Maybe you’re swinging through Virginia on a tour of colleges. Or, perhaps, you’ve planned an epic road trip along the state’s section of the Blue Ridge Parkway, one of America’s most scenic drives. If you need a pit stop beyond Buc-ee’s, spend a day or two in Blacksburg, home to Virginia Tech, and neighboring Christiansburg.
Highlights:
- In one stop, you can tap into college town energy, stretch your legs on land shaped by one of the world’s oldest rivers and go treasure hunting in unique boutiques.
- The New River Valley setting offers quick access to the outdoors, with easy nature walks and longer mountain hikes.
- Blacksburg and Christiansburg deliver more than a typical college town, with a vineyard for tastings and a refined on-campus hotel.
Editor’s note: The writer was hosted.
Why Blacksburg Earned a Spot on My College Town Detour List
I’m a sucker for a college town. I’ve detoured through Ithaca, New York, to view Cornell’s famous gorges. Purchased not one, but two Harvard sweatshirts from the Cambridge bookstore on a trip to Boston. And watching the Cameron Crazies cheer on Duke’s legendary basketball team in Durham was a bucket list moment for someone like me who lives for March Madness.
So it’s not unusual that I would choose to detour through Blacksburg, home to Virginia Tech, on a road trip through southwest Virginia’s New River Valley. The south-to-north-flowing river, considered to be one of the oldest in the world, doesn’t run through town, but it shaped the mountains that define the landscape. The university, founded in 1872, covers 2,600 acres, has over 200 buildings and is home to approximately 31,000 undergrad students. From my home base, the Inn at Virginia Tech, I set out and sampled local restaurants, hiked area trails and scoured Montgomery County antique stores. I scored enough wins to put this on the must-return list.
Tour the Virginia Tech Campus
Pick up a map from the Inn’s front desk and wander as long as you like around the Virginia Tech campus. The fortress-like buildings, constructed of local limestone, called Hokie stone, are softened in feel by the rolling landscape.
I recommend looping around The Drillfield, an undulating lawn oval bisected by paths. Overlooking the lawn is the primary administration building, Burruss Hall and, directly in front of Burruss, is a memorial to the 32 students killed during the 2007 campus shooting. It’s a permanent recreation of the spontaneous stone arc constructed by survivors in the hours following the tragic event.
Hahn Horticulture Garden
Hahn Horticulture Garden is a six-acre oasis in Blacksburg. Interestingly, the Garden does not receive funding from Virginia Tech, but hosts many of the university’s Plant and Environmental Sciences programs. It’s a premier wedding venue in the New River Valley with an outdoor event pavilion elevated above the gardens. Take a self-guided tour of the display gardens, which include perennial and annual beds, a koi pond and a serene shaded woodland.
Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech
Check the event calendar at the Anne and Ellen Fife Theatre during your visit. If your timing is right, you might catch one of the 25-30 music, dance and theatrical performances hosted annually. Located in the Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech, the theater features meticulously engineered acoustics. And the Center’s visual arts galleries host rotating exhibitions throughout the year.
Go on an Antiques Roadshow
What you won’t find near Virginia Tech are cluttered antique stores that smell like damp basements. The ones I visited in Blacksburg and Christiansburg are large and bright with curated vendor spaces. My pulse quickened as I began hunting through the aisles, searching for items on my list…