Marion's 1920s Era Landmarks Restored

General Francis Marion Hotel

On May 27, 1927, to much fanfare, the 57 room General Francis Marion Hotel opened in SW Virginia's Smyth County. It immediately became the social center of the town of Marion, a hotel where civic clubs met, ladies played cards, society wedding receptions were held and debutantes had their coming out parties. When the hotel threw open its doors, the town was dazzled by such features as a doorman, switchboard and elevator.

The hotel took its name from General Francis Marion, the Revolutionary War hero in whose honor the town itself had been named. The Hotel was built by Charles Clarke Lincoln, Sr., Marion’s wealthiest resident, and Dr. William M. Sclater, who together spent $175,000 on the project. Lincoln also owned the Virginia Table Company, Marion’s largest industry at the time. When the old Hotel Marion, located across the street, was rebuilt a year later, Charles Lincoln decided to rename the new hotel after himself to avoid confusion (see historic photo above; click to enlarge).

On the upper mezzanine, in the Card Room, today’s visitors can still admire the floor tile motif of playing cards and a trademark black rooster with a bubbling cocktail.  A black rooster was code during Prohibition for “Drinks Served Here”. In the ballroom, the original walnut paneling and oak floor are still intact, as are the terrazzo floors on all three lobby levels, the original registration desk, switchboard, and a display cabinet, now used as a reception station inside The Black Rooster, the hotel’s restaurant. The original door facades still grace the hallways, and every room is individually decorated. In a nod to today’s savvy travelers, all 36 guest rooms feature flat-screen TVs and complimentary high speed internet. When the $4 million restoration was completed in 2006, the original coffee shop was converted to a full service restaurant.
www.gfmhotel.com

Lincoln Theatre

On the same street as the General Francis Marion Hotel, the 500-seat Lincoln Theatre was originally a movie house dating from the late 1920s. Conceived and built by the same owner as the hotel, the theater opened two years later, on July 1, 1929. The building also incorporated residential apartments on the side facing the steet. The Lincoln Theatre’s Art Deco interior was designed to evoke images of an ancient Mayan temple. The unusual auditorium was embellished with painted appliqués of exotic creatures and mythological gods. In juxtaposition to this stylized architecture, six enormous murals (each 15' x 20') depicting scenes from national and local history were painted and installed. One of them depicts British Gen. Cornwallis surrendering to George Washington at Yorktown. Painstaking restoration of the original canvases was completed in 2005 by Conrad Schmidt Studios (Wisconsin).  See the before and after photo:

Lola Poston, a local artist of Shawnee Indian heritage, was paid $50 for each of the original murals, which were painted on cotton panels using water-based paints. Her former home at 144 W. Main Street in Marion (at the corner of Sheffey Street) now houses the Appalachian Spirit Gallery. Ms. Poston later decorated the White House under the Franklin Roosevelt administration.

Fully restored  in 2004/2005 at a cost of $1.8 million, the theater now hosts live performances and is one of only three extant Mayan Revival-style theaters in the nation. The Lincoln Theatre is on the National Register of Historic Places and has been designated a Virginia Historic Landmark. The Lincoln has hosted the Song of the Mountains bluegrass music concert series for the past five years and is also the setting for the Song of the Mountains television series, which is broadcast on over 190 PBS affiliates throughout the country. 
www.thelincoln.org

Marion: a VA Mainstreet Community

A monument to Confederate Soldiers stands on the grounds of the stately Smyth County Courthouse in Marion, VA.

Marion
(pop. 6,500)
is one of the towns to receive designation as an official Virginia Main Street Community and National Main Street Community. These designations stem from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which developed and coordinated programs to help communities revitalize their downtown and neighborhood business districts.

First named Royal Oak (a cemetery and a Presbyterian Church maintain that name), Marion is the county seat of Smyth County in the highlands of southwest Virginia, near the tri-state borders of Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia. Marion is named after South Carolina’s Revolutionary War hero General Francis Marion, known as the “Swamp Fox.” Virginia’s Route 11, which runs through the center of downtown, follows the course of the old Wilderness Road, which started out as a buffalo trail.

Marion was incorporated in 1832, and the Norfolk and Western Railroad arrived in 1856. In 1864 the town (pop. 500) saw cavalry action during the Civil War; the area around Marion was strategic militarily because of the nearby salt works, iron forge and lead mines.

In 1873 Marion College opened its doors as a Lutheran college for women. Since its closing in 1967, the campus has operated as the Blue Ridge Job Corps, a national no-cost education and career technical training program. The Marion campus, which caters mostly to women, has consistently been rated the top school of the more than 120 campuses of the national Job Corps program, which educates and trains at risk students. The photograph captures a 2009 commencement ceremony on the lawn in front of the main building of the former Marion College, which was associated with the Lutheran Church.

Several significant Marion buildings date from the early part of the twentieth century, notably a train depot (1905) built by the Norfolk and Western Railroad; note its distinctive bracket eave support system illustrated above. A classical revival courthouse designed by Frank Milburn was erected in 1905 (photo at top of post), and the General Francis Marion Hotel (1927) and the Lincoln Theatre (1929) catered to tourists traveling along the modernized Route 11. These two structures have their own post (click on their entries in the sidebar at right). A clutch of Art Deco and Art Moderne structures survives, mostly in varying states of decay. The downtown Marion Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Southwestern Lunatic Asylum opened in Marion in 1887 in a massive brick complex that featured a central spire (vintage postcard above). Harvey Black (1827-1888), a native of Blacksburg and grandson of town founder John Black, was the institution’s first superintendent. During the Civil War Harvey Black served as regimental surgeon for the Stonewall Brigade, and he assisted with the amputation of Stonewall Jackson's arm on May 3, 1863. Prior to his arrival in Marion, Black had been Superintendent of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum in Williamsburg and served in the Virginia House of Delegates. The asylum’s facilities were enlarged in 1908, 1930 and 1935, when the name was changed to Southwestern State Hospital. By 1964 the institution’s staff numbered more than 500 people. In 1986, demolition of the original complex commenced, and construction of the modern Southwestern Virginia Mental Health Institute began.

Song of the Mountains, an award winning bluegrass concert showcase, has aired on PBS television stations nationwide during the last five years, attracting an audience of 50 million viewers. It is performed and recorded live at the recently restored Lincoln Theatre in Marion. However, Tim White, who hosts the program and is instrumental in its production, relates that the continuation of the show is in jeopardy, due to a precipitous drop in underwriting support.

The town serves as the gateway to nearby Hungry Mother State Park, the Jefferson National Forest, the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, and the Appalachian Trail, which runs just south of the town. Marion is a short distance from the Blue Ridge Parkway and neighboring states West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina. The photograph shows a footbridge over the 100-acre lake in Hungry Mother State Park, which opened in 1936. Historical footnote: The park was constructed as a project of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a national public work relief program for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25. The CCC, a part of Roosevelt’s New Deal,  provided unskilled manual labor jobs related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural lands owned by federal, state and local governments. The program was designed to provide employment for young men in relief families who had difficulty finding jobs during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Short story author Sherwood Anderson lived in the Marion area part time for the last fifteen years of his life. His most enduring work is the short story collection Winesburg, Ohio (1919) Writers he influenced include Hemingway, Faulkner, Steinbeck and Salinger. Anderson bought and edited two local newspapers (The Marion Democrat and Smyth County News) and was buried in Marion’s Round Hill Cemetery in 1941. This photograph dates from 1937.

At the age of eighteen, baseball Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan, drafted by the New York Mets in 1965, was assigned to the Marion Mets, a minor league team in the Appalachian League. He went on to become a baseball pitching legend and is now owner of the Texas Rangers. But his career started in Marion. Click the image of his Hall of Fame plaque to enlarge.

West of downtown Marion on Rt. 11 (Lee Highway), the Dip Dog stand has been serving its signature dip dogs (battered hot dogs deep fried then slathered with mustard), burgers and famous onion rings for over 50 years. The ice cream creations, shakes and frozen custard draw much repeat business. Tip: the servers at Dip Dog get a little touchy if customers refer to their Dip Dogs as "corn dogs." They will remind you that these are not corn dogs (the batter does not contain corn meal), rather a 50-year-old original on-site creation.
Open 9:00a to 10:00p daily.
276.783.2698
www.dipdogs.com

Yahoo! Mountain Dew! Marion is known as the birthplace of the soft drink Mountain Dew, a yellow-green soft drink characterized by low carbonation coupled with high sugar and high caffeine content. Although first marketed during the 1940s in Knoxville, TN, as an unsuccessful lemon-lime flavored whiskey mixer, the original drink’s dormant trademark and bottle design were handed over as part of an investment in Tip Corporation, a soft drink flavor concentrate manufacturer based in Marion. The recipe was changed drastically by William H. "Bill" Jones, who experimented from 1959 to 1962 to create the recipe for what is now "Mountain Dew." As owner of the Tip Corporation at 517 North Main Street, Jones concocted formulas with various flavors and routinely offered his family and Marion residents samples of his latest efforts, until he perfected the formula used today. He eventually sold Tip Corp. (and with it, "Mountain Dew") to Pepsico in 1964.  The 1960s era vintage bottle above shows the hillbilly art depicting a yokel firing a shotgun (click to enlarge). Marion hosted a Mountain Dew Festival for over 50 years.

In other weirdly related soft drink trivia, Dr. Charles Taylor Pepper, for whom the soft drink was named, is buried in Mountain View Cemetery in nearby Rural Retreat, VA (at the halfway point between Marion and Wytheville). If this sort of thing yanks your chain, go pay your respects. Take I-81 exit 60, south on Hwy 90/Main St. through town, then turn right onto Mountain View Ave. In the cemetery, start at the flag and go around the U-shaped drive. Near the big "Pepper" headstone on your left is a four-sided stone column, and his marker is on that column. Those readers old enough to remember these old bottles likely wonder what the numbers 10-2-4 mean. Those were the hours of the day (10:00a, 2:00p and 4:00p), when there is a natural drop in energy, so the soft drink manufacturer proposed drinking three 10-oz. servings a day to maintain one's energy level. Glad you asked.

And last, but not least, Marion's signature water storage tanks adjacent to I-81 never fail to provoke comment.

Staunton

First settled in 1732, the city of Staunton is named for Lady Rebecca Staunton, wife of Virginia’s Colonial Governor William Gooch. Staunton is in the heart of Virginia’s storied Shenandoah Valley and at one time was the geographical center of the state, which once stretched westward all the way to the Mississippi River and encompassed parts of what is now West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois and Pennsylvania. Given its central location and fertile setting, it quickly developed into an early center for trade and commerce, particularly for the export of agricultural products.

Its importance was cemented in 1854 with the arrival of the Virginia Central Railroad. Staunton became a center of banking, manufacturing and retail trade in the mid-nineteenth century. In 1856, future President Woodrow Wilson was born to a local Presbyterian minister and his wife. Wilson's restored birthplace and Presidential Library and Museum attract thousands of tourists. The city was largely spared from destruction during the Civil War, a significant factor in the remarkable number of historic structures that have been preserved in the downtown area. The town, which has experienced a remarkable renaissance in recent years, is an intriguing, often quirky choice for tourists who are looking for attractions a bit more off the beaten path. This blog will introduce a few of them to you.

Illustration of Staunton, circa 1851 (click to enlarge).
















Architect T.J. Collins came to Staunton from Washington, DC, in 1891 and in a mere twenty years designed or remodeled over two hundred buildings, most of which exist today. Collins designed the gatehouse (photo below), bridge, tower, tombs and other structures at Thornrose Cemetery, which contains more than 1,770 graves of Confederate soldiers.

Note: Photos on this blog from Staunton's web site and from links displayed on web site.
















Woodrow Wilson Birthplace


The nation’s 28th president comes to life in a tour of the 12-room Greek Revival Presbyterian manse furnished with items appropriate to the time of his birth here in 1856. As president elect in 1912, Wilson returned to Staunton on his 56th birthday and spent the night in the house in which he was born. The museum next door houses the only presidential library in Virginia, even though eight presidents were born in the state. The museum offers much to learn about the president’s life as a lawyer, college professor, president of Princeton University, U.S. president and peacemaker following World War I, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize as the Founder of the League of Nations (the predecessor of today’s United Nations). His controversial veto of prohibition legislation (congress overrode his veto) and enactment of a national income tax are also explored. On the plus side, his administration gave women the right to vote and established Mother's Day as a national holiday. The terraced boxwood gardens and Wilson’s restored Pierce-Arrow limousine are part of the tour. The automobile has been restored to full working order, and the car traveled to Washington DC for the dedication of the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge on May 15, 2008.


Hours: 9-5 Mon-Sat, noon-5 Sun Mar-Oct; 10-4 Mon-Sat, noon-4 Sun Nov-Feb. Adults $14, Senior/AAA/Active Military $12. 540-885-0897. 18 N. Coalter St.

Trivia:
Wilson was the first lay president of Princeton University.
He was the only president to retire to Washington, DC and is buried in Washington National Cathedral (Episcopal) alongside his second wife, an Episcopalian.
Himself the son of a Presbyterian minister, Wilson's mother and first wife were both daughters of Presbyterian ministers.

Below: Bow knot boxwood garden and gazebo at rear of house. The Wilson family never knew anything like it, because during the short time they were in residence, the rear yard was home to outbuildings, pigs and chickens. The local chapter of the Garden Club of Virginia installed these handsome boxwood gardens in the 1930s; they hired famed Richmond based landscape architect Charles Gillette to design them.



Blackfriars Playhouse


The 300-seat Blackfriars Playhouse is the world's only re-creation of Shakespeare's original indoor theater. Opened in 2001, the playhouse offers the works of Shakespeare presented under original conditions, on a simple stage, without elaborate sets, and with the audience sharing the same lighting as the actors. Actors play multiple roles and interact with the audience. Home to the American Shakespeare Center, Blackfriars offers performances year round. Located at 10 S. Market Street, adjacent to the Stonewall Jackson Hotel. 540.851.1733.

Hopewell - Sin City of the South

The tiny colonial village of City Point (now Hopewell) is where General Ulysses S. Grant directed a 10-month siege of nearby Petersburg from the grounds of Appomattox Plantation (above), the ancestral home of the Eppes family.

But present day Hopewell was developed in 1914 by the DuPont Company (Wilmington, Delaware), attracted by its deep port and good railroad connections. Hopewell Farm, part of the Eppes plantation adjacent to the village of City Point (established 1613), was sold to the DuPonts in 1912 for industrial development. Because the Eppes family had come to America on a ship named Hopewell, they requested that the DuPonts name the 800 acre tract "Hopewell."


The company first built a dynamite factory and then switched to the manufacture of guncotton during World War I. An additional land purchase brought the total acreage to 2,400, and DuPont brought in a huge workforce (28,000 employees in 1914), presenting the company with an enormous challenge – how to train and house them.

The changes to the town were mind-boggling. From 1840-1912 the population of City Point remained stagnant at 300. Three years later there were 40,000 DuPont employees laboring in Hopewell. In a matter of just months DuPont cleared the corn fields and pine groves to create a city complete with paved streets, schools, libraries, social and hunt clubs, gymnasiums, churches and shops. The factories stood across the railroad tracks from the town proper, where the thousands of employees were housed in rows of wooden tenements (see photo below). Apartments were rented by shifts to accommodate the crush of factory workers. Hopewell became the largest supplier to Britain of guncotton, the ingredient necessary for smokeless gunpowder. A billion pounds of guncotton were produced during WWI. Hopewell was a dirty, grimy, foul-smelling place, since production required the use of sulfuric and nitric acids.


Because the town population was mostly men earning high wages while living apart from their wives and family, a rowdy street life developed. The town became known as “Sin City of the South.” Floating brothels moved up and down the James River, a saloon occupied every block, and shootings and murders were commonplace. Since there was no local police force, Hopewell was a haven for thieves, prostitutes, con-men and gamblers.

At lunchtime on December 9, 1915, a fire broke out in a Greek restaurant, and strong winds spread the flames all over the town. Within hours over 300 buildings were in ashes, but the foremen called the workers back to their stations for the 11:00 pm shift – the manufacturing plants had been spared. Miraculously, there was no loss of life, and within weeks DuPont had rebuilt the buildings lost to the fire.

By 1918, at the close of WWI, the guncotton plants were shut down, and Hopewell was all but a ghost town. Although DuPont’s development department began considering a postwar role for Hopewell as early as 1915, it was left abandoned at war’s end. However, the Tubize Corporation established a plant producing artificial silk at the old DuPont site in 1923, the same year that the city of Hopewell annexed the neighboring village of City Point. With the addition of a new Allied Chemical plant, Hopewell prospered afterward and became known as the "Wonder City." Dupont eventually returned to Hopewell, and the current plant manufactures Melinex® PET and Kaladex® PEN polyester films at what is the largest polyester film facility in the world.

Trivia: One of the residents who left Hopewell after the fire was William “Billy” Haines, who had run away from his home in Staunton at the age of 14. After working a manual labor job for DuPont, at the age of 15 (!) he operated a popular dance hall in Hopewell that was lost to the conflagration. He then went north to New York City, where he became a model. He entered his photograph in a “New Faces of 1922" contest and won a screen test, which took him to Hollywood, where he signed with MGM. He became one of the greatest silent film stars of the 1920s and early 30s, and was the top grossing male movie star of 1930. He was lifelong friends with Joan Crawford, a staunch Republican, and decorator and confidante to Ronald and Nancy Reagan.


The Beacon Theater (see photo of the elaborate brick work) opened in 1928 as the Art-Deco Broadway Theater and showcased silent films, including those of former resident William “Billy” Haines. Of special pride to locals was the $20,000 theatre organ in place at the time of its grand opening. Sadly, the Beacon closed its doors in 1981, but reopened as a special function venue in 2005. When funds are in place, a complete restoration as a functioning theater will take place.

Natural Bridge

11 miles SW of Lexington, Virginia, Natural Bridge is a celebrated natural wonder located in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Rockbridge County (named for this feature). Natural Bridge is a limestone formation in which Cedar Creek, a small tributary of the James River, has carved out a gorge forming an arch 215 feet high with a span of 90 feet. It is the remains of the roof of a cave or tunnel through which the creek once flowed. Natural Bridge is both a Virginia Historical Landmark and a National Historical Landmark (designated in 1998).

Natural Bridge was a sacred site of the Native American Monacan tribe, who believed it to be the site of a major victory over pursuing Powhatans centuries before the arrival of European settlers in Virginia.

In 1927 a large stone was found with engraved initials “G.W.” and bearing a surveyor's cross, which historians accept as proof that George Washington surveyed the bridge around 1750.


In 1774 Thomas Jefferson purchased 157 acres of land including the Natural Bridge from King George III of England for 20 shillings ($160 in today’s money). He called it “the most sublime of nature's works.” Jefferson built a two-room log cabin, beginning its use as a retreat. While President in 1802, he conducted a personal survey of the property. In 1817 Jefferson leased 10 acres of his land at Natural Bridge to Patrick Henry, a "free man of colour" who cultivated the land "on the sole conditions of paying the taxes annually as they arise, and of preventing trespasses."

After Jefferson’s death Natural Bridge was sold in 1833 as part of his estate, and soon thereafter lodgings were erected for the increasing number of visitors. The bridge remains in private hands to this day.

Natural Bridge was one of the wonders of the new world that Europeans visited during the 18th and 19th centuries, second in popularity only to Niagara Falls. Vacationing guests from all over the world took day trips from Natural Bridge on horseback or horse drawn carriages to explore the countryside.


A famous painting by Frederick Church, c. 1852

Today, in order to view the bridge from below, tickets must purchased. The top of the bridge can be seen for free from U.S. Highway 11, which runs directly on top of it. However, fences on either side of the highway block the view of the canyon from the bridge.

Following the trail under the bridge, in addition to seeing it from its less-often-photographed side, visitors may walk to the end of the trail, beyond which may be seen the remnant of the waterfall that helped form the bridge.

Poplar Forest - Jefferson's Retreat

While already in his sixties and serving his second term as president, Thomas Jefferson designed and built a brick octagonal villa in Palladian style at Poplar Forest, a plantation inherited from his wife’s father. Jefferson usually went to Poplar Forest several times a year to oversee plantation production, but a primary reason for these extended stays was to avoid visitors at Monticello, his principal home. Jefferson's original vision for this private retreat was a place to read, think and spend time with his grandchildren after he retired.

Poplar Forest was 90 miles southwest of Monticello and reaching it required a three-day ride by horse and carriage. At the time of construction, Poplar Forest was at the cusp of what was then regarded as wilderness. Most Americans didn’t know what lay west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and for the first few visits Jefferson used a guide to be able to find his inherited estate.

The plantation originally spanned more than 4,800 acres, and in 1806 Jefferson began construction of an eight sided villa atop a gentle hill that afforded a view of the forest and the twin Peaks of Otter. By the time of his death Poplar Forest was a working tobacco and wheat farm with 94 slaves on the property. Two centuries later, the property is now partly surrounded by subdivisions and acreage that the Corporation for Jefferson’s Poplar Forest wants to acquire, so that it can restore the area surrounding the home to its original appearance. It has spent $8.5 million to reclaim more than 600 acres since 1984 and hopes to continue to create more open space.

Poplar Forest is believed to be the nation’s first fully octagonal house. Numerous windows allow natural light inside and integrate the interior with the outside landscape, a design feature uncommon of American houses of that era. A 100-foot-long side wing housed a kitchen, storage room and smokehouse, and the wing’s low, flat roof served as an outdoor terrace (photo below).


Anchoring the house is the central dining room, now restored to its former 20-by-20-by-20-foot cubic dimensions. Because it was a windowless space, it was lit by a 16-ft. long narrow skylight. Renovators took out attic space that private owners had added and reinstalled the skylight, which was twice destroyed by hailstones in Jefferson's time.


Four octagonal rooms surround the dining room, including the parlor where Jefferson kept more than 900 books and spent much of his time reading alone or with his grandchildren. That room features floor-to-ceiling, triple-sash windows (when fully raised these windows serve as doors) and opens to a four-columned portico (photo below) overlooking the south lawn, which in Jefferson’s days included a sunken garden he designed in European style. Poplar Forest’s landscape restoration has just begun.

Above photo: Rob Tabor
The northeast and east rooms of the home remain unfinished, allowing visitors to see how Jefferson’s workers framed and constructed the house and how restorers discovered the original home’s “footprint.” The bedchambers contained beds placed in space saving alcoves, echoing Jefferson's bedroom at Monticello. Twin staircases leading to the lower level rooms are housed in bump outs on the east and west sides, so as not to disrupt the symmetry of the interior spaces. Two octagonal "privies" were placed on a horizontal axis with the house, but shielded from view by artificial "hills" planted with trees (watercolor at end of post shows placement).

Above photo by Rob Tabor

Unfortunately, twenty years after Jefferson's death the house fell victim to a disastrous fire, leaving only a burnt-out shell. It was rebuilt, but not according to Jefferson’s designs.

Jefferson struggled with debt in his final years and willed Poplar Forest to grandson Francis Eppes (1801-1881) in order to remove it from his estate. During the last three years of Jefferson's life, his grandson occupied the property and villa. Jefferson died in 1826 thinking Eppes would raise a family at his beloved retreat, but two years later Eppes sold the house and nearly 1,000 acres to a neighbor at about a quarter of the property’s assessed value. Eppes then moved with his wife, baby daughter and slaves to Florida. This is perhaps understandable, since the house at Poplar Forest, designed as one man's private villa retreat, was so idiosyncratic that it was unsuitable for raising a family.

The house, situated southwest of Lynchburg, VA, was dramatically altered by subsequent owners in an effort to fashion it into a workable farmhouse. It remained a private home until 1984. A $6 million, 20-year restoration to return the house to its original floor plan and condition during the time it was occupied by Jefferson is still underway.

The immediate grounds around the house as they appeared in Jefferson's time are shown in this watercolor rendering. A circular drive with a 500 foot diameter surrounds the house, and the south sunken garden ornamental border plantings are evident. Two small tree mounds at the end of the wing axes shield octagonal brick privies. The twin Peaks of Otter are shown in the distant horizon.

Poplar Forest, a National Historic Landmark, is open to the public April through November, Wednesday through Monday (closed every Tuesday and Thanksgiving Day) from 10:00a to 4:00p. Adults $14.00; Seniors (age 60+) and Active Military $12.00; College Students $7.00; Youth 12-18 $6.00; Youth 6-11 $2.00; Under 6 free. Admission includes a guided house tour and self-guided grounds exhibits. 434.525.1806

Google Maps, Mapquest and GPS use 1542 Bateman Bridge Road, Forest, VA.
Poplar Forest is located in Bedford County, approximately 20 miles southwest of Lynchburg.
Driving directions are found on the estate's web site:
http://www.poplarforest.org/visit/directions

Humpback Covered Bridge (Covington)

Photo by Fabio Brazil


Venerable Humpback Bridge lays claim to being the oldest of Virginia's eight remaining covered bridges. Located in Alleghany County, just west of Covington, it was built in 1857. The road that passes through the bridge was part of the James River and Kanawha Turnpike. Humpback Bridge stretches over Dunlap Creek, a tributary of the Jackson River that joins the Cowpasture River near Iron Gate to form the great James River.

The first structure was built in the 1820s and was washed away by a flood on May 12, 1837. Just five years later the second fell victim to the flood of July 13, 1842. The third, as the annual report of the turnpike company put it, "gave way" in 1856.

The 100-foot-long, single-span bridge cture is four feet higher at its center than it is at either end, thus the name, "Humpback". Traffic across the bridge ceased in 1929 when a "modern" steel truss bridge was built, bypassing the wooden structure. The covered bridge stood derelict (and was even used by a nearby farmer to store hay) until 1954. That year, thanks to the fund-raising efforts of the Business and Professional Women's Club of Covington and the Covington Chamber of Commerce, it was restored and preserved as part of Alleghany County's history.

It can be reached from I-64 by taking exit 10 to Route 60 and traveling one-half mile east, or by taking Route 60 west from Covington.