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It’s older, quieter and more surprising than you’d expect
You’ve probably never thought much about Staunton, Virginia. Most people haven’t.
But this small city of about 25,750 people, tucked between the Blue Ridge Mountains to the east and the Alleghenies to the west, has been quietly holding onto one of Virginia’s finest collections of 19th-century buildings since the Civil War passed it by.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation put it on a short list of a dozen distinctive destinations in the country. Once you walk the red brick sidewalks, you’ll understand why.
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The town that once stretched to the Mississippi River
Staunton got its start in 1747, named for Lady Rebecca Staunton, wife of colonial Governor William Gooch. The seat of Augusta County, which in its early days stretched all the way to the Mississippi River, it grew fast…