Near Blue Ridge Parkway (at milepost 85.6) at Peaks Road (Virginia Route 43).
By the mid-1800s, the village of Mons, which is Latin for mountain, had grown up around the Peaks of Otter. There was a church, a school, two mills, and a hotel. The small community provided services to tourists who had discovered the Peaks of Otter . . . — — Map (db m134491) HM
Near Blue Ridge Parkway (at milepost 86), 0.4 miles north of Peaks Road (Route 43).
The first resident landscape architect and planner of the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was his vision, imagination, and creative talents in the Parkway's formative stages that made the Blue Ridge Parkway unique. — — Map (db m9743) HM
On Blue Ridge Parkway (at milepost 76.5), on the left when traveling south.
The parkway reaches its highest elevation in Virginia - - 3950 - - on Apple Orchard Mountain. Wind, ice and snow of raging winter storms have pruned this mountaintop forest, giving it an “Old Apple Orchard” appearance. This . . . — — Map (db m95966) HM
Near Avenel Avenue north of Burwell Way, on the right when traveling south.
(preface)
On May 26, 1864, Union Gen. David Hunter marched south from Cedar Creek near Winchester to drive out Confederate forces, lay waste to the Shenandoah Valley, and destroy transportation facilities at Lynchburg. His raid was part of . . . — — Map (db m42844) HM
On South Bridge Street at West Main Street (U.S. 221), on the left when traveling north on South Bridge Street.
On the evening of June 15, 1864, the lead element of Union Gen. David Hunter’s 18,000-man army arrived here and cam near Avenel. The main force arrived the following morning and started destroying the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad tracks, burning . . . — — Map (db m41408) HM
On East Main Street (Business U.S. 460) at Court Street, on the right when traveling west on East Main Street.
This place became the county seat of Bedford when it was moved from New London in 1782. First called Liberty (incorporated in 1839), the town changed its name to Bedford City in 1890 and to Bedford in 1912. A third courthouse, built in 1834, was . . . — — Map (db m42879) HM
On East Main Street (Business U.S. 460) at Court Street, on the left when traveling east on East Main Street.
Deo Vindice
To the Confederate
Soldiers and Sailors of
Bedford County. 1861-1865
Bedford honors her heroes;
proudly rejoicing with the living;
sincerely mourning the dead.
Their history is it's brightest page,
exhibiting the . . . — — Map (db m43042) HM
On East Main Street (Business U.S. 460) at South Street (Virginia Route 43), on the right when traveling west on East Main Street.
June 6 1944
Erected by the Parker-Hoback Post, 29th Division Association, in memory of the Bedford County men of the 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Division, who gave their lives in the preparation for and the participation in the Normandy . . . — — Map (db m52054) HM
On East Main Street (Business U.S. 460) at Court Street, on the right when traveling west on East Main Street.
Oct. 10, 1774
In memory of
Bedford’s Volunteer Company
which fought in
The Battle of Point Pleasant
Thomas Buford, Captain
Thomas Dooley, Lieut.
Sergeants
Jonathan Cundiff, Ensign
Nicholas Mead • William Kennedy • John . . . — — Map (db m43717) HM
On Overlord Circle, 0.8 miles north of Tiger trail, on the left when traveling north.
This monument’s representation of these distinct phases of the events around D-Day is particularly evident from this position. In the distance straight ahead, a formal garden planted in the design of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary . . . — — Map (db m107695) WM
On Longwood Avenue (U.S. 221) at Hampton Ridge, on the right when traveling west on Longwood Avenue.
Here is the home of John Goode, political leader, born 1829, died, 1909. Goode was a member of the secession convention of 1861; of the Confederate Congress and of the United States Congress; Solicitor General of the United States; president of the . . . — — Map (db m42877) HM
On West Lynchburg Salem Turnpike (U.S. 460) 0.3 miles west of Patterson Mill Road (Virginia Route 680), in the median.
Near here General Hunter, on his retreat from Lynchburg, halted for the night of June 18, 1864. He resumed his retreat early in the morning of June 19. — — Map (db m42875) HM
On E Lynchburg Salem Turnpike (Virginia Route 460) 7.5 miles west of Bedford/Campbell County Line, on the right when traveling west.
The Lynchburg and Salem Turnpike Co. was incorporated in 1818 to build a turnpike from Lynchburg west to Salem. The road reached Liberty (now Bedford) in 1828 and was completed to Salem in 1836. In Bedford County, covered bridges spanned the Big . . . — — Map (db m18830) HM
On Blue Ridge Parkway near Peaks Road (Virginia Route 43).
(preface)
On May 26, 1864, Union Gen. David Hunter marched south from Cedar Creek near Winchester to drive out Confederate forces, lay waste to the Shenandoah Valley, and destroy transportation facilities at Lynchburg. His raid was part of . . . — — Map (db m55780) HM
On Peaks Street (Virginia Route 43) at Longwood Avenue (U.S. 221), on the right when traveling north on Peaks Street.
This road was followed by General Hunter when he crossed the Blue Ridge at the Peaks of Otter and came to Bedford en route to Lynchburg, June 16, 1864. — — Map (db m42893) HM
Near Blue Ridge Parkway (at milepost 86), 0.6 miles Peaks Road (Virginia Route 43).
Built in the early 1800's, this simple mountain cabin was operated as an inn, or "ordinary", from about 1830 until about 1850. Here the widowed Polly Woods catered to the "ordinary" needs of the weary mountain traveler -- a hot meal, a comfortable . . . — — Map (db m9655) HM
On Shingle Block Road (Virginia Route 24) at Wilson Church Road (County Route 722), on the right when traveling west on Shingle Block Road.
A Quaker Meeting was established on Goose Creek in 1757, and a meeting house built. Fear of Indians caused most of the Quakers to move elsewhere though some of them returned. Unsuccessful attempts were made to re-establish the Goose Creek Meeting. . . . — — Map (db m65610) HM
On College Street west of Mountain Avenue, on the right when traveling east.
Randolph-Macon Academy, a Methodist preparatory school for boys, occupied a building on this site from 1890 until 1934 when the school was consolidated with the Randolph-Macon Academy at Front Royal. In 1936, the property was purchased by Bedford . . . — — Map (db m42878) HM
On Overlord Circle, 0.8 miles west of Burks Hill Road (Virginia Route 122).
Robey W. Estes Sr. served with the United States Army in the European Theater of Operations. A platoon sergeant in Company E of the 116th Infantry Regiment on D-Day, he was part of the first wave of the attack on Omaha Beach. Wounded during the . . . — — Map (db m61339) HM WM
Near Blue Ridge Parkway (at milepost 64), on the left when traveling south.
When George Washington stood here in 1772, he sought a way to open a water route to the West. Traveling over the region’s most rugged mountains was time consuming and dangerous. New settlers needed a more efficient way to transport goods like . . . — — Map (db m95959) HM
Near Blue Ridge Parkway (at milepost 64), on the left when traveling south.
The James River flows from the mountains through Lynchburg and Richmond to the coast. It is the largest river in Virginia and, historically, one of the state’s most important transportation corridors. Before the Civil War, investors built a canal . . . — — Map (db m95958) HM
Near Poplar Forest Drive at Foxhall Drive, on the left when traveling east.
Long before Jefferson built his retreat house here, he had enslaved men, women and older children working the tobacco and wheat fields—going "into the ground," as he called it. They planted up to 300,000 hillocks of tobacco each year. It took 18 . . . — — Map (db m198081) HM
Near Poplar Forest Drive at Foxhall Drive, on the left when traveling east.
The Wing of Offices was constructed on the east side of Jefferson's retreat home in 1814, “110 feet long, in the manner of those at Monticello, with a flat roof in the level of the floor of the house." Hannah, the enslaved cook, spent many of her . . . — — Map (db m198085) HM
(lower)
Commemorating Lewis and Clark
In 2003, surveyors placed a monument on the lawn northwest of the house to commemorate the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition. The brass survey disk bears the design of Jefferson's Indian Peace . . . — — Map (db m99783) HM
Near Poplar Forest Drive at Foxhall Drive, on the left when traveling east.
Except for Jefferson himself, no one deserves more credit for the ornate character of the retreat house than his enslaved craftsman John Hemings. He apprenticed as a joiner under James Dinsmore, an Irish immigrant. "There is nothing superior in the . . . — — Map (db m198084) HM
About 200 feet north of this location, a fence marked the edge of the "curtilage." This sixty-one acre area separated the house and designed landscape from the larger plantation. In 1813, Jefferson noted that he had "inclosed and divided it into . . . — — Map (db m99785) HM
Near Poplar Forest Drive at Foxhall Drive, on the left when traveling east.
"If you would engage the negroes to dig and remove the earth South of the house, 90 feet wide, down to a foot below the lower floor, & descending from thence due South 1 inch in every 10 ft. ...l would gladly pay them for it, but it is only with . . . — — Map (db m198083) HM
On East Lynchburg Salem Turnpike (U.S. 460) at Thomas Jefferson Road (Virginia Route 811), on the right when traveling west on East Lynchburg Salem Turnpike.
(preface)
On May 26, 1864, Union Gen. David Hunter marched south from Cedar Creek near Winchester to drive out Confederate forces, lay waste to the Shenandoah Valley, and destroy transportation facilities at Lynchburg. His raid was part of . . . — — Map (db m55782) HM
On East Lynchburg Salem Turnpike (U.S. 460) at Thomas Jefferson Road (Virginia Route 811), on the right when traveling west on East Lynchburg Salem Turnpike.
Chartered by the state in 1795, this is the oldest secondary school in Virginia in continuous operation under its own charter. Conducted for many years as a private school for boys, it began to receive public funds in 1884. It now operates as a . . . — — Map (db m55789) HM
On Forest Road (U.S. 221) east of Venture Drive, on the right when traveling west.
Half a mile north is St. Stephen's Church, built about 1825 under Rev. Nicholas Cobb, later Bishop of Alabama. In the old cemetery here many members of early families of the community are buried. — — Map (db m42894) HM
Near Poplar Forest Drive at Foxhall Drive, on the left when traveling east.
When Jefferson became president in 1801, Poplar Forest was a 4,500-acre plantation with at least 60 enslaved men, women and children living and working on the property. In August 1806, President Jefferson visited Poplar Forest to help his . . . — — Map (db m198082) HM
Francis Eppes inherited the house and 1,074 acres following his grandfather's death. His cousin Thomas Jefferson Randolph sold the remainder of the estate to cover debts. The Eppes, Cobbs, Hutter and Watts families who lived at Poplar Forest in the . . . — — Map (db m99781) HM
Thomas Jefferson's landscape design of house and mounds may have been influenced by Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio's five-part plan for a villa (left) — pavilion, hyphen, main block, hyphen, pavilion.
In his innovative design, Jefferson . . . — — Map (db m99779) HM
Thomas Jefferson designed the sunken lawn to accommodate the lower level of the house and form an area similar to a plain parterre or bowling green. Enslaved laborers led by Phil Hubbard, working on their own time for pay, excavated the lawn and . . . — — Map (db m99784) HM
On Interpretive Trail, 1.7 miles south of State Park Road, on the right.
Appalachian Power Company constructed Smith
Mountain and Leesville Dams between 1960 and
1963 to generate hydroelectric energy. The waters
of the Roanoke and Blackwater Rivers formed Smith
Mountain Lake, one of two resulting reservoirs,
which . . . — — Map (db m104439) HM
On State Park Road (Road 888) 1.2 miles west of Smith Mountain Lake Parkway (State Route 626), on the right when traveling west.
On April 11, 1790, a congregation of 32 organized here as the “Baptist Church of Christ on Stanton at the mouth of Black Water.” William Johnson, John Anthony and Thomas Douglass were the ministers present and Johnson was chosen pastor. . . . — — Map (db m153024) HM
These two brick buildings, constructed in the mid-19th century by the Hutter family, served as housing for their plantation workers. Family recollections say that the northern building was a residence for the overseer, while the southern one was . . . — — Map (db m99787) HM
"Clump Of Athenian & Balsam poplars at each corner of the house
intermix locusts, common and Kentucky, redbuds, dogwoods,
calycanthus, liriodendron"
Poplar Forest Planting Memorandum 1812
Archaeologists discovered the remains of a . . . — — Map (db m99786) HM
On West Lynchburg Salem Turnpike (U.S. 460) 0.3 miles west of Circle K Road (Virginia Route 751), in the median.
Near here stood a fortified dwelling used for shelter during periods of warfare between European colonists and Native Americans. To this fort in 1756 came Mary Draper Ingles (Mrs. William Ingles) for protection following her escape from captivity by . . . — — Map (db m42851) HM
On Blue Ridge Parkway, on the left when traveling south.
Straight ahead are SharpTop Mountain and Flat Top Mountain. They are two of the three prominent summits that surround the Peaks of Otter area, approximately 6.5 miles distant. No one knows for certain why the area is called the Peaks of Otter. The . . . — — Map (db m95955) HM
On West Lynchburg Salem Turnpike (U.S. 460) 0.2 miles west of Thaxton School Road (Virginia Route 831), on the right when traveling west.
On 2 July 1889, a heavy storm turned nearby Wolf Creek into a raging river. The railroad embankment known as Newman’s Fill, just north of here, became saturated. About 1:25 AM, it collapsed under the weight of Norfolk & Western Passenger Train . . . — — Map (db m84781) HM
On East Lynchburg-Salem Turnpike (U.S. 460) west of Ryland Drive, on the right when traveling west.
Nearby are buried several prominent area settlers and their descendants. Col. William Callaway, in 1755 one of the first two members of the Virginia House of Burgesses from Bedford County, donated the hundred acres of land on which the town of New . . . — — Map (db m65605) HM
