My month in Virginia

My take on Virginia

where I went . . .

. . . this month

I liked Virginia quite a bit, and the odd thing is that I didn't expect to like it at all.  Virginia's got so much racism in its past that I've always seen it through that lens.  The fact is, there's racism throughout the country and it doesn't seem to have much to do with which state you're in.

Racism
During this month, one of the big news stories was about 2 of the top 3 state officials - both white Democrats - having dressed up in black-face costume when they were in college.  At the same time, the 3rd top state official, a black Democrat, was accused of sexual assault.  (Republicans were giddy.)  The general opinion from African-Americans of different age groups was that the governor especially had done an enormous amount of work with and for black citizens for some years now, they respected him and believed his immediate and abject apologies were sincere.  And life has gone on. 

That incident meant to me that probably the majority of whites here grew up totally insensitive to the feelings and history of the blacks they were mostly segregated from, and that many of them have had their eyes opened to what life is like on the other side of the color line and are living differently as adults.  (It also meant to me that the governor learned from the mistakes of other prominent people and did his apologizing way up front in a way that really did sound sincere.  Smart.)

And it may be that that sort of growth and understanding has been gradually taking place among many regular folks.  I never detected any signs from anybody that black people and white people were being treated differently in any way.  And that's made me rethink my opinion about Virginia.

People
There's an enormous variety of people in this state, and I think it's based on what runs the economics of each area.  In northern VA, the state seems to revolve around Washington, DC, and the spill-over of government offices and agencies into VA (think Pentagon and CIA).  In southeastern VA, the military is where the population and industries come from, but tourism follows right behind.  In western VA, life seems laidback in a mountain-people sort of way.  And throughout the state, there's American history every time you turn around.

The Virginians I talked to don't seem to think of the state as divided at all and talk about Virginians as a group.  And they're all proud of their state.  They think it's beautiful and interesting and important in many ways.  (Given that, I just can't understand why the litter problem is so strikingly bad throughout the state.)

And I have to say I agree with them.  I liked everyone I met.  And drivers in Virginia are very polite, once you get away from the DC area.  They're kind about letting me merge in front of them and I never got honked at once.

What I wanted to see and didn't
You can see on the maps that there are large chunks of the state I didn't get to, partly due to weather, partly due to lack of time, and partly due to having been traveling for an entire year and starting to feel tired.  It wasn't Virginia's fault and there are many things I'd like to come back for - preferably in a slightly warmer month.

I didn't drive an inch on the Blue Ridge Parkway and would have liked to.  I'll still have a chance when I go to North Carolina, but Virginia's got plenty of it too.  I missed the Luray Caverns - largest on the east coast.  I missed Wolf Creek in Bastian - it's a reconstructed village from 1250 AD.  I missed the Carter Family Museum in Hiltons and the Isaak Walton Museum in Schuyler.  Woodrow Wilson's birthplace is in Staunton and I didn't make it there.  Harrisonburg is home to the Natural Chimneys Park, which sounds amazing.  The town of Steeles Tavern has the Cyrus McCormick Farm and Workshop, which I'm really sorry to have missed.  Just east of the Blue Ridge Parkway are Nellysford with the Bold Rock Cider Museum and Afton with the Blue Mountain Hop Farm.

I never once made it to a beach while I was in Virginia - either to the Eastern Shore or to the stretch along the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area.  The Barrier Island Center is in Machipongo on the Chesapeake Peninsula, and I think that'd be interesting.

Southern VA has a lot I wanted to see.  In Farmville is the Robert Russa Moton Museum which is where the first case arose that was eventually consolidated with 4 others in Brown v. Board of Education.  Bristol claims to be the birthplace of country music, and Galax the world capitol of old time mountain music.  Waverly is home to the first US peanut museum and a folk art museum - they're only open a few hours a week, which is why I missed them.  Portsmouth has a children's museum that includes an antique toy and train collection.  Norfolk has the Hermitage Foundation Museum, with the US's largest private collection of Asian art.  Ferrum has something called the Blue Ridge Institute and Farm Museum.  And then there's another Randolph, which I wouldn't have missed with more time.

In the north is the town of Marshall and the Red Truck Rural Bakery where I understand the thing to not miss is Alma Hackney's Rum Cake.

You see this list.  You'd think I hadn't moved a muscle since I got here, having missed so much.  But I liked Virginia enough to want to come back, so maybe next time.