Recreation and Places of Interest

Virginia is a popular vacationland. Its varied topography and mild climate afford year-round recreational opportunities. The state’s historic sites draw many visitors. One of the most famous attractions is at Williamsburg. There, extensive restoration of buildings, gardens, and streets has recreated the city as it looked when it was the capital of the colony during the 18th century.

National Parks

National Park Service units in Virginia include such areas of scenic beauty as the Shenandoah National Park, covering a large area of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the Blue Ridge Parkway. The George Washington Memorial Parkway, which skirts many historic sites associated with George Washington, the first U.S. president, extends from Maryland into Virginia. Sections of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park and Assateague Island National Seashore also lie within Virginia.

Colonial National Historical Park preserves several historic sites, including most of Jamestown Island, where the first permanent English settlement was founded, and Yorktown, where a British surrender brought the American Revolution to a close (see Yorktown, Siege of). National Park Service units associated with the Civil War include Manassas National Battlefield Park, which marks the site of the two battles of Bull Run. Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial National Military Park includes parts of four battlefields. Petersburg National Battlefield and Richmond National Battlefield Park preserve the sites of the battles fought in defense of the two cities. Appomattox Court House National Historical Park contains the restored village of Appomattox Court House, where the Confederate forces surrendered in 1865. Other National Park Service units include the George Washington Birthplace National Monument, Arlington House-The Robert E. Lee Memorial, Wolf Trap Farm Park for the Performing Arts, Prince William Forest Park, and a portion of the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Two sites commemorate blacks who were influential in the nation’s development: the Booker T. Washington National Monument honors the noted educator and the Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site recognizes the first woman to found and serve as president of a bank.

Other federally-maintained sites include Arlington National Cemetery, the burial site of prominent American leaders and distinguished veterans of the armed forces. The graves of President John F. Kennedy and American politician Robert Kennedy are located in the cemetery. Arlington National Cemetery is also the site of the Tomb of the Unknowns (often called the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier) where the remains of three unidentified American soldiers are interred. The Marine Corps War Memorial (popularly known as the Iwo Jima statue) is nearby.

National Forests

The two national forests in Virginia have facilities for outdoor recreational activities. George Washington National Forest, along both sides of the Shenandoah Valley, and Jefferson National Forest, in the southwestern part of the state, combined cover 670,000 hectares (1,648,000 acres). Both forests include recreation areas and sections of the Appalachian Trail.

State Parks

Many of the 28 state parks in Virginia offer camping, boating, and swimming facilities, as well as hiking and riding trails. Breaks Interstate Park, on the Kentucky-Virginia border and operated jointly by these two states, is known for its spectacular 460-m (1,500-ft) gorge known as the Breaks of the Cumberland, the longest and deepest gorge east of the Mississippi River.

The largest state park is Clinch Mountain in Russell County. Many of Virginia’s state parks include lakes such as Swift Creek Lake in Pocahontas State Park, which offers recreational facilities for nearby Richmond. The Staunton River Park on the reservoir formed by John H. Kerr Dam, and Claytor Lake State Park, in western Virginia, are other large state parks. Seashore State Park in Virginia Beach is the most-visited, attracting more than 1 million people each year. Virginia has 11 state forests, the largest of which is Appomattox-Buckingham State Forest, named for the counties where it is located.

Museums

Among the fine arts museums in Virginia are the Chrysler Museum of Art and the Hermitage Foundation Museum, both in Norfolk, and the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, in Williamsburg. A number of historic buildings and sites, including Monticello, Mount Vernon, Stratford, and Arlington House, have been preserved as museums, and the Valentine Museum, in Richmond, has exhibits pertaining to the city. Along the James River between Richmond and Williamsburg are the James River Plantations, including Shirley, Berkeley, Edgewood, Evelynton, Westover, and Sherwood Forest. Two of the most unusual museums in the country are the Jamestown Settlement, whose exhibits dramatize the early years of the colony, and Colonial Williamsburg, a restoration of a section of 18th-century Williamsburg. Other noted museums in Virginia include The Mariners’ Museum in Newport News; the museum of the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond; the United States Marine Corps Air-Ground Museum in Quantico; the hands-on Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond; the Virginia Living Museum (nature center) in Newport News; Nauticus, a high-tech marine museum in Norfolk; and the Virginia Museum of Natural History in Martinsville. The Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton features Irish, German, English, and early American farmsteads.

Other Places to Visit

Mount Vernon, George Washington’s estate, and Monticello, which Thomas Jefferson designed for himself, are Virginia’s most noted historic homes. Other fine examples of 18th-century architecture are Ashlawn, the home of James Monroe, which was also designed by Jefferson; Gunston Hall, the home of George Mason, the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights; and Stratford Hall, the ancestral home and birthplace of Robert E. Lee. There are many historic churches and buildings, including Fort Monroe, at Old Point Comfort, where Confederate President Jefferson Davis was confined after the Civil War, and Saint John’s church in Richmond, where Patrick Henry delivered his famous “liberty or death” speech.

Among the most popular natural scenic attractions in Virginia are the limestone caverns in the Shenandoah Valley, such as Luray, Skyline, and Endless Caverns, that were carved from solid rock by the action of underground streams. Natural Bridge, south of Lexington, is a huge arch of stone. Natural Tunnel, near Gate City, was cut through a mountain by a creek and is 260 m (850 ft) long and 30 m (100 ft) high. The Natural Chimneys, at Mount Solon, are seven huge towers of rock that rise about 100 feet above the ground.

Source: MSN Encarta: Online Encyclopedia