excellent staff. always friendly , patient, and helpful. in addition to book rental, making…read morecopies, and faxing.

Located along US 23 (Business), the marker points out some of the history of the town in which it…read moreis located. It is near the Wise Town Hall. There is some room to stop and read the marker, just be aware of the traffic. It's a neat spot and I recommend visiting Wise. It reads, "The town of Wise was known as Big Glades when a post office was established here in 1850, Before being incorporated as Wise in 1926 it was also called Gladeville and Wise Court House. Since the creation in 1856 of Wise County, named for Henry Alexander Wise, governor of Virginia (1856-1860), the town has served as the county seat. During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought here between Union and Confederate troops on 7 July 1863. After the Civil War the town grew because of the expansion of the railroads and the increased mining of coal in the region. The current county courthouse was completed in 1896." In the late 1800s the town developed a small but lively commercial district around Main Street, where hotels, law offices, and general stores served travelers moving between the Kentucky line and the Clinch Valley. When the University of Virginia's College at Wise opened in 1954, it transformed the town into an educational center and anchored a new cultural life that reached far beyond the coalfields. Mid‑twentieth‑century Wise also became a regional medical hub, with clinics and small hospitals drawing patients from scattered mountain communities that lacked reliable care. Today the town's elevated setting gives it a cooler climate and a quieter pace than many nearby coal towns, a reminder of its older identity as a highland crossroads rather than an industrial camp. [Review 77 of 2026 - 1523 in Virginia - 25267 overall]

This museum is a local history museum located across from Jenkins High School in the mountains of…read moreKentucky. If you are looking for something to do indoors, this place beautifully show the history of Letcher County this is the place. The Museum was dedicate din May 1998. It has been authentically restored 1911 era train station. It has many displays of photographs of historical and modern coal mining, actual mining tools along with many mining and railroad accruements. Truly a unquie experience and a unique destination

Beautiful views at the top. Be careful on the drive up, it's 5 miles of a narrow gravel road. Watch…read moreout for wasps on the tower, I ended up getting stung by one on a railing.

A former fire tower station, Birch Knob is now a public overlook. You have a 360 degree view of…read moreVirginia, Kentucky and Ohio. The view is really great. That said, had I known the condition of the dirt/rock road I would not have gone up there despite having AWD. The road started out fine but deteriorated and there were some really bad spots that were either washed out and rocky or rutted. Trying to avoid these spots sometimes led to the brush scratching against my car. Thankfully, someone had chain sawed a few trees that had fallen across the road. I had the 6 plus mile road to myself-the only nice thing about the ride up. When you get to the top there is a small area for parking and a pit toilet-which I did not use. Then you have to walk up hill path to get to the steep metal stair case that brings you to the overlook. This place is definitely not for anyone having trouble walking! At the top the view was great, however, I didn't stay long as there were biting flies and mosquitoes tormenting me! The view: five stars. The drive up 1-2 stars. Hard to put an overall score. If you have an ATV, the experience will be much, much better! There is a hiking trail there too. Didn't check it out. The place is kept pretty clean-saw very little litter during the ride up and at the top.

Friendlest staff or any post office in the county. Always helpful with any situation.read more

A beautiful view and then a sober reminder of another dark time in America's past…read more The marker has the same text on both sides. It reads, "Leonard Woods, a black coal miner from Jenkins, KY, was lynched near here on the night of 29-30 Nov. 1927. Officers had arrested Woods for allegedly killing Herschel Deaton, a white man from Coeburn, VA, and had taken him to the Whitesburg, KY jail. On the day of Deaton's funeral, a white mob numbering in the hundreds broke into the jail and brought Woods close to this spot, where they hanged, shot, and burned him. No one was ever arrested. In the aftermath, at the urging of Norfolk editor Louis Jaffé, Norton's Bruce Crawford, and other journalists, VA Gov. Harry F. Byrd worked with the General Assembly early in 1928 to pass the nation's first law defining lynching as a state crime." In the months that followed, Virginia's newspapers debated not only the brutality of the killing but also the complicity of silence in both states, making the Woods case one of the rare Appalachian lynchings that forced a sustained, public reckoning with racial violence in the mountain South. It is marker number XB-27 and it was erected in 2021 by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. There is plenty of room to stop here, read the marker and think about those events. [Review 76 of 2026 - 1522 in Virginia - 25266 overall]

Wise County is named for Henry A. Wise, 33rd governor of Virginia (1856-1860) and a brigadier…read moregeneral on the Confederate side during the Civil War. Wise county was established in 1856 from portions of Russell, Lee and Scott Counties. The current courthouse was constructed in 1896 and is in Renaissance Revival and Beaux-Arts styles by famed architect Frank P. Milburn. Milburn is responsible for other courthouses I have reviewed including Boyd County (Catlettsburg KY), Columbia County (Lake City FL), and Lowndes County (Valdosta GA) and the South Carolina State House. As a Charlottean, I'm aware that he designed the Mecklenburg County courthouse though it no longer stands. It replaces the 1856 courthouse that was destroyed during the Civil War. It features tan-colored brick twin towers, ornate masonry, and a clock tower. An open well staircase with a classicized newel in the shape of a fluted column with an Ionic capital, an iron railing with applied anthemion ornamentation and whimsical scrolled embellishment, and open-work treads made of cast iron are all features of the interior's primary entrance hall. All around the hall is a wooden matchboard wainscot. The original pressed-tin ceiling in the hall is still there. The courtrooms are on the second floor. There is plentiful street parking on weekends. [Review 632 of 2025 - 1480 in Virginia - 24193 overall]

Ate at Yesterday's Texas in Bridgeport. Both the food and our server Angie, were great.read more