musicians carrying
on the traditions of
Appalachian music.
Performances are
mostly on weekends
and occasionally during
the week. Bring a lawn
chair and sit yourself
down for an afternoon or
evening performance. At
night you can watch the
fireflies glimmer in the
darkness.
There’s two trails in
the vicinity as well – the
easy, flat High Creek
(1.35 miles) and moderate
Fisher Peak (2.24 miles),
which slopes up a small
mountain peak.
The Drive » Take VA-89
north for about 7 miles to reach
downtown Galax. You’ll pass
working farms, some of which
have quite the hardscrabble
aesthetic – very different from
the estate farms and stables
of northern Virginia and the
Shenandoah Valley.
8 Galax
In Galax’s historic
downtown, look for the
neon marquee of the Rex
Theater (%276-236-0329;
http://www.rextheatergalax.com;
113 E Grayson St). This is
a big old grande dame
theater, with a Friday
night show called Blue
Ridge Backroads. Even if
you can’t make it to the
theater at 8pm, you can
listen to the two-hour
show broadcast live to
surrounding counties on
89.1 FM.
Galax hosts
the Smoke on the
Mountain Barbecue
Championship (www.
smokeonthemountainva.
com) on the second
weekend in July. Teams
from all over crowd the
streets of downtown with
their tricked-out mobile
BBQ units.
If you think you’ve
got what it takes to
play, poke your head
into Barr’s Fiddle Shop
(%276-236-2411; http://
barrsfiddleshop.com; 105
S Main St; h9am-5pm
Mon-Sat). This little
music shop has a big
selection of homemade
and vintage fiddles
and banjos along with
mandolins, autoharps
and harmonicas. You can
get a lesson if you have
time to hang around,
or just admire the fine
instruments that hang all
over the walls.54 p297
The Drive » Take US 221/
US 58 east for 11 miles and hop
on I-77 northbound. Take I-77
for 17 miles, then follow I-81
southbound for 65 miles to
Abingdon.9 Abingdon
The gorgeous town
of Abingdon anchors
Virginia’s southwesterly
corner. Here, like a
mirage in the desert,
is the best hotel for
hundreds of miles in any
direction. The Martha
Washington Inn (p297)
resides inside of a regal,
gigantic brick mansion
built for General Francis
Preston in 1832. Pulling
up after a long day’s drive
is like arriving at heaven’s
gates. You can almost
hear the angels sing as
you climb the grand stairs
to the huge porch with
views framed by columns.TRIP HIGHLIGHT
TRIP HIGHLIGHTFIDDLE-DEE-DEE
Every second weekend in August for the last
70-odd years, Galax has hosted the Old Fiddler’s
Convention (www.oldfiddlersconvention.com), which
now lasts for six days. Hosted by the local Loyal
Order of the Moose Lodge, musicians come from
all over to compete as well as to play. And for the
record, this isn’t just a fiddling competition; almost
all of the instruments of the American roots music
of the mountains are represented, including banjos,
autoharp, dulcimer and dobro. Plus: there’s clog
dancing competitions. This fascinating local form
of dance has roots that can be traced all the way
back to the British Isles, and represents a relatively
unbroken cultural thread that links the people of this
region to their Scots-Irish ancestors.VIRGINIA.TRIPS.24
.THE CROOKED ROAD