Whether you’re new to hiking or you’re hoping to get your kids to join you, the Staunton, Augusta and Waynesboro area (SAW) has a number of hikes that are appropriate for all ages and skill levels. We’ve rounded up a few of our favorites from easy leg stretchers for little ones to more moderate trails with changes in elevation, stream crossings and the occasional rock scramble to keep the tweens and teens active. For other hiking ideas see our post:  Train Those Legs: Six Staunton-Area Hiking Trails for Beginners.

Hikes for Little Ones

White Rock Falls – Blue Ridge Parkway

2 mile easy, out and back hike with scenic views along the stream ending with a 40-foot waterfall.

White Rock Falls Trail on the Blue Ridge Parkway is a 5.3 mile moderate trail loop, but for little legs there is a shorter down-to-the-falls-and-back-up option along a fresh mountain stream with the same payoff—a magnificent waterfall. If you’re starting at the northern entrance of the Blue Ridge Parkway, drive 18.5 miles past the parking lot for the White Rock Falls Trail, and continue for another 1.5 miles until you hit the Slacks Overlook parking area. Cross the Blue Ridge Parkway and head left about 100 feet until you hit White Rocks Fall Trail (look for yellow blaze). Head down the narrow trail through mountain laurel and rhododendron, crossing two wood bridges over the stream where little ones can explore and splash along the stream. The trail offers several views through the trees that are perfect photo ops. After the first major switchback, look for the spur trail (two yellow blazes) to the upper falls, just past the large rock overhang. Walk past the large rock and maneuver your way through the fallen trees (fun for climbing) to the base of the 40-foot falls which has plenty of rocks and pools for wading, but not deep enough for a full swim. For those looking for something a little longer, head back to the main trail and head down for another half mile until you reach the stream which is wider, but not as deep. There is significant elevation change which makes the hike back to the car more challenging for little ones.

Black Rock Summit – Shenandoah National Park

1 mile easy hike offering sweeping views of the mountains and valley beyond.

From Skyline Drive, try Blackrock Summit (milepost 84.4), a geological wonder that’s an easy 1-mile loop. Although not the highest peak in the South District, this is probably the easiest to get to with rewarding views. From the summit of boulder-strewn Blackrock, enjoy views that extend for miles in multiple directions. Look closely and you can also see the layers and quartzite patterns on the rocks. Another short and sweet hike is the Frazier Discovery Trail (milepost 79.5). This area used to be the Frazier’s farm, and you can still see evidence of their past in the apple trees that still dot the mountain.

Hikes for Tweens and Teens

Chimney Rock – Shenandoah National Park

3.4 mile moderate, out and back hike to a scenic view with geological features.

From the Riprap Trail parking area at mile marker 90 of Skyline Drive, take the Appalachian Trail north and then turn left onto Riprap Trail. The tree covered trail has beautiful wildflowers and foliage along the way. The trail has a slight incline but is manageable for all skill levels and ages. After a series of switchbacks, you’ll see a viewpoint on your right. Venture on and you’ll see Calvary Rocks on the left. Spend a few minutes exploring and climbing the rocks, and then, where the trail makes a sharp left, Chimney Rock stands alone on the right across a gorge where you’ll have great photo ops and chance to refuel before heading back to the parking lot. See the map.

Riprap Trail – Shenandoah National Park

Approximately 7 mile strenuous, out and back hike through a small gorge with a rewarding swimming hole at your turn around point.

Access this deep, spring-fed beauty by hiking down from the Skyline Drive (Shenandoah National Park fees apply). Park at the Wild Cat Ridge parking lot at mile marker 92 and make your way down to the 50-foot-wide swimming hole. You’ll start on the Wild Cat Ridge trail (blue blaze) eventually connecting to the Riprap Trail.  At the intersection, turn right onto Riprap. Many consider this hike one of the best in the southern end of Shenandoah National Park with several stream crossings. Make a day of it and pack a lunch to enjoy while swimming and relaxing. Once you’ve had you’re fill, retrace your steps back to the Wild Cat Ridge parking lot. Please note this route goes in the opposite direction of Riprap Trail.  See the map.

Dine Out in Downtown

The City of Staunton has opened Beverley Street to allow outdoor dining on the weekends. The outdoor dining initiative allows restaurants on Beverley Street—that don’t have outdoor space—to spill out onto the sidewalk and even the street! Restaurants, tasting rooms, and retailers are maximizing the extra square footage to safely reopen their businesses and accommodate customers eager to get out and shop, dine, and explore in Staunton. Locals and visitors are encouraged to follow the city’s guidelines for visiting Staunton businesses.

Beverley Street historic district

Dine Out in Downtown Participants:
Baja Bean Co.
BLU Point Seafood Co.
Clocktower Eats & Sweets
Emilio’s Italian Restaurant
The Green Room
Laughing Bird Pho
The Pampered Palate
Shenandoah Pizza & Taphouse
Shenandoah Valley Brewing Co.
The Split Banana
Yelping Dog Wine
101 West Beverley
Zynodoa

Additional establishments in the Beverley Street Historic District:
Aioli
Cranberry’s Grocery & Eatery
Firkin Pie Company
Reunion Espresso & Bakery
The Shack

Beyond Beverley Street

Our foodie footprint extends way beyond our charming main street. Staunton is a melting pot of flavor with a wide-range of cafes, bakeries, coffee shops, ice cream parlors and more! Check out Staunton’s other historic and business districts that are taking dining to a whole new level. These businesses are open for takeout, delivery, and inside and/or outside dining. Please call ahead before visiting to verify hours of operation.

Central Avenue:

Chicano Boy Taco
D & L Donuts
Gloria’s Pupuseria (temporarily closed)
Gonzo’s Pollo
Jade China House Restaurant
Nu-Beginning Farm (temporarily closed)

Greenville Avenue/Statler Boulevard:

El Puerto
Great Wall
Kathy’s Restaurant
Kline’s Dairy Bar
Maria’s Pizza & Italian Restaurant
Thai Staunton Restaurant
The Patio at Blackburn Inn
Wright’s Dairy-Rite

Wharf Area Historic District:

Blue Mountain Coffee (temporarily closed)
Byers Street Bistro (temporarily closed)
Ox-Eye Vineyards
The Depot Grille
Taste of India
Mill Street Grill

Newtown Historic district:

Crucible Coffee Roasters
Newtown Baking & Kitchen
Paris Cake Company
Table 44
Ubon Thai Victorian Restaurant Inn

The West End:

Giancarlo Fine European Pastries
Mi Rancho
Stelle Mia Pizzeria
Valley Smokehouse

Other Favorites:

Masaki Japanese Restaurant
Mike Lund Food & Lundch
The Queen Bean
New York Flying Pizza

Call ahead to make sure the restaurant your visiting is open and what guest requirements they have in place. Please refer to our map for all restaurants along with contact information. 

*Please note this blog post will be updated periodically to reflect the ongoing changes due to the state’s Forward Virginia plan.  If you notice that we have made an error or left someone off this list please email us at tourism@visitstaunton.com.

The corner of Beverley and Coalter Streets was called Gospel Hill in the late 1790s when religious meetings were held here at Sampson Eagon’s blacksmith shop. Today, the intersection marks the heart of this gracious neighborhood of shady streets and elegant homes that represent a century of domestic architectural styles. The district was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Where to Park

Park in the New Street Parking Garage. Parking is currently FREE in this garage or park along the street which has a two-hour limit.

Market Street

Exit the New Street parking garage along the ramp between the Stonewall Jackson Hotel & Conference Center and the American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriars Playhouse.  Turn right onto Market Street.

19 S. Market St.  was built in 1810. Named Kalorama—Greek for a beautiful view—this house stands on the site of William Beverley’s manor house. Since the 1830s it has been used as a girls’ school, a hotel, and the public library.

Turn left onto Kalorama Street.

Kalorama Street

215 Kalorama St. was built in 1891. The stone front was designed by T.J. Collins for City Treasurer Arista Hoge.  Note the date and initials A.H. carved into the facade. It is Staunton’s only Richardsonian Romanesque residence.

The 200 block of Kalorama St. was built between 1870-1910. This late 19th-century neighborhood of large homes boasts styles ranging from Italianate to Colonial Revival. T.J. Collins designed 227 Kalorama St. in 1898 using Jacobean details.

Turn left onto Coalter Street.

Coalter Street

10-22 S. Coalter St. was built in the late 19th-century. This block illustrates adaptations of Colonial Revival, Queen Anne, and Shingle styles. Limestone walls and steps are prominent features of Staunton streetscapes.

Corner of Coalter and Beverley Streets

238 E. Beverley St. was built in1840. Legend has it, in the early 1800s, Sampson Eagon, a founder of Staunton’s Methodist Church, held revival services on this site—hence the name Gospel Hill. T.J. Collins remodeled this building in 1915.

18 N. Coalter St. was built in 1870. T.J. Collins’s 1898 remodeling of the original house included a wrap-around porch, now removed. Chateauesque-style features include classical detailing, decorated chimneys, and irregular roofline.

The Woodrow Wilson Birthplace was built in 1846. This twelve-room, Greek-Revival-style house was built by the First Presbyterian Church as their manse or minister’s home.  Woodrow Wilson was born here on December 28, 1856.

Turn onto E. Beverley street to see one of the most beautiful residential areas in Staunton.

East Beverley Street

402 E. Beverley St. was built in 1908.  The symmetrical design and exaggerated proportions of this house typify early 20th-century Colonial Revival—a free interpretation of the style with details inspired by Colonial precedents.

437 E. Beverley St. was built in 1888.  Jed Hotchkiss, aide and mapmaker to Generals Lee and Jackson built this addition onto the front of a circa-1840 house, and named it The Oaks.  Hotchkiss’s campaign maps are in the Library of Congress.

605 E. Beverley St. was built in 1893.  A fine example of Queen Anne architecture, Oakdene was built by Edward Echols, Virginia’s Lt. Governor (1898-1902). It employs every imaginable building material. Note the owl atop the turret.

654 E. Beverley St. was built in 1869.  Edmund Cabell, who was described prior to the Civil War as a “freeman of colour”, built this two-room log home. The original roof was wood shake but has been replaced with tin. Interestingly, this the only remaining exposed log structure in Staunton.

Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind (VSDB) was built between 1839-1846.  Baltimore architect Robert Cary Long designed the VSDB. The magnificent Greek Revival main building, with its massive columned portico, was completed in 1846.

There are many more sites of historic significance noted on the Historic Staunton Foundation walking tour map. Pick up a walking tour map from the kiosk outside the Visitor Center located at 35 S. New Street and visit some of the other historic districts in downtown Staunton. You can also view and download the walking tour map here. 

In the 1840s, Staunton grew from a sleepy town to a thriving center of commerce with the construction of  the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike. The town’s growth accelerated again when the Virginia Central Railroad arrived in 1854. The Wharf Historic District grew up around the train depot to handle merchandise and house passengers. Along with warehouses and hotels, this district also featured saloons, distilleries, liveries, and brothels. Despite a history fraught with the perils of fire, flood, war, and abandonment, significant historic architecture survives. The Historic Staunton Foundation has focused on the area’s restoration since 1989.

Where to Park

Park in the Wharf Parking Lot on Johnson Street or across the street form the lot is the Johnson Street parking garage. Parking is currently FREE in designated parking lots and garages in downtown or park along the street which has a two-hour limit.

Johnson Street

Head right (east) on Johnson Street. The Augusta County Courthouse  at 1 E Johnson St. (1901) is located on your left, at the corner of Johnson and Augusta Streets. T.J. Collins designed the Beaux Arts style structure. It is actually the fifth courthouse on this site, dating back to a 1755 log building.

Cross Augusta Street and walk a block to New Street. The buildings on your right are part of the Augusta County District Court System. The historic Stonewall Jackson Hotel (part of the Beverly Historic District Tour rises in front of you. 

New Street

Turn right onto New St.

After its first life as a clothing factory, the City renovated 112 S. New St.(1870) in in 1973 as its first mixed-use development project. Bruce A. Elder Antique and Classic Automobiles at 114 S. New St. (1911) was originally a Ford dealership. It now houses two floors of antique cars that are for sale or on display for Friday and Saturday tours. There is even a car elevator! Before you go, call and check their hours of operation. 

New Street crosses over Lewis Creek as it emerges from under the city and flows through an attractive greenspace and under a stone footbridge. Stop here to look at the water or snap a selfie. This area, if you can believe it, was once called “A.H.H. Stuart’s Meadow,” and was just that – a meadow with a creek running through it.

Look to your left for trapezoidally shaped 1 Mill St. (1892), once one of the largest flour mills in the Shenandoah Valley. It closed as a mill in 1966, but the basement has housed The Mill Street Grill, which has been dishing up delicious lunch and dinner since 1992.

Augusta Street

At the end of New St., turn right on Middlebrook Ave. The train tracks will be on your left and the American Hotel at 125 S. Augusta St. (1855) will be on your right. The railroad built this luxurious hotel to house railroad travelers, and it escaped burning during the Civil War. Later, during an 1868 stay, President Ulysses S. Grant raised his hat to the serenading Stonewall Brigade Band. Many considered this an early public act of reconciliation after the war. The updated hotel is now one of Staunton’s most popular wedding and reception venues.

Turn right onto Augusta Street. At the turn of the century, this route would have been lively with mule-drawn streetcars transporting passengers from the depot to other parts of town.

Stop to admire 120-124 S. Augusta St. (1876), a building that stands out in a town of brick buildings for its pressed metal upper facade. You’d never know it, but Lewis Creek flows underneath. 119-123 S. Augusta St. (1880) was originally a grocery warehouse but remains to show us how the Victorians sought aesthetic appeal in even their most mundane structures.

Backtrack to Middlebrook Ave.

Middlebrook Avenue

Commerce boomed after the railroad came to Staunton, and the row of brick Wharf Warehouses (1870 – 1910) grew to support it. The area takes its name from the way workers carried food – including the wild game Augusta County was known for – and wholesale goods to and from trains along gangplanks connecting them to the warehouses. Today the buildings support restaurants, retailers, and offices. Originally, the Wharf buildings were much more extensive and spread through the area that is now the Wharf parking lot. Structures here were damaged by a flood in 1896 and destroyed by fire in 1911 and again in 1940.

You won’t be able to miss the Bungalow-style C&O Train Station (1902) across from the warehouses. This station is actually the third on the site. The first was strategically destroyed during the Civil War and the second was demolished by a runaway train in 1890. Some say the site is still haunted by those who perished. Take time to climb up to the cast iron Sears Hill Footbridge and cross it to quiet Woodrow Park on Sears Hill for some of the best views of downtown. Both areas are popular photo sites.

For more train-themed activity, check out the historic train cars in and around the Depot Grille and Appalachian Piecework.

Lewis Street

The unusual yellow building you’ll pass on your left at 44 Middlebrook Ave. as you turn onto Lewis Street is the old Fultz Office building, now the tasting room for Ox-Eye Vineyards. Stop in for a tasting or to view the art gallery on the top floor. Next door, 50 Middlebrook Ave was originally the Fultz Warehouse. It is now Wilderness Adventure, where you can purchase gear for your active lifestyle or tour the Story of Virginia Museum, which houses over 200 Virginia artifacts that offer “insight into the personal survival and challenges of real people that developed the great Commonwealth of Virginia.”

Turn right onto Lewis St.

The Klotz building at 202 S. Lewis St. (1929) has been home to Sunspots Studios since 2001. Check out the shop and gallery as well as see live glassblowing in action. Call to verify hours of operation.

The oldest building on your tour can be seen at 118 W. Johnson St. (1854). It features scalloped trim and its original floor plan. You also don’t want to miss taking a look at 109-111 S. Lewis St. (1893) and considering the history of medicine and marketing. This site is where Dr. S.P. Hite brewed patent medicines like “Hite’s Pain Cure.” Hite (who was not actually a doctor) boasted that his magical elixir cured all complaints in man and beast, including paralysis and gangrene.

While many of these stops on the walking tour of the Wharf District do not require you to go inside businesses or other establishments we strongly encourage you to call ahead of time to plan your route to ensure what businesses are open and what protocols they might have in place due to COVID-19.

There are many more sites of historic significance noted on the Historic Staunton Foundation walking tour map. Pick up a walking tour map from the kiosk outside the Visitor Center located at 35 S. New Street and visit some of the other historic districts in downtown Staunton. You can also view and download the walking tour map here. 

Hazelnut Marketing Board Announces Chef Recipe Contest Winner

Aurora, Ore. (April 24, 2020) – The Hazelnut Marketing Board (HMB) has selected a winning recipe as a result of a three-month long chef recipe contest. The nationwide contest, which ran January 1-March 9, encouraged foodservice professionals to submit unique recipes featuring Oregon hazelnuts. 

Contest submissions were judged on the following criteria: Creative use of Oregon hazelnuts (50%), and overall culinary creativity (which includes (3) factors: originality, appetite appeal and presentation) (50%). After careful consideration of all submissions, the Oregon Hazelnut ‘Cacio de Pepe’ with Crispy Sage from Executive Chef Matt Hull of Zynodoa, Staunton, VA, was chosen as the winning recipe. 

“I really wanted to think of a different way to use the hazelnuts – not just toasting or making a candied hazelnut,” explains Chef Hull. “Ultimately I went the pasta dough route and milled them into flour.”

Furthermore, he notes that “hazelnuts are one of my favorite nuts because of the crunchy but somewhat waxy texture. As a chef, I love the versatility of hazelnuts. They can be savory or sweet like a hazelnut butter paired with chocolate or you can have one dish that has three different uses of the nut.”


About Chef Matt Hull

Matt is a lifelong resident of Virginia who comes from a family of cooks – he was raised to be a chef. Right out of high school, Matt studied at the Culinary Institute of Virginia to grow his skills and gain experience in the kitchen. Shortly after graduating, he joined the team at Zynodoa and quickly influenced the menu with his personal touch. Matt believes the best meals come from fresh and organic ingredients.

About the Hazelnut Marketing Board 

The Hazelnut Marketing Board was established in 1949 by the growers and handlers of hazelnuts. The purpose of the board is to set quality standards for the industry, ensure all imported product meet U.S. standards and provide funding for promotion of hazelnuts through research, education and promotion programs. For more information, visit oregonhazelnuts.org. 

Read the article here.