THE REST IS HISTORY - YOUR WINDOW INTO THE PAST
A Most Excellent Adventure
Wednesday, October 14, 2020
Off we go on a wonderful two-day adventure. My oldest daughter and travel buddy, Dee and I left Virginia Beach at 7:30 on a bright sunny Wednesday morning and traveled up Interstate 64 through Richmond, Charlottesville and on to historic Staunton, VA.
As we drove along, the trees had more and more of their fall colors. Not quite peak season yet but getting there. A few more cool nights and they will reach that wonderfully glorious display that thousands drive to the state to view every fall.
We arrived in Staunton mid-morning and after a quick drive through town to see historic houses and the quaint downtown, we parked the car and had our picnic lunch at the Blackburne Inn & Conference Center. Dee has planned a destination workshop for photography students here and she wanted to check it out.
The Inn officially opened in June 2018 as Virginia’s newest, luxury boutique hotel. What a gorgeous and carefully restored building. It is listed on the National Trust list of Historic Hotels of America. It was once Building 12 or the Main Administration Building of the Western State Hospital and was constructed between 1825 – 1828. Local architect Thomas R. Blackburn, lead an expansive renovation project of the property in the mid-1830s. Blackburn was a respected protégé of Thomas Jefferson as reflected by the building. The building exudes the distinctive and unmistakable look of the period characterized by red brick, whitewashed wood trim, classical moldings and dramatic light-filled hallways. When Western State Hospital later relocated, and the original property was transformed into a medium-security prison in 1981.
After our quick tour of the hotel, we got on Interstate 81 South. At the exit for Raphine, we left the highway for a leisurely but short drive into the countryside to the Rockbridge Winery. Lovely wines that you enjoy outside on their spacious grounds due to COVID 19 concerns. You can purchase wine by the glass, bottle or in flights. We had a flight of whites to taste. Met three very friendly Brittany Spaniels who live and work crowd control at the winery. The views are magnificent out over the mountains. This is a working farm and winery run by the family that lives on the property in a gorgeous old house.
Back on the road, this time on Route 11 South. If you have never traveled this route, you should use it next time you want to go from North to South in middle Virginia. It is four lane most of the way through some beautiful rolling foot hills and valleys. Best way to see that part of Virginia. Little traffic and quaint little towns.
We arrived at Natural Bridge which is an entity unto itself. The bridge is there. Caverns and Natural bridge Zoo are nearby and there is a historic hotel for guests. The bridge itself is a geological formation situated within a gorge that is the remains of the roof of a cave or tunnel carved by Cedar Creek, a small tributary of the James River. The bridge, consisting of horizontal limestone strata, comprises a 215-foot-high natural arch with a span of 90 feet. It is breathtakingly awesome when you round the curve in the walk and see it for the first time. Can you even imagine what it must have been like to be the first person to see it? As you look up at the bridge you feel very small in the scheme of things.
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The area was home to the Monacan Indians for centuries before the Europeans arrived. In March 1742, a frontiersman named John Howard - along with his son and others- was commissioned by Governor Gooch to explore the southwest of Virginia as far as the Mississippi River. The party followed Cedar Creek through the Natural Bridge, then floated in buffalo-skin boats down the New, Coal, Kanawha and Ohio rivers to the Mississippi.[ A young George Washington purportedly surveyed the bridge and its surroundings in 1750. To support claims that Washington surveyed the area, tour guides claim the initials "G.W." on the wall of the bridge, 23 feet up, were carved by the future president. Legend also has it that George Washington threw a rock from the bottom of Cedar Creek over the bridge. In 1927, a large stone was found, also engraved "G.W." and bearing a surveyor's cross, which historians accepted as proof that he indeed surveyed the bridge. Thomas Jefferson purchased 157 acres (64 ha) of land including the Natural Bridge from England’s King George III for 20 shillings in 1774. He called it "the most Sublime of nature's works". Jefferson built a two-room log cabin, with one room reserved for guests, beginning its use as a retreat. While President, in 1802, he personally surveyed the area. Many of his famous contemporaries were guests here, including John Marshall, James Monroe, Henry Clay, Same Houston, and Martin Van Buren.
The trek down to the bridge is not for the faint of heart, but worth every second of the trip. Going down wasn’t that bad, but boy coming back up was hard. Thankfully there are any number of places to sit and rest and regain your breath while enjoying the beauty of your surroundings. Having to wear a mask made it worse than normal I feel sure.
After our visit to the bridge, we checked into our hotel room at the Natural Bridge Historic Hotel, part of the Trademark Collection by Wyndom. There have been guest accommodations on the site since the 1890’s when Colonel Henry Parsons, built Appledore, the first main hotel associated with Natural Bridge. In the early 1900s, the Appledore was expanded to accommodate more guests and the name changed to The Natural Bridge Hotel. This version of the Natural Bridge Hotel thrived up until it caught fire on April 24, 1963. In 1964 construction began on the present-day brick hotel under the watchful eye of James N. Hunter and the new hotel opened its doors to the world with great pomp and circumstance in 1965. The location could not be better for enjoying the area attractions and the main hotel building is lovely. It is perched up on the hill overlooking the visitor center and parking lot of Natural Bridge. A short walk through a tunnel under the busy highway, brings you right out at the visitor center.
After much ado involving a room in their newer annex building with no towels, cups, shampoos etc., we were moved into the historic main hotel. They are short staffed, as most folks are these days, so omissions and mistakes are bound to happen. It worked out fine for us, but others who had problems with their rooms, left for other parts. Rooms still could use some updates, but beds were comfortable and it was clean. There is a restaurant and tavern in the hotel to accommodate guests. We didn’t eat there as we were already hungry and the restaurant didn’t open until much later.
Next on our agenda was the lovely town of Lexington. What a treat for someone who loves old homes and historic downtowns. After our day of exploration, and an earlier drive through on the way to Natural Bridge, we returned here to have an excellent dinner at the Southern Inn Restaurant on Main Street. Dee had her favorite Pork Shank, braised kale, and mashed potatoes. I had a lovely chicken pasta with spinach and red peppers. They have a patio out in the back with both a covered and open area. Yum and the best and elegant Southern service.
Lexington is the home of two well-established and renowned educational facilities - Virginia Military Institute and Washington and Lee University.
Thursday, October 15, 2020
After a good night’s sleep, breakfast from our dinner left overs, and two good stout cups of tea, we were ready for another day of fun and adventure.
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First stop Virginia Safari Park on Route 11 North from Natural Bridge. (This facility is not to be confused with the Natural Bridge Zoo which is also along route 11.) This is a 180-acre drive-thru animal park with well cared for and friendly, free roaming animals. Forget the binoculars and telephoto lens and prepare for adventure. You must stay in your car and drive very slowly through the park. Brace yourself as you pull into the park. You will be met and held captive by a wonderful bunch of Llamas, long-horn cattle and Rheas all looking for a handout. We purchased one of the $5 buckets of food offered by the park and were glad we did. That is your ransom to getting past the welcoming party and even then, it takes a while to run the gauntlet. You have to be careful or they will gang up on you and steal the whole bucket if you don’t watch them. There are hundreds of animals roaming all through the woods and pastures of the park. Everywhere you look you see groups of various varieties of deer, ostriches, rheas, emus, bison, cattle, zebras, and even a herd of Colorado elk. The highlight of my visit was when a young elk put his face in the window and took feed from my hand. He even let me pet his face. Yow what a treat!!!
You can spend most of a day there and enjoy every minute of it. Be prepared to get slobbered on and licked and nudged through your open car window. Please take your sense of humor with you though, as driving through is a real challenge. The animals form friendly roadblocks to get food. The park employees are out with trucks of feed and hay for them all day long, but that is not as much fun as ganging up and mooching off the tourists. There is also a zoo village area with animals that can’t roam free. We saw a walk-thru house full of colorful budgies that you can feed, giraffes, cheetahs, tigers, penguins, kangaroos, huge tortoises, a sloth, monkeys of several varieties, lemures, snakes and much more. There are picnic areas, a snack bar, gift shop and restrooms so you can stay as long as you like. The average visit takes 3.5 hours so allow time to enjoy. Frankly I would still be there if I could.
After a quick hot dog and drinks at the snack bar, we went back down route 11 to go to the Natural Bridge Caverns. The caverns opened to the public in 1978 but were discovered in the mid 1800’s. Be prepared to walk on wet and slightly muddy surfaces when you go there. It is certainly safe and mostly well lighted, but you have to be sure footed and able to do stairs. You will also need a jacket or sweater as the temperature is around 50 degrees and damp. The deepest part of the cavern that you go into is 347 feet below ground- or 34 stories. Lots of interesting formations and deep crevasses mark the path to the bottom of the cave. Our guide even gave us a quick feel of what it would be like down there when the first people explored it without any lighting. Yikes it was absolute darkness. Can’t imagine spending days down there with only kerosene lanterns for light. Coming back up was a challenge for me because again we had to have our masks on, which inhibits breathing on a climb. We had a great guide – Selena – who has been working there for over 20 years. She was funny and very knowledgeable. Even though caverns are not my favorite thing, I did enjoy seeing something that I would never have seen on my own.
Now time to head on home from the mountains and back to flat land. Always hate to leave the mountains behind. We trekked, and trekked turned out to be the right word, on down toward Bedford. Dee, thinking that Peaks of Otter Winery would be near Peaks of Otter Lodge, etc. keyed the GPS in to lead us. Don’t ever let GPs take you on State Road 690 – not ever. We were riding along and the road suddenly became gravel and only one lane wide as we traversed up and around very tight turns on the side of a mountain with no houses, electric lines or cars anywhere to be seen. After about 15 miles we were sure we could hear banjo music. After going up and up for what seemed to be hours, but was only a half hour or so, we finally began to come back down and reach some signs of civilization. We did finally make it to the winery, which only had fruit wines, so no sustenance for us there. By the by, the winery is no where near Peaks of Otter Lodge. At least not the way we got there. Route 43 takes you there more directly, but you have to get on the Blue Ridge Parkway for a short ways to access the right road.
So on to Bedford to make our way home. Since we were both starving and thirsty, we found a lovely little restaurant to stop and regain our composure a bit. The Town Kitchen & Provisions, operating out of a lovely late Victorian house, is only serving on their front porch now, but it was most pleasant. Our sandwiches were truly great. I had their Woody, which is a Rueben and Dee had the Constanza, which is pastrami. Our waiter, also a professional photographer, was wonderful. He and Dee chatted for a nice long visit about how the industry is changing and how they will adjust to cope with those changes. We didn’t take much time to explore Bedford as it was getting late and we had a four-hour ride home yet. Will save that for our next adventure.
The ride home along Route 460 was uneventful and easy going. I know Dee was exhausted by this time after driving all of the trip. It was a good time for her and I to spend time together and enjoy lots of glorious events and places.
As I said at the beginning, a most excellent adventure. Can’t wait to go somewhere again.
Ruth Akright
The Rest is History
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