Central and Western Virginia

Refined elegance. Rugged country. Much like the contrast between two of the region's Revolutionary War-era giants—Thomas Jefferson, the renowned statesman who steered the early United States into existence, and Patrick Henry, a rough-and-tumble rebel who demanded liberty or death—central and western Virginia presents both of these experiences to the traveler, often simultaneously.

Eastern Virginia's coastal plains start rolling into the gently undulating Piedmont west of I-95. Charlottesville, 71 mi northwest of Richmond, epitomizes the refined elegance of this region, a center of culture amid vineyards and the homes of early-American presidents. Jefferson, our nation's third president and a principal writer of the Declaration of Independence, left an indelible imprint on the region through his neoclassical Monticello homesite, the University of Virginia, and his summer retreat, Poplar Forest, farther south near Lynchburg. In fact, Jefferson's design aesthetic is evident in public buildings, monuments, and private homes throughout Virginia.

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