Blue Ridge Country July/August 2021 - 14
OUR BLUE RIDGE TOWNS
A Place to Learn,
Walk and Float
The small city's quirky variety of old and new is interwoven with
mountains and rivers to create a distinctive identity.
By JOAN VANNORSDALL | Photos courtesy WAYNESBORO TOURISM DEPARTMENT
O
14 BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COM
nce upon a time, this small city in Virginia's
Shenandoah Valley was synonymous with
Spandex-and DuPont Chemical. Today, it's
a fine place to walk and learn.
It's been a long haul, writing about towns
to which I couldn't travel during the pandemic.
How do you build relationships without
presence? How can you know subtext from hundreds
of miles away? When you can't see and hear and touch a
place, can you know its truth?
So being able to visit Waynesboro, just an hour up the
Shenandoah Valley from my hometown, was a wonderful
thing, even if personal meetups were limited. Being
there made me understand all over again that our towns
have lessons to teach, ideas to share and uniqueness
worth celebrating.
Where do you start your exploration of a town like
Waynesboro, rimmed by acres of largely abandoned factory
sites and beyond them, high ridgelines bearing the
legendary Skyline Drive, Blue Ridge Parkway and the Appalachian
Trail?
With a history stretching back more than two centuries
and named after Revolutionary War hero " Mad Anthony "
Wayne?
With the South Branch of the storied Shenandoah
River running through its center?
A town where, 100 years ago, the DuPont Rayon Company
brought Orlon (remember that?), nylon and Lycra
to the world-and mercury in the river that five years
ago earned Waynesboro a hard-won, record-breaking $50
million in environmental restoration funds?
Where a historic downtown co-exists with shopping
giants WalMart, Target and Kohls-all within city limits?
Where a creatively restored and programmed historic
theatre, the Wayne, quickly found a way to deliver almost
daily virtual entertainment to its patrons, keeping community
going in a time of isolation?
If you stand outside that theatre, looking down the
gently sloped historic Main Street toward the Blue Ridge,
you'll see essential Waynesboro: a quirky variety of old
and new, interwoven with the mountains and rivers that
have shaped this small city for more than 200 years.
WAYNESBORO,
Virginia
http://www.BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COM
Blue Ridge Country July/August 2021
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