Mabry Mill is a scenic spot on the Blue Ridge Parkway
COMPILED BY RORY GOULDING, WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM REGIS ST LOUIS. PHOTOGRAPHS: LARRY KNUPP/ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES, BWAC IMAGES/ALAMY
SIGHTS
Arlington National Cemetery
(arlingtoncemetery.mil)
Arlington is the final resting place for more than 400,000 military personnel and their dependents. Highlights include the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, with its changing of the guard ceremony, and the grave of John F Kennedy, marked by an eternal flame. The Iwo Jima Memorial, displaying the famous raising of the lag, is on the northern fringes.
Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge ££
(fws.gov/refuge/chincoteague)
This Eastern Shore preserve has hiking trails where you can look for the wild horses made famous in Marguerite Henry's 1947 children's novel Misty of Chin-coteague. There is also an Atlantic beachfront and lighthouse.
Colonial Williamsburg £££
(colonialwilliamsburg.org)
The restored capital of colonial Virginia is not a phony theme park: it's a working museum with a well-researched environment that brilliantly captures America of the 1700s. The huge historic area contains 88 original 18th-century buildings and many more reproductions. Costumed townsfolk in period dress go about their colonial jobs as blacksmiths, apothecaries, printers, barmaids, soldiers and patriots, breaking character just long enough to pose for a photograph. Walking around the district and patronising the shops and taverns is free, but entry to building tours and most exhibits is for ticketholders.
Monticello ££
(monticello.org)
Monticello is an architectural masterpiece designed by the third US president Thomas Jefferson. Built in Roman Neoclassical style, the house was the centre of a 5,000-acre plantation tended by 150 slaves. Monticello does not gloss over the complicated past of the man who declared that 'all men are created equal', while owning slaves and fathering children with slave Sally Hemings. Visits to the house are by guided tours. Shuttles run from the visitor centre to the hilltop house, or you can take the wooded footpath.
Shenandoah National Park ££
(nps.gov/shen)
Set against a backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah is like a new smile from nature. In autumn, the leaves burn bright red and orange. White-tailed deer are common and, if you're lucky, you might spot a black bear, bobcat or wild turkey. Skyline Drive is the breathtaking road that follows the main ridge of the mountains and winds 105 miles through the centre of the park. Your first stop should be the Dickey Ridge Visitors Center at Mile 4.6, or the Byrd Visitors Center at Mile 50. Both have exhibits on lora and fauna, as well as maps and information about activities, including the 500 miles of hiking trails in the park.
Steven F Udvar-Hazy Center