curiousgirl964

DH and I are planning a quick getaway from DC President's Day weekend or the following weekend. We are thinking about doing a leisurely drive through the Northern Shenandoah Valley along Route 50 towards Winchester Any suggestions for scenic drives, towns to stop in along the way, activities to do? We are interested in exploring the area but don't need a packed itinerary.

We are new to the area so any advice will be helpful

gabriele

By staying on 50, you will pass through Middleburg and Upperville. Both are nice smaller towns, with Middleburg having the most shops and restaurants, making it nice to stop for lunch and poke into some of the small shops. Upperville has a lovely old large church on the right (north) side of the road which makes for a nice brief stop. Past Upperville is a lovely stretch of horse country and the small town of Paris, which is worth driving through (don't miss the lovely farm on the outskirts on which sits a beautiful old white columned mansion). My favorite small town is Rectortown, which can be reached via a detour on a small scenic road that turns off in Upperville. There are no businesses in Rectortown but I love the quaint old houses and the views from the west side of town looking toward the mountains. I'd love to retire there some day. The scenery between Paris and Winchester is not as appealing. The only other town of any appeal or historic note en route is Millwood, which has an old mill that hosts art displays. The largest historic town in the area is Leesburg, and I prefer it to Winchester. If you were to start there, you could take Route 15 down to 50, and the nice part of 50 will start soon thereafter in the area of Aldie. I've spent many days driving through this area and one of the joys is taking random roads to see where they lead -- with some of the prettiest parts being accessed on well maintained dirt roads.

boom_boom

What about out to the VA wine county en route to the Charlottesville area. or Lessbrug and on to Harper's Ferry.

yestravel

U can pick up a guide to the wineries and pretty much find them which ever route u take. I agree that just driving the coutnryside can be very rewarding. gabriele mentions some of my favorite towns when you go out 50. Its fun to check out the country stores and the little shops in some of the towns. The scenery can be really nice on a sunny day. There's lots of old churches that u may come upon. Exploring the back roads is great fun and you're not far from DC. If u want to stay overnight look online for B&B's in VA -- there are a lot of them.

ronkala

In Winchester there is the new Museum of the Shenandoah Valley plus various civil war sites.

To the south on route 11 in Strasburg is the Strasburg Hotel, circa 1900. Excellent for staying over, lunch, or dinner.

Continue south on 11 through Toms Brook and visit the North Mountain Vineyard. Continuing south on 11, turn left on Mill Rd. just before coming into Woodstock. This becomes Woodstock Tower Rd at the
stopsign. Continue on Woodstock Tower RD up the mountain to the parking area, and climb the two story open tower. Look out over the valley and down at the famed Seven Bends of the Shenandoah River.

Continue back to Woodstock and visit the 1795 still in use court house. Have a picture taken next the statue of Peter Muhlenburg ("There is a time to pray and a time to fight. Now is the time to fight.") in front of the courthouse. Enjoy a stroll through the historic downtown area.

Staying south on route 11 brings you to Edinburg, home of Shenandoah Vineyards. A little further south beyond Mt Jackson is the Meems Bottom covered bridge, and then 11 takes you into New Market. Visit the New Market Battlefield where the VMI cadets marched to so long ago to take part in the battle against the north.

The Southern Kitchen on the outskirts of town has real good home cooking.

Backtrack on rte 11 north to rte 211 east to Skyline Drive or continue on to Luray.

ronkala

I forgot to include the Cedar Creek Battlefield and Belle Grove Plantation, built in 1794, on rte 11 between Winchester and Strasburg.

Strasburg to New Market is thirty one miles, and route 11 between these towns is a Virginia scenic by-way.

longhorn55

There's a wealth of information on places to go and things to see on the Washington Post's website. On the toolbar, choose "Arts and Living", then "Travel". Once you are on the Travel page, there is a map entitled, "Travel by Destination and Topic". Click on the U.S. and then click on Virginia and you'll get a ton of travel articles from the Post's archives about places to go in Virginia.

Birdie

I don't know the geography of the area well and don't know if it is near your route but we enjoyed touring the caverns in Luray. There is also an antique car museum there and the town, itself, is cute.

emalloy

There is a road that parallels the C&O canal and goes to the Great Falls of the Potomac which is very interesting. You would have to go back a couple of miles and pick up 495 to get you to 50 or 64 to get out to the skyline drive which is all very scenic. There are several historic sites, museums, civil war battle sites throughout the area also if you go down Skyline you could also check out Luray caverns, and go back up 340 in the valley.

curiousgirl964

Thanks for all of the great suggestions. It's all really helpful.