April, 2025. Abingdon is a small town (population was only 8,325 in 2023) in the far southwest corner of Virginia, near the point where Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina meet. We had a quick visit here many years ago, and promised ourselves that we'd come back as it seemed that there was much to be explored in this small town. Abingdon boasts 20+ landmarks, 30+ restaurants, and 34+ miles of trails. USA Today named Abingdon as "Best Small Town Food Scene" (4 years in a row), as well as awarding its small town arts scene. Blue Ridge Outdoors also named it a top 10 small adventure town. On our first half-day in Abingdon, we started by walking down Main Street and around the charming 22-block historic district, checking out the 7' x 15' LOVEwork sign and adjacent fountain by artist Charles Vess, inspired by Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. ** This site is across from the Barter Theatre. Still open and thriving, this theatre opened in 1933, proclaiming "with vegetables you cannot sell, you can buy a good laugh." The price of admission was 35 cents or an equivalent amount of produce. Four out of five theatre goers paid their way with vegetables, dairy products and livestock! ** We then admired the grounds of the Martha Washington Inn and Spa. This hotel, dating back to 1832, combines history, Southern charm with modern elegance. ** The Abingdon Visitor Center is the next "must-stop." Also housed in a historic building, the very friendly and helpful staff member gave us customized suggestions of things to do, and a bagful of brochures to get us there. There's also a small gift shop where we picked up some reasonably-priced t-shirts. There are also nearby photo-op signs, including one depicting a postcard of Abingdon. Also, be on the lookout for the red English telephone booths, which have been turned into information kiosks. ** Next stop was the Abingdon Farmers Market, which is a farmer-run market featuring locally-grown produce, baked goods, as well as arts and crafts. ** we also browsed a few of the local boutiques and antique shops along Main Street, buying a new dress, just because. ** our final stop was the Sweetbay Brewery, a comfortable, laid-back brewery serving excellent craft beers. On many nights, there is a food truck on site and live entertainment. Sweetbay participates in Harvest Hosts, for those RVers who participate in this program. On day 2, we headed to the Virginia Creeper Trail with our bikes. The Creeper is a nationally-acclaimed Rails-to-Trails that extends for 34 miles and over 47 trestle bridges. It's a smooth, hard-packed, shared-use hiking, biking, and equine recreational trail. In the past, the trail started near Whitetop (about 3,500'), went about 18 miles to the midpoint near Damascus (1,900'), and ended in the charming town of Abingdon (2,050') (or vise versa). Unfortunately, Damascus was hard hit by Hurricane Helene, with 18 trestle bridges and many portions of the trail destroyed between Damascus and Whitetop so that portion of the trail is currently closed. We decided to bike the 8.5 mile segment from Abingdon (2,020') to Alvarado Station (the old train stop at 1,750') and back (so, 17 miles total). This "lower" section is considered an easy to moderate stretch through rolling farmland and forests, and over beautiful trestle bridges. As mentioned, our turning point was Alvarado Station, where we enjoyed our picnic lunch on a bench river-side. The stop also had drinks and snacks available for sale, a water refill station, and clean restrooms. We enjoyed our visit to Abingdon, but will need to return yet again as there is still more to explore -- for instance, more mileage on the hiking and biking trails, Abingdon Vineyards, Abingdon Muster Grounds, the Southwest Virginia Cultural Center & Marketplace, and more. read more

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This traffic back up for roadwork is ridiculous! You guys going to figure out how to get people moving. Took 20 minutes to go two blocks