2019 Travel Guide: Stories in and of the Mountains

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Our 2019 travel guide explores our great region through its stories and the people who tell them.

ABOUT THIS STORY This feature makes its way through three overlapping modes of storytelling. Each genre corresponds to an itinerary for a real trip to consider for 2019. The timing of the itineraries was determined by when limited-time events have been scheduled, but the majority of stops are year-round destinations that you can visit whenever you like. So please, think of these trips as sources of inspiration, not prescriptions. For contact info on all venues and stops as well as basic itinerary maps, please go to blueridgecountry.com/travel19.

This year’s travel guide takes an eclectic, multi-faceted and multi-state approach to the concept of “story.” The following includes tales told around campfires, stories sung in song, novels and poems printed in books, and plots acted out on stage. No matter how they’re told, these stories help us understand how we got where we are, and they help us imagine what our lives and communities might become. 

We begin in February with drama. The first stop is in Staunton, Virginia, at the world’s only re-creation of Shakespeare’s indoor theatre. The rest of the story outlines a four-night, 600-mile trip through Virginia, North and South Carolina, and into Tennessee that describes how to see four very different plays by four of the Blue Ridge region’s most distinguished professional theatre companies. 

The second itinerary, set in March, charts a path through the region’s musical heritage and into its future. Travelers will encounter venues and organizations that are breathing new life into the Appalachian musical tradition on a seven-day journey that meanders through heritage music sites in West Virginia and Virginia and ends up at Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The final itinerary shifts our attention to the ground beneath our feet as we embark on a trail that explores folklore in the Blue Ridge Mountains. This itinerary is all about the stories of the mountains—tales both true and tall. Set at the end of September and beginning of October, this trip includes Cherokee tales, visits to archives packed with rare oral histories, and three days at the internationally renowned National Storytelling Festival. 

So fill up the gas tank (or sit back in your chair) and enjoy four trips that tell the story of the beautiful Blue Ridge region.  

Drama ~ February 6-10

To catch four plays on this four-night itinerary, start off in Natural Bridge, Virginia. The Inn at Forest Oaks, a recently renovated bed and breakfast just off I-81, will be your home for the first leg of the trip. Check in Wednesday afternoon and spend the evening admiring the astounding collection of antiques, which include 16th-century tapestries imported by a previous owner and Andrew Johnson’s deathbed. 

Wake up Thursday and enjoy breakfast with the other guests before driving 50 miles up to Staunton, Virginia. Start the day with a tour of the American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriar’s Playhouse, a unique re-creation of the London theatre where Shakespeare’s theatre company  staged its wintertime performances from 1600 until the onset of the English Civil War. Spend the rest of the afternoon exploring Staunton’s Main Street before eating an early dinner and returning to the American Shakespeare Center to catch the 7:30 showing of “Anne Page Hates Fun,” a contemporary comedic drama inspired by Shakespeare’s “Merry Wives of Windsor.”

On Friday morning, enjoy your second and final breakfast at the Inn at Forest Oaks (be sure to try co-owner Chris’s French toast) before driving 161 miles south to Abingdon, Virginia, where the Barter Theatre has been entertaining audiences since the Great Depression. 

As you may recall, this most famous theatre in the region was founded by a Virginian actor who returned home from New York City and founded a theatre company where local farmers could trade unsold food for entertainment (tickets were originally 40¢, payable in money or produce). 

The Barter had not released its exact schedule at press time, but the theatre will be performing two rather different plays in early February 2019. “Morning After Grace” is a contemporary comedy about retirees who meet at a funeral at their Florida retirement village. The play premiered in 2016 and explores love, grief and hope (note also that it comes with an adult-content warning). Also playing is “Camelot,” Lerner and Lowe’s classic musical adaptation of “The Once and Future King.” The play won four Tony Awards after its 1960 Broadway debut and was supposedly a favorite of President John Kennedy. 

On Saturday, drive to Greenville, South Carolina and check into the Westin Poinsett. Once you’ve gotten settled, take a 10-minute walk to Husk, a local favorite located two minutes’ walk from the Warehouse Theatre. That night catch the Warehouse Theatre’s production of “The Glass Menagerie,” the semi-autobiographical memory play that launched Tennessee Williams’ career with its 1944 Broadway debut. Though nearly 75 years old, the play explores timely themes such as the nature of reality and the power of memory. Given the Warehouse Theatre’s history of pushing boundaries and raising difficult questions, the performance is sure to be well worth the drive.

Finish the long weekend with one of two Sunday matinees. The first, 63 miles north in Asheville, is the North Carolina Stage Company’s production of “Jeeves at Sea,” Margaret Raether’s hilarious 2016 adaption of the classic P.G. Wodehouse series about a valet who is far more capable than his bumbling employers. 

For something less farcical but equally British, continue on to Knoxville, where the Clarence Brown Theatre is producing Mike Bartlett’s speculative future-history “Charles III.” The play begins as Prince Charles takes the throne after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. He throws the country into political crisis upon refusing to assent to a law limiting press freedom.

Selected Upcoming Productions

Clarence Brown Theatre – Knoxville, Tennessee

  • “Detroit ‘67,”February 27-March 17
  • “The Real Inspector Hound,” March 27-April 14
  • “The Madwoman of Chaillot,”April 24-May 12

Barter Theatre – Abingdon, Virginia

  • “Madame Buttermilk,” April 5-May 11
  • “Twelfth Night,”April 11-May 4
  • “Exit Laughing,” May 30-August 10
  • “The Producers,” September 13-November 9
  • “Wait Until Dark,” September 26-November 9

Contemporary American Theater Festival – Shepherdstown, West Virginia

  • Schedule TBA, July 5-28

Flat Rock Playhouse – Flat Rock, North Carolina

  • “The Jungle Book,”March 15-30
  • “Sylvia!” April 5-20
  • “Proposals,”May 12-June 1
  • “South Pacific,June 7 to July 6
  • “Separate Beds,” July 11-20

Warehouse Theatre – Greenville, South Carolina

  • “Power of Sail,” March 15-31 (world premiere)
  • “Cry it Out,”April 26-May 12
  • “Pride and Prejudice,” June 7-June 30

END OF PREVIEW

The story above is a preview from our Jan/Feb. 2019 issue. For the rest, including itinerary paths for music destinations in March and folklore destinations in September and October, subscribe today or log in to the digital edition with your active digital subscription.