BACK ON TRACK WITH MARY GO ROUND AMERICA
On the train platform at Staunton
After resting for far too long on its platform, Mary Go Round America is literally back on track again, specifically on the railroad tracks served by Virginia Scenic Railway’s Allegheny Special as it heads westward from the charming, historic town of Staunton through Virginia’s scenic Shenandoah Valley.
With me – and in the holiday spirit – are my granddaughter Rose, 12, my journalist son Mark, his photographer wife, Wendy, and her mother Pat, all based in the equally attractive college town of Lexington just 39 miles to the south.
Over the next three hours on the excursion to and from the small, turnaround Allegheny Mountains village of Goshen, we will enjoy unlimited coffee, tea and soft drinks, a meal – Greek salads for our two vegetarians, a barbecue platter for the rest of us plus cheesecake for all, lovely scenery unrolling outside our tableside windows…. and with the aid of our own research and the train conductor’s commentary information about our trainline and the surrounding area’s geography and history.
Launched in 2022 along routes run in the 1850s by long-gone rail companies and now Virginia’s only regular vintage rail service, our diesel-powered vintage train departed from the same platform as that served by Amtrak’s Cardinal, sweeping through from New York City to Chicago three times a week. It is one of two vintage excursions on offer daily (except on major seasonal holidays), the other being The Blue Ridge Flyer, headed in the opposite direction toward the village of Ivy and including a portion of the journey through a dramatic mountain tunnel.
To our left are the lovely, gently rolling Blue Ridge Mountains, extolled in stories and song (and yes, in the evening, they do become a soft, misty blue). Along their ridges are the Shenandoah National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway and one of the longest stretches of the multi-state Appalachian Trail, and at their base are a series of spectacular limestone caves, notably the Luray Caverns.
Mark and Wendy in Bryson City
A Virginia Scenic Railways train arriving in Staunton
Wendy enjoying the view from the train
Until the 1700s, these densely forested peaks were considered too challenging to lure individuals and families away from the coastal and inland areas first settled by the British in 1607. Then, more intrepid pioneers began to brave their peaks even as others headed down the Native American trail (now Interstate 81) bisecting the valley.
Among them were my Scottish Walker ancestors who, in 1735, established a large hill and valley farm outside Lexington and whose third 1860s frame farmhouse, Walkerlands, is now operated as an Airbnb by my daughter-in-law and me.
The Virginia Scenic Railway travels through the Shenandoah Valley
The pastures to our left, like those on our farm, are filled with grazing Black Angus cattle, the orchards alongside the tracks and beyond, the train conductor told us, are renowned for their delicious apples, and there are glimpses of barns, greenhouses, church spires and such small towns as Craigsville plus, in the distance, the site of long-vanished Jonesboro, a post Civil War settlement of former African-American slaves.
Among the pieces of railway incidentals our railway conductor reveals is the origin of the signature three long, one short, one long whistle which echoes through the valleys and hills as we journey on. Based on the Morse Code for Q, it originated from the signals used historically by boats sailing down the River Thames to indicate that the Queen (presumably Elizabeth I) was on board.
Harry Potter Festival in Staunton
If we had scheduled our trip for later in the year (September 27-28, 2025), we could have returned to Staunton in the midst of its annual Harry Potter Festival. Not only are relevant characters seen disembarking from the vintage train, we are told, but town centre streets are transformed to feature Diagon Alley-inspired attractions, and there are wand-making and wizarding workshops, Butterbeer on tap and costume competitions.
However, even now, we found much to encourage us to linger not only along the main Beverly Street, lined with welcoming, one-off cafes, restaurants, an unmissable ice cream parlour and antique and vintage shops, crammed with often quirky treasures, but also elsewhere.
Around one corner is the birthplace of, and museum dedicated to, World War I President and League of Nations founder Woodrow Wilson; around another corner is the Blackfriars Playhouse of the American Shakespeare Center which not only stages the master works of the Bard but also family-friendly productions. Crowning one of the town’s numerous hills are the lovely, white-columned buildings of Mary Baldwin University, founded in 1842 as a girls college, and on the edge of town is the Frontier Culture Museum of America celebrating ‘America’s First Frontier’ with relevant buildings transported from Ireland, Scotland, England and Germany as well as pioneer ones uprooted from various parts of Virginia.
Travel Notes: Including meals and beverages, the cost for three-hour return excursions on The Allegheny Special or The Blue Ridge Flyer is $120 per person (and some excursions now include a new dome car). There’s a wide range of local accommodation including hotels, motels and Airbnbs, among them the handsome Blackburn Hotel & Conference Center, transformed from a former 1828 hospital and set in landscaped grounds, and downtown’s landmark Hotel 24 South (formerly known as the Stonewall Jackson Hotel). For more information, visitstaunton.com
BEYOND GOSHEN
As our train excursion did not include a stop-off at Goshen, we decided to visit it the day after our return to Lexington. Heading west on picturesque, two-lane Route 39, we lingered briefly at the rather charming small village of Rockbridge Baths, its post office one of the remnants of what was once a notable spa, its swinging bridge offering views of the tranquil Maury River. Then, a drive to Goshen through a lovely mountain pass followed the river, filled with tubers and swimmers, while picnickers lazed along its banks.
So small and quiet was the former timbering hub of Goshen that there was no incentive to linger. However, down the road was Warm Springs, its Bath County courthouse guarded by the statue of a Confederate soldier and its old gristmill now a welcoming inn and restaurant. Most significantly, it is also the home of the Warm Springs Pools, settled in 1761 and thus one of the oldest thermal spas in America. Consisting of two historic wooden bathhouses, one for men and the other for women and families, it was frequented by many a famous Southerner, including General Robert E Lee, commander in chief of the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, and his invalid wife Mary (her mechanical bathing device is still there). By booking in advance and paying a fee, we were able to enjoy a long, therapeutic family soak in its warm sulfur waters.
Mark, Wendy, Rose and Pat in the Warm Springs pool
The Warm Springs Pool
Mary Moore in the Warm Springs pools
After a nourishing Southern-style brunch – eggs, sausage, bacon, pancakes and, of course, grits – in the Warm Spring Tavern across the road, we headed south-west to Hot Springs, home of one of the South’s most famous and historic resorts, the Omni Homestead. Established in 1776 and set on 2,300 landscaped acres, it not only owns the Warm Spring Pools but also offers luxurious accommodation and splendid dining in its handsome, tower-topped main building, award-winning golf courses, ski slopes, swimming pools and its own spa, all of which we celebrated by sitting on rocking chairs on its long front porch overlooking the Allegheny Mountains and sipping mint juleps.
Walkerlands
Then we set out to spend the night outside Lexington at our own Walkerlands Airbnb, enhanced by a rainbow after a short shower and offering its own tranquil views of landmark Jump Mountain rising on our lands and of 5,600 fledgling trees planted along a stream in a nearby pasture, our gesture toward helping save the planet through purifying both the stream and the air above it.
Keep an eye out for my next Back on Track adventure describing a vintage rail trip on North Carolina’s Great Smoky Mountains Railroad plus a visit to the fun and funky mountain city of Asheville, now recuperated from last year’s Hurricane Helene.
Meanwhile, here’s a link to Essentially America magazine, UK, the latest issue of which includes my feature on American Adventures on Vintage Trains.
Check out the features in the current issue of Essentially America magazine, the latest issue of which includes my feature on American Adventures on Vintage Trains.To subscribe, visit www.essentiallyamerica.co.uk
Meanwhile, check out my new book of travel and lifestyle anecdotes, Goodbye Hoop Skirts – Hello World! The Travels, Triumphs and Tumbles of a Runaway Southern Belle.
