Story and photos by Patricia Apelt (unless otherwise indicated)
Play Along the Wilderness Road
Staying busy with activities along the Wilderness Road in Southwestern Virginia is not difficult. Whatever the season, there is always something to do. From skiing, snowboarding and other cold-weather sports in the winter, to multiple warm weather activities you can keep busy every day.
Lots of Activities to Choose From
Hiking, horseback riding, camping, biking, kayaking or tubing on the many rivers and lakes, and of course, shopping for treasures. There are also multiple indoor events to visit. The whole area is filled with museums, festivals, concerts, street markets, and live stage shows. Among sites to see in Abingdon are Sinking Spring Cemetery, several historical homes which include one home built on the site of Daniel Boone’s annual camp while on The Wilderness Road. There are also Art Galleries, Museums, and the beginning of the 34-mile Virginia Creeper trail for bikers or hikers.
Barter Theater – The State Theater of Virginia
The Barter Theater in Abingdon has a full schedule of stage productions each season. Because they actually have four stages, they can do four different shows at the same time and also do them at different times of the day. You can see all four in two days. Buy tickets to all four plays and your weekend entertainment is taken care of! They count on attendees (mostly Season Ticket holders) from as far away as 150 miles, so reservations are required.
Started during The Great Depression, they charged either 0.35 per ticket or any extra produce or animal people were willing to barter to see live theater. The actors pooled their limited resources, hired a cook, and the bartered food was used to feed the hungry actors. The Barter cleared only $4.35 their first year but had a combined weight gain of 303 pounds.
More Outdoor Activities in SW Virginia
Also producing live theater in the area are Virginia Tech. in Blacksburg, Radford University, and Emery and Henry College in Emory, Virginia, and several Little Theater groups in the towns along the route.
Abingdon sponsors the week-long Virginia Highlands Festival in July-August, which is free, and there is also a weekly guided “Spirit Tour” telling of the Ghosts and Spirits of Abingdon. If you like to watch Civil War re-enactments, they have one.
If hiking back into history is on your bucket list, you should visit The Channels. Gigantic boulders over 400 million years old and several stories high form pathways to explore for a day-long hike. There is no road access, so the only way in is a hike from the gate.
Southwest Virginia also has several State Parks, Wilderness Recreation areas and Holston Lake, which straddles the Virginia and Tennessee border. All of these areas have miles of hiking trails, horseback trails, camping sites, fly fishing rivers and picnic sites, plus gorgeous mountain scenery. Holston Lake has a boat rental dock, so you can spend a day exploring the shore-line from the water.
Scenic Land of “Dirty Dancing”
Going in any direction off of The Wilderness Road will take you into some of the most beautiful country in Virginia. Here you will find multiple antique shops, wineries, beautiful Southern-style mansions turned into Bed & Breakfasts, and some surprising sights to visit. If you are old enough to remember the movie “Dirty Dancing” you may want to visit the location where most of it was filmed, right here in the Virginia Highlands! While you are there “Out in the Country”, you can find quiet streams for fly-fishing or just relaxing with a good book or a picnic lunch.
In Bristol, there is The Birthplace of Country Music Museum, and if you like seeing great artwork you can visit the Benjamin Walls art gallery on the Virginia side of State Street. Fantastic photography! You can sign up right there in the gallery to go on a photographic safari with Mr. Walls. State Street also has great shopping, and a beautiful centuries-old railroad station, now converted into a recreational meeting place for dances, class reunions, etc.
Crossroads of Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee
Because the Wilderness Road (Route 11/Interstate-81) runs so very close to the Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee line, it is very easy to visit places there while you are in the area. Bristol, in particular, has some very interesting places of interest to tourist, such as the Bristol Motor Speedway, a NASCAR short track that is one of the most well-known motorsports facilities in the country.
Continuing on Route 58 beyond Bristol you will come to the last incorporated town in Virginia, Ewing. The town is located in Lee County and is the westernmost settlement of the state. The Wilderness Road State Park is nearby, as well as a hiking trail that will lead you to Sand Cave. Thousands of years old, this cave was formed by wind, rain, and erosion.
Make Abingdon Your Headquarters
From my personal experience, the very best vacation would center around making the wonderful town of Abingdon your base and taking day-trips for all the rest from there. Almost everything mentioned here is within easy driving distance, and when you return in the evening it is like coming home. Plus, Abingdon is only approximately 2 miles from the center of town to the Virginia Highlands Airport if you wish to arrive that way, either with your own aircraft or flying commercially.
