3 Best Sights in Staunton, Central and Western Virginia

An outdoor living-history museum, the Frontier Culture Museum re-creates agrarian life in America. The four illustrative farmsteads, American, Scotch-Irish, German, and English, were painstakingly moved from their original sites and reassembled on the museum grounds. A West African village and an American Indian village are also among the exhibits. The livestock and plants here resemble the historic breeds and varieties as closely as possible. Special programs and activities, held throughout the year, include soap and broom making, cornhusking bees, and supper and barn dances.

Seven miles east of Staunton, the P. Buckley Moss Museum is a free full-scale gallery of paintings and drawings by one of the Valley's most recognized artists. Moss, who moved to Waynesboro in 1964, was inspired by the quiet dignity and simplicity of the "plain people"—those in the Mennonite communities of the Shenandoah Valley—and has made these neighbors her subject matter. Don't miss the large-scale dollhouse built into a staircase. Her studio, a converted barn about 2 miles from the museum, opens a few times a year to the public.

Interactive exhibits and displays children can touch make this museum family-friendly. The collection features period antiques, items from Wilson's political career, and some original pieces that belonged to Wilson's father, a Presbyterian minister. Wilson's presidential limousine, a 1919 Pierce-Arrow sedan, is on display in the garage. An interactive World War I trench exhibit simulates the soldier's experiences and there's also a hands-on kids' corner.