The Mountains of Virginia

My goal? Finding land for a farm somewhere above the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest and below the West Virginia border, targeting the area near Monterey, Virginia, where friends have their farm. I was raised on a small farm and always knew one day I would return to one.

And I have, but that is a story for another day. Today, I want to show you one of the most beautiful places in the U.S., the mountains of Virginia.

How do you get there? Fly into Dulles Airport outside of Washington, D.C., and if you travel slowly like I do, rent a car. The fast route is I-66 to I-81, then at Mt. Crawford, take the backroads toward Monterey. The better route? Skip I-81 and take the back roads, Highway 48, then 220, which will take you through the small towns and eventually into the Blue Grass Valley.

But why Monterey? I was looking for small, and Monterey is a tiny town (less than 150 people, about an hour from the ski slopes of Snowshoe, West Virginia, and a half hour from the recently renovated Omni Warm Springs pool baths. And, of course, it is reasonably close to Washington, D.C., and a Turkish Airlines hub, a requirement for us.

What hooked me? Well, take a look at the photos.

One of our goals was to be off the grid. In the mountains above Monterey, that is possible and very probable. I had little cell service there, looking at tracts of several hundred acres that (at that time) were affordable with neighbors far, far away, but help from friends when needed.

The area has all four seasons: cooler in the summer because of the mountains and snow in the winter. I roamed the state of Virginia, looking at farms and land, searching for small towns without the D.C. inundation of new residents I found in many of the towns in a one-hundred-mile radius of the capitol. I needed a centralized location with plenty to do when I wanted to do something and peace when I didn’t. This area fits the bill.

Highland County has a Maple Festival on the second and third weekends in March with specialty foods and over one hundred arts and crafts vendors. Looking for a place to get completely away from the world? I found many AirBnBs available with and without connections to the rest of the population. There are other small towns with country stores, an art gallery or two, and vineyards that are pretty close. Like I said, things when you need them, and peace when you don’t.

If we hadn’t made other plans, this is where I would be now.

For more places I’ve roamed, visit my website.