hospital for wounded soldiers during the Civil War, a women’s college and now an elegant hotel.

The Virginia Tourism website has a sample itinerary for this road trip.

Go To Gordonsville For Fried Chicken

If you want a taste of authentic fried chicken, head to Gordonsville, the “chicken-leg center of the universe.” The town earned its reputation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when formerly enslaved women known as the “Waiter Carriers.”

These women weren’t allowed to work at the Exchange Hotel, now a Civil War medical museum, or many of the town’s businesses. So theybrought plates of fried chicken, biscuits, pies and other Southern delicacies to the train platforms, selling them through the windows to waiting passengers during train stops in Gordonsville. Their culinary creations were so regarded that some people would deliberately travel through Gordonsville just for these meals, and the train route became known as the “Chicken Bone Express.”

NPR noted that while fried chicken is fraught with racial stereotypes in some circles, in others “the food itself has provided a path toward financial freedom for Blacks. Many achieved financial independence because of their entrepreneurism, with some earning enough to buy their own houses.

This heritage is celebrated at the annual Fried Chicken Festival, where locals compete for bragging rights (and prizes) as the cook behind the best fried chicken in town. That happens on Oct. 5 this year, but you don’t have to wait until fall to sample the taste that made Gordonsville famous. It’s featured on restaurant menus year-round.

There are also multiple vineyards, breweries and art galleries to peruse, and Charlottesville is just 30 minutes away.

Natural Chimneys A Smoking Hot Road Trip

Among the coolest sights in Virginia are the seven Natural Chimneys, limestone rock columns carved by the ancient sea that once covered the Shenandoah Valley.

The rock formations, which tower as much as 120 feet, are the centerpiece of 145-acre Natural Chimneys Park and Campground in unincorporated Mount Solon.

Camping spots with electrical hookups are available on first come, first served basis, and primitive camping is also available. There’s plenty to do beyond gaping at the unique geological formations. The park has an Olympic-size swimming pool and a pool for tots; four picnic shelters available for rental, and a 30-foot-by-28-foot outdoor performance stage where concerts and special events are held.

Natural Chimneys Park is located in Augusta County, which has an abundance of natural areas to explore.

Lift The Veil Between Life And Death

Fans of macabre writer Edgar Allan Poe should head to The Poe Museum in his hometown of Richmond, the state’s capital city. The museum is housed in The Old Stone House built in 1740, one of the few mid-18th Century buildings remaining in the city.

Poe never lived in the house but is closely connected to it and his spirit is said to haunt it, according to local legend that is full of stories about creaking chairs, Poe’s curiously moving writing pen, which finds its way to new pages of papers on his desk, as if he was trying to tell one last tale.

Copious commercial ghost tours in Richmond promise to lift the veil between worlds at The Poe Museum and some of the city’s other supposedly haunted places.

One, an abandoned 1873-built tunnel under the St. John’s Church Historic District, is supposedly haunted by the souls of 10 people who died in cave-ins during its construction, and others on a work train who died when the whole thing collapsed in 1925. The tunnel is sealed, but the spirits of the dead workers sometimes come out, according to local legend.

Richmond has plenty of current-day attractions to entertain visitors, including trendy breweries, eateries, art galleries, and local shops and businesses.

Experience Wytheville’s Small-Town Charm

Founded as Evansham in 1792 and renamed in honor of George Wyeth, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a mentor to Thomas Jefferson, Wytheville is found at the intersection of I-77 and I-81. As you might expect, this town of 8,000 drips American history, but not every road trip experience is a history lesson.

You may just want to spend your time immersed in the beautiful natural places around Wythe County. The 100-foot Big Walker Lookout Tower offers a panoramic view of the opportunities waiting in the mountains, farmlands and Jefferson National Forest below. A nominal fee is charged at the country store to walk across the swinging bridge to the base of the tower.

Wytheville has one of the tiniest churches in the country, a chapel open 24 hours a day to serve people passing through. A 30-foot “Big Pencil” directs people to an office supply store. And a restored 1926 gas station and pumps serves as the Great Lakes to Florida Highway Museum, the newest addition to the Willow Brook Jackson/Umberger Homestead Museum interpretive site, and it’s the third museum for the town.

Skeeter’s World Famous Hot Dogs, in operation since 1925 and one of Virginia’s oldest continuing restaurants, is a source of pride. The eatery offers a dozen specialty dogs, including the Slawdog, the Chattahoochee, and the Skeeterdog topped with mustard, onions and chili.

Despite the small-town, slightly “Mayberry-ish” atmosphere, Wytheville has a more cosmopolitan scene with shops, restaurants and hotels. The German-themed Wohlfahrt Haus Dinner Theatre offers a four-course meal prepared by an in-house chef. The “all musicals, all the time” format features a variety of music from classic to contemporary, and exceptional dancing.

5 More Classic Virginia Road Trips

• Hail To The Chief Road Trip
• Check Out The Blue Ridge Foothills
• A Natural Bridge And An Interesting Take On History
• See Virginia’s Wild Side
• Experience The Simple Charm Of The Country