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A Living Ribbon Unfurling Through the Woods

New River Trail State Park Hits The High Notes In Southwest Virginia

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Keith Lanpher photo

Cameron Davidson/Virginia Tourism Corporation, virginia.org

Emily Miller/Virginia Tourism Corporation, virginia.org

Emily Miller/Virginia Tourism Corporation, virginia.org

There it is—up so high! But the white flashes of head and tail, the great outstretched wings in a motionless soar make identification easy. Bald eagle. And now there’s a second one, the pair slowly wheeling about each other, revolving around an invisible column of air as they rise. Higher and higher they go, until they disappear into the clear blue sky.

Or this: three wild turkeys startled from their cover. They burst from the underbrush at top speed, the light undersides of their powerful wings in rare display as they escape across the water.

It’s just another nature-filled day on the New River Trail State Park, a recreational gem in southwest Virginia.

Winter, spring, summer, fall. This 57-mile rail-to-trail recreational wonderland gets better with each visit: more relaxing, richer in birds and blooms, and for history lovers, more valuable as a window into the region’s recent past.

The New River Trail State Park offers almost limitless variety, so it appeals to every age from toddlers to grandparents. The gentle grade—today’s trail was the railway artery of yesteryear—means that an extended family can vacation here together with a pace to satisfy every activity level.

And there are so many ways to use the park: hiking, biking, horseback riding, or navigating the open water by kayak, canoe, or inner tube. Anglers love the New River, and so do birders and wildflower enthusiasts. There’s primitive camping, with the music of rocky shoals for a lullaby, and the moon and stars slung across a velvety black sky.

Although the trail is so long—39 miles along the New River itself with spurs on Chestnut Creek and Peak Creek—the many access points make it easy to explore in short segments. The park can provide years of four-season enjoyment without much duplication: the short but spectacular spring wildflower season in April and May, the crisp and colorful days of fall, the solitude and icy purity of winter, and all the sociable activities of summer. Some people do like to make a go of it, though, bicycling the nearly 60 mile length in just a couple of days for a big workout. 

This living ribbon unfurling through the woods ranks as a topnotch American state park, even though the average width is only 80 feet. Rangers patrol daily, so it feels safe. Maintenance of the packed cinder trail that was once an abandoned railroad right-of-way gets done: treefalls are cleared away fast, drainage is maintained, trash is emptied from campsites, sanitary facilities are clean. And naturalist-led programming from spring through fall only enhances the experience.

The sinuous New River Trail State Park runs through four counties and touches three Virginia towns—Pulaski, Galax, and Fries—each with its own personality. Yet aside from busy summer weekends, visitors can spend whole days on the trail and see just a few other people…or no one at all.

Woods and water

At the turn of the 20th century the United States was in the midst of colossal industrial expansion, and the far reaches of southwest Virginia helped fuel the fires of enterprise.

Timber blanketed much of the region, including immense chestnut trees that had not yet been hit with a deadly chestnut blight that wiped out the species. Poplar, oak, maple, pine, spruce, and many others—the resources seemed endless. And so the mountains were heavily logged; today’s forest is a re-growth.

Mining was important too. The elemental layers of the Blue Ridge got folded and creased and squeezed through countless millennia, and so there were enough pockets of minerals and such to support commercial mining endeavors: lead, iron, coal.

Water. The mountains catch and hold every kind of moisture passing through: rain, fog, snow, and ice. It all soaks in and trickles through, eventually reaching the New River, which in turn snakes north and flows into the Ohio River watershed. Even in the pre-industrial days of the 18th and 19th centuries, the Virginia highlands proved fertile farmland, and every creek of size had its waterwheel-driven mill for cutting wood, milling grain, and more.

Take the town of Fries, pronounced Freeze. Just after 1900 the force of the New River was harnessed by a big new dam and used to power a modern textile mill…modern a century ago, that is. The Washington Mills Company built the whole town at once, not only the massive brick factory but also hundreds of sturdy cottages for workers, a community center, stores. In fact, wages were paid in company scrip that was good only in town.

The mill shut down in 1988, and the population of Fries fell from several thousand to just a few hundred. The mill itself was torn down, although the dam and its overspill remain as scenic reminders of those days.

One end of the New River Trail State Park lies in Fries, a town nicknamed “Where the Trail Begins.” Nothing flashy, except that the river is a constant shimmering presence through the heart of that quiet little burg. On a cold winter’s day the scene on Main Street can look desolate, but in midsummer there are fishermen standing out in the river, casting and waiting…and kids bouncing around the new playground or enjoying an ice cream cone at the riverside park…and locals shopping at the Sunday afternoon farmers market. Visitors from around the world manage to find Fries because its historic Fries Theatre hosts an old-time music jam every Thursday night, and fans of the genre consider the place a kind of shrine.

The railway that brought raw materials to the factory and took finished textiles out is gone. But the rail bed is what has become the state park. Just hop on a bike and go. Or fuel up first with a serving of homemade cobbler at the town’s only café.

Galax gourmet

A second terminus of the New River Trail State Park is located in Galax (pronounced GAY-lax), a gritty industrial town named for the lovely wildflower that grows in glades nearby. In olden times local folks went into the woods to collect huge quantities of galax leaf for the floral trade. Nowadays Galax is world famous for its annual fiddlers’ convention, and while that goes on in late summer the town is chock full of people. Otherwise…decidedly low key but with a vibrant performing and visual arts scene that goes on year round.

Here’s a surprise: Galax has a bit of gourmet appeal too, so if a trip along the New River trail includes a picnic, be sure to stock up in town. There’s The Galax Smokehouse on Main Street. The barbecue is succulent, the service friendly, and the banana pudding legendary; ask for an order to go. Across the street a wine store called Wine Cellar at Chapters also stocks several kinds of especially fine local Meadow Creek Dairy cheese—expensive and worth every penny. Finally, the Galax ABC state liquor store sells some excellent Virginia fruit wines. These are not syrupy sweet wines, but true fruit wines of dry delicacy: apple, pear, and raspberry.

Back in the railroad days a rail spur eventually connected Galax to Fries via the dramatically situated Fries Junction. The longest of the park’s three major railroad bridges across the New River spans the river here, and at more than 1,000 feet in length it offers sweeping views of the river and the sounds of nearby Double Shoals.

The river trail between Galax and Fries Junction runs along Chestnut Creek and offers some of the most varied and interesting countryside in the park (look for the ghostly stone remains of a train engine turntable next to the creek). There is still some farming along the way, but as Chestnut Creek descends toward the New River the landscape grows more rugged. Chestnut Creek rages through narrow rapids far below, while the trail follows the gentler grade of the old rail bed through a tunnel—one of two in the park—and along shady cliffs dripping with mosses and ferns.

From Fries Junction heading downstream, the New River Trail State Park rolls past Byllesby Dam (pronounced Billsby) and Buck Dam and then past the old mining center of Ivanhoe, today a place for equestrian events, then past another mining town, Austinville.

Here the New River levels out and the floodplain broadens. Where it passes beneath I-77 look for two important venues: the historic shot tower and Foster Falls.

Rolling with the seasons

Early in American history the shot tower on the New River produced lead shot using gravity. Lead from nearby mines was smelted atop the 75-foot stone tower, built about 1807, and then tipped through sieves to fall the distance of the tower plus a further 75-foot bore beneath it. The hot lead solidified as it fell through this 150-foot shaft, then hit kettles of cooling water below and could be retrieved, sorted, and loaded at the river’s edge for shipment. Park rangers now staff the shot tower and offer tours.

Just over a mile downstream lies Foster Falls, the park headquarters. Foster Falls includes an antique village which preserves something of life in the mid 1800’s, when as many as 100 families lived there and helped sustain railroad and mining operations. The full-service facilities here—about the midpoint on the trail—include a boat ramp, picnic tables, equestrian amenities, gift shop, and camping. Rent a canoe, book a guided horseback trip, camp. 

Downstream, the New River Trail State Park leaves the New River at the tail of the Claytor Lake impoundment, passing through the charming hamlet of Draper. There some trail lovers have established an inn and a general store complex called the Thee Draper Village. It’s quite a lively scene, with a café, lodging, a bike and excursion shop, musical performances, arts and crafts display, special meals at holidays, a bridal service, even carriage rides on occasion.

Finally there’s Pulaski, an old coal and textile town built along Peak Creek, which sluices through the heart of town past factory sites long abandoned; in order to ride or walk right into the downtown district it’s necessary to take the Dora Trail spur that meets the New River Trail a short distance from town at Dora Junction.

Downtown Pulaski has seen better days, it’s true, but there are sure signs that commercial life is returning. The best of these may be a restaurant and hotel that has transformed a century-old grocery warehouse into a spacious, light-filled gathering place. Ask any local where to eat in downtown Pulaski, and the answer is invariably Al’s On First, which shares the building with the elegant Jackson Park Inn. It’s hard to find, but worth the search: the menu at Al’s features big sandwiches, salads, and burgers, plus venison chili and turkey pot pie. 

It turns out that Pulaski also has an excellent local history repository in the Raymond F. Ratcliffe Transportation Museum. The photographic and other displays go way beyond just transportation history, to take in Pulaski’s eventful, sometimes tragic, industrial and social past…frequent structure fires shaped much of the town’s trajectory before modern fire safety, as did the devastating economic twists and turns of 20th century capitalism, and more recently two tornadoes swept through the county on the same day in 2011. 

Train lovers will love this museum for the 80-foot-long layout of Pulaski circled by model trains. Simply amazing.

Planning Your Visit

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