Visiting Blacksburg for a funeral, we had some extra time so we took a ride through the Virginia Tech campus.Lane Stadium.Statue of former football coach Frank Beamer.April 16 Memorial.32 Virginia Tech students and faculty members were murdered on campus on April 16, 2007. This memorial honors those who were killed.Miller’s Cabin at Historic Springfield, built around 1850. Private residence not open for tours.“The Merry Oak”. This tree was already present when the Preston family built Smithfield Plantation in 1774. It is probably more than 500 years old.The Smithfield Plantation house was built 1772-1773 for Colonel William Preston, and was the home of three governors of Virginia, James Patton Preston, John Floyd Jr. and John Buchanan Ford.Blacksmith shop.Slave cabin, circa 1820.Cross section of the trunk of a walnut tree that was planted here in 1852. The rings track to the history of Virginia Tech.
Luray Caverns is the largest cavern in the Eastern US. It was discovered by Andrew Campbell in 1878. Its most famous features are the stalactites and stalagmites. Definitely worth a visit. We visited on Thanksgiving Day.X marks the spot of the original discovery of the caverns. So many different formations throughout the caverns. It is amazing.Stalactites hang from the ceiling.The famous stalacpipe organ.Stalagmites grow up on the bottom of a cavern from the same drip-water source, the mineral from which is deposited after the water droplet falls across the open space in the rock.Underwater lake reflects like a mirror the stalactites.Another reflective lake. Pretty cool.
Bristol is considered the birthplace of Country Music, so of course they built a museum.In 1927, Bristol hosted what became known as “The Bristol Sessions”.Interesting history.The mandolin is a key instrument in country music.Gazoo.Autoharp.Oscar Schmidt guitar was owned, signed and played by Jimmie Rodgers, and also signed by June Carter Cash, Janette Carter, Loretta Lynn, Doyle Lawson, Jim and Jesse McReynolds, Earl Scruggs, Roni Stoneman and others.BanjoLester Flatt and Earl Scruggs sang the Ballad of Jed Clampett, for the Beverly Hillbillies.Live radio studio WBCM.A constant theme throughout country music history is the gospel song Will The Circle Be Unbroken, first popularized by Maybelle Carter, mother of June Carter Cash. Maybelle popularized the guitar as the lead instrument for country music, with a style named “Carter Scratch”.Willie Nelson singing Will The Circle Be Unbroken.Hee HawMinnie Pearl and Grandpa Jones on Hee Haw. My father saw Grandpa Jones in concert in Fredericksburg.So basically, hillbilly, country and bluegrass music came from southwest Virginia.
Belmont the house was built in 1792. Artist Gary Melchers bought the house in 1916 and lived here until his death in 1932. Melchers’ wooden Dutch shoesGary Melchers’ studio. Melchers was one of America’s most significant artists of the early 1900s. He Born in Detroit, he studied in Dusseldorf Germany, Paris France and Egmond Holland. He was a member of academies in New York, London, Berlin, Paris and Munich.
He won many awards from all of the western world. He painted mostly in the Naturalist style, which tried to convey the subject truthfully. He was one of the premier portraitists in the late 1800s and early 1900s. President Theodore Roosevelt sat in the White House for Melchers to do his portrait.
His works are displayed in art museums all over the world, as well as here in his studio.This is Melchers’ studio table as he left it when he died.Winter Landscape with Figures, 1887, This was Melchers’ first work, painted when he was 16 years old.The Choirmaster, 1888-1891The Nativity, 1891The Sermon, 1886In Holland, 1887President Theodore Roosevelt, 1908Commerce Street, 1920. This is the location of present-day Renato’s Restaurant on William Street in Fredericksburg.Self portrait, 1896.Portrait of Mrs. Gari Melchers, 1905.From My Window, 1920. Belmont overlooks the Rappahannock River.Nelson Berry’s Store, 1918. This store was located in Falmouth, down the hill from Belmont.The Open Door, 1910.The Fencer, 1895.
