Visible at great distances, Whitetop Mountain was known as the “Meadow Mountain” in colonial times. With a climate similar to southern Canada, this beloved mountain is Virginia’s second highest peak and immediately adjacent is Mount Rogers, the highest peak in the state. The Whitetop community hosts three annual festivals: the Mountain Maple Festival, the Sorghum Molasses Festival, and the Ramp Read more...

In 1800 when the nation’s population was two million, 10,000 people passed each year through Abingdon on their way to the South, Southwest, and heartland, making ti the first, busiest, and most important of America’s frontier towns. One-fourth of all Americans have an ancestor who came here, most of them on foot. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, native Read more...

Western Grayson County has produced fine traditional musicians, performers at school entertainments, fiddlers’ conventions, and community gatherings for many generations. Among them was the old-time string band, the Rugby Gully Jumpers (Walter Henderson, fiddle, Estil Ball, guitar, and Wade Reedy, mandolin) recorded ni the 1930s by Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress. Outstanding finger-style guitarist Estil Bal and wife, Read more...