November 2010

Part of Cumberland Gap National Park, this rural Appalachian area on top of Brush Mountain was occupied from 1903 to 1951 by the Hensleys, who lived a self-sufficient lifestyle without electricity, plumbing, roads, or any modern conveniences. About 25 original buildings survive. This very remote 4-hour tour involves a good deal of walking.

One of America's foremost playwrights, Eugene O'Neill, purchased the Tao House in Danville using his Nobel Prize award of $40,000. The site now celebrates O'Neill's vision and legacy.

Eugene O’Neill needed a place to write which offered a quiet environment, good weather and access to doctors. While in Seattle he had received the Nobel Prize for Literature in November, 1936, and had been so lionized and besieged by reporters that he and Carlotta fled to the San Francisco Bay Area. O’Neill had called Danville his final home and harbor and, indeed, it was the place where he successfully completed five significant works: “A Moon for the Misbegotten,” “The Iceman Cometh,” “Hughie,” “A Touch of the Poet” and “Long Day’s Journey Into Night.” After leaving Danville he never wrote another play. Visitors are invited to explore O'Neill's life and his creative haven in Danville.

The personal collections of Virginia country music pioneer A.P. Carter are exhibited in the family's former home.

The old Carter general store and log cabin has been converted into a museum in Hiltons near Bristol and houses the collections of A.P. Carter, his wife, Sara, and her cousin, Maybelle, who in 1927 pioneered what would come to be called "country music." Artifacts include photos, books, musical instruments, costumes, 78 rpm recordings, and items donated by Johnny and June Carter Cash.

Designed by famed architect Henry Hobson Richardson, the Allegheny County Courthouse and Jail complex is the most lasting symbol of Allegheny County. Completed in 1888, the architecture is considered a classic example of the Richardsonian Romanesque technique, incorporating Syrian, Byzantine, Gothic, and Renaissance styles in its varied archways, towers, windows, and turrets. The jail, which was officially closed in 1995, has been converted into a new combined home of the juvenile and family sections of the Common Pleas Court.

Established by Revolutionary war patriot, William Preston, this plantation later became the social and political center of the county.

On the eve of the American Revolution, the Virginia backcountry was a place of colliding cultures, clashing ideals, and physical danger. Europeans and native Shawnee and Cherokee vied for the same fertile farmlands, often erupting into murderous violence. It was at the eastern continental divide, the literal edge of European/American civilization, that the leader of westward expansion and Revolutionary War patriot William Preston established Smithfield Plantation. In a land of log cabins and physical hardship, Smithfield provided a haven of aristocratic elegance and unity within the county. More than 225 years later, the home still stands as a cultural center to the surrounding community. The Kenmore Plantation stayed within the Preston family for centuries, continuing to serve the state, and even filled three governor's seats and several other political positions. 

The Ernest Hemingway Birthplace Home is a large Victorian home built by his maternal grandparents that has been meticulously restored to its Turn-of-The-Century grandeur. One of the greatest writers of the 20th Century, Ernest Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, and spent the first six years of his life in this grand house surrounded by his family.

Just a short walk from the birthplace, the Ernest Hemingway Museum is host to permanent and temporary exhibits that explore the author's life. Kiosks fashioned from historic doors hold exhibits of rare photos and artifacts, including Hemingway's childhood diary and the famous letter from nurse Agnes von Kurowsky-later portrayed in A Farewell to Arms-terminating their engagement.

This complex includes the Harry W. Meador Coal Museum, the John Fox Museum, the June Toliver House, and the Interstate 101 Car, an 1870 railroad car with many original features intact. Today, the railroad car house the regional information center for the Big Stone Gap.

This authentically recreated Cherokee village was built on the site of a prehistoric Indian village dating back to the 1200s.

The site was carefully excavated, mapped, and documented and has since been recreated so visitors can experience the actual layout of the wigwams and palisade. Interpretive guides lead visitors in a hands-on exploration of the early living skills and even skills that are still used today. Museum displays include artifacts from the original site and other pieces and replicas from Southwest Virginia and areas all over North America.

A visit to The Settler's Museum of Southwest Virginia is like stepping one hundred years into the past. Visitors can learn the story of the people who settled the area. View the Migration Story and map at our visitor's center, visit the restored 19th-century living history farm complete with farmhouse and 8 original outbuildings, and tour the restored 1894 one-room Lindamood schoolhouse. The Appalachian Trail runs through the property, and visitors are welcome to hike this trail this trail as well.

Visitors can tour Sandburg's birthplace, followed by a trip to the visitor center next door. It contains a museum, a small theater where several informative videos about Carl Sandburg are shown and a renovated "barn" which is actually a small theatre with a few more exhibits and where live performances are often held. The museum contains hundreds of artifacts and modern colorful displays appropriate for all ages. A perennial garden and quotation walk has been added to the back yard. The plantings are appropriate to Sandburg's era and surround Remembrance Rock, where the ashes of Carl Sandburg and his wife, Lilian, are buried.