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TRAVEL THE BACKROADS and Discover The Shenandoah Valley
The Shenandoah Valley features picture-perfect postcard farms and inns, tucked in historic downtowns and nestled along country roads. With easy access to backcountry hiking, bicycling, and skiing, it is an ideal place to launch your next outdoor adventure. History runs deep in the valley, from Civil War battlefields to “living museums” with costumed interpreters. Charming downtowns beckon with a variety of dining and cultural amenities.
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Blue Ridge Tunnel, Virginia’s newest hike in the heart of the Blue Ridge mountains. Nearly 20 years in the making, the trail has something for everyone – railroad enthusiasts, hikers and bikers, history buffs, and cave dwellers. Located where the famed Blue Ridge Parkway and Shenandoah National Park converge. You will find two access points, one at Afton, and the western entrance on Rt. 250 about half way up the mountain between Waynesboro and Afton.
Blue Ridge Parkway
The 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway intersects with the Skyline Drive at Afton Mountain in Waynesboro. It connects the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to the Great Smokey Mountain National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee. The Blue Ridge Parkway is a toll-free National Park which offers a spectacular view, quiet, leisurely travel along the mountain crests, and many recreational activities. The numerous pull-offs along the road offer beautiful outlooks perfect for photographs. Just off the exits, antique and craft shops, resorts, inns, hotels, cabins, caverns, historical museums, and restaurants to suit all are located.
Pioneer Farm at Humpback Rocks
At Humpback Rocks the National Park Service has recreated a typical mountain farm as it might have appeared shortly before the turn of the century. This site was originally a Land Grant tract, dispensed by the Governor of the Commonwealth to induce pioneers to settle the Blue Ridge Mountains and establish the border of the Western Frontier. Later this tract became known as the William J. Carter Farm, when he purchased it for $3.00 per acre, Confederate money. The original buildings have long since disappeared, but were replaced by other authentic pioneer buildings moved here from nearby and reassembled. The farm is located on the Blue Ridge Parkway near mile post five.
Access to the US Forest Service’s Sherando Lake is nearby, and a picnic area is located a few miles down the Parkway.
