Our family recently spent a wonderful week at Claytor Lake State Park. Given this is the "thunderstorm-in-the-afternoon" time of the year, we had a line-up of "other" things to do that were off-water.
One of the gems we discovered was the nearby Wilderness Road Regional Museum in Newbern Virginia (which is in Pulaski County). It was less than 10 minutes drive from Claytor Lake State Park and worth the visit!
Wilderness Road Regional Museum - visit their Facebook page here.
Fodor's review of Central and Western Virginia Sights says about the Wilderness Road Regional Museum:
"What is now the Wilderness Road Regional Museum was once lodging for settlers making their way west on a Native American route that went from Pennsylvania through the Cumberland Gap. The man who founded the town of Newbern built this house in the same year, and the structure has since served as a private home, a tavern, a post office, and a store. Today the house contains antique dolls, swords and rifles, an old loom, and other artifacts of everyday life. A self-tour map of Newbern, the only Virginia town entirely within a National Register of Historic Places district, is available at the museum."
Director: Tami Ramsey gave us a first class tour of the museum. We thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this step back in time! Dad and I have been reading "
Boone: A Biography" by Robert Morgan, so to actually be
on the Wilderness Road was a thrill for us!
A short review of
this book which I highly recommend, which gives valuable insight into part of our great Americana history of Virginia:
“A beautifully written biography of American scout Daniel Boone as a frontier Moses, leading his people over the western mountains to the rich promised lands of Kentucky….Strongly recommended.”
—Library Journal, starred review
Besides the main structure which once housed a tavern, three of the outbuildings include a buggy shed, a small weather boarded barn, and another log building, reputedly, a slave cabin. It was later used as a granary or crib.
The Museum contains a library and archive of historical books and records, as well as a large assortment of family records. The earliest collection of Pulaski County papers is stored here.
Open Monday - Saturday 10:30a.m. to 4:30p.m
For more information, write
the Museum at: Box 373 Newbern, Virginia 24126-0373 or telephone (540) 674-4835. Admission to the museum is $3-4 per person. They have a nice little gift shop with books and other old timey goods as well.
Simple directions: Exit 98 off I-81 (Dublin Exit), take route #611 (Follow Brown Signs) or from Claytor Lake State Park just go over I-81 overpass and turn left on Wilderness Road and go a few miles until you reach the museum in Newbern.
Drive time to
Wilderness Road State Park: Northern Virginia, 10 hours; Richmond, eight hours; Tidewater/Norfolk/Virginia Beach, 11 hours; Roanoke, five hours.
I bet you didn't know our state was that long? Yes it is! From SW Virginia to Virginia Beach - 11 hours and 470 miles. Do you know what else is approximately 470 miles long? Hint: It begins and runs along the
Blue Ridge Mountains of eastern Virginia.
