The site of much of the filming of the 1993 movie, “Sommersby,” provides a delightful walk and an inviting stay.
Photo Above: Chicory is one of the defining plants of the meadows on the Hidden Valley Trail.
Photos Courtesy of Leonard M. and Laurie Adkins.
I was awakened by the tantalizing aroma of breakfast cooking. As slumber receded, I remembered that we had arrived at Warwick Mansion in Hidden Valley, Virginia, the afternoon before.
It had been years since I’d walked here and I was happy to see that a publicity release from the 1993 post–Civil War movie, “Sommersby,” was still accurate: “Hidden Valley was chosen because its rugged and remote hill overlooking the pristine Jackson River presented an unspoiled, stark but picturesque setting… You could shoot 360 degrees and not know you were in the 20th century.” In any direction you gaze, there are no utility lines or communication towers rising above the ridges.
In 1788, Jacob Warwick obtained the property that was passed onto his grandson, Judge James Warwick. The judge, using the labor of slaves, built his mansion out of bricks formed from mud along the Jackson River, and his plantation, known as Warwickton, endured until the late 1890s. The mansion eventually fell into disrepair, but renovated by Ron and Pam Stidham, Warwickton is once again a (smaller) working farm and opened to the public as a B&B in 1993.
After breakfast, Laurie and I simply walked out the B&B’s front door and crossed the Jackson River on the low-water bridge to the Hidden Valley Trail, which begins in the area that served as Vine Hill, Tennessee, during the movie’s production. In a matter of months, the company built about a dozen structures (some of which were still standing when I walked here before), filmed the movie, and then dismantled the set, leaving the summer kitchen beside the mansion.
Today, the trail enters open meadows along the Jackson River encircled by Back Creek Mountain and the heavily-forested ridgelines of Cobbler, Warwick and Little mountains. It’s a quiet walk through fields of grasses populated by wildflowers, including chicory, black-eyed-Susan, yarrow, Deptford pink and crown vetch.
Red-spotted newts crawled along ground-hugging rhododendron limbs in the moist draws of the hillside when the trail entered the woods. About two miles in, Muddy Run Trail paralleled its namesake stream, providing access to some purportedly good trout fishing. Just a few yards beyond, our route took us onto one of the most superbly designed and constructed backcountry suspension bridges I’ve had the pleasure of walking across.
Beyond the bridge, the return outing turned left to follow the Jackson River Gorge Trail. At one time, the pathway descended into the moist bottomland, but has now been relocated onto an old woods road along a low ridgeline. We saw deer tracks in the soft soil, but, at times, you may be able to observe the footprints of some of the valley’s resident black bears, bobcats, raccoons or beaver. (Also, keep close watch throughout the walk for the valley’s nesting pair of bald eagles.)
We couldn’t help feeling a bit pleased with ourselves for having booked a second night at the B&B. We followed a short afternoon nap with a stroll through the meadows where the monarch butterflies became less active as early evening shadows lengthened. The next day we planned to walk downstream from the B&B.
When You Go
The Walk: A moderately easy (barely 100 feet of elevation gain), 4.3-mile circuit in a near pristine valley in the national forest of western Virginia.
Getting there: At the intersection of US 220 and VA 39 near Warm Springs, follow VA 39 westward for 3.3 miles, turn right on VA 621, go an additional .9 mile, bear left onto Hidden Valley Road (FSR 241) and bypass Hidden Valley Campground in another 1.6 miles. Parking is in an additional .5 mile.
More information: The hike is described in detail in “Hike Virginia: North of US 60,” available through habitualhiker.com.
Sleep Where Jodi and Richard Did
Stay at Hidden Valley B&B (hiddenvalleybb.com) and you not only inhabit the same space Jodi Foster and Richard Gere did while filming “Sommersby,” but may also get to accompany owners Pam and Ron Stidham as they make the rounds caring for their goats, chickens and grounds. Your breakfast will assuredly feature fresh eggs, maple syrup tapped from nearby trees and berries (in season) direct from the garden.
Find out more about Leonard’s walking and hiking adventures at habitualhiker.com.
The story above first appeared in our May / June 2023 issue.
