Staunton

On its founding: "The area was first settled in 1732 by John Lewis and family."¹ "Founded in 1747, it was renamed in honor of Lady Rebecca Staunton, wife to Royal Lieutenant-Governor Sir William Gooch."¹ Its position made it a capital before it was anything else: "Because the town was located at the geographical center of the colony (which then included West Virginia), Staunton served between 1738 and 1771 as regional capital for much of what was later known as the Northwest Territory, with the westernmost courthouse in British North America prior to the Revolution."¹ It even "served as capital of Virginia in June 1781, when state legislators fled Richmond and then Charlottesville to avoid capture by the British."¹

On the Valley around it: The countryside filled with Revolutionary-era settlers and the mills that fed a wheat economy. The stone dwelling at Mount Pleasant passed in 1786 "to Col. George Moffett, a Revolutionary War hero," whose "militia distinguished themselves at the 1780 battle of King’s Mountain, N.C., and in 1781 they fought under Gen. Nathaniel Greene in the battle of Cowpens, S. C."² A few miles out, at Sugar Loaf Farm, "by 1830 David Summers had built the existing primary buildings—the farmhouse, the miller’s house, and the gristmill, all substantial brick structures"³ — "the county’s only surviving brick mill, originally incorporated the principles of Oliver Evans, an 18th-century mill designer."³ "Located along the Valley Pike, Staunton developed as a trade, transportation and industrial center, particularly after the Virginia Central Railroad arrived in 1854."¹

On its turns and its firsts: In the Civil War "the town became an important Shenandoah Valley manufacturing center, a staging area, and a supply depot for the Confederacy."¹ It reinvented itself afterward: "On July 10, 1902, Staunton became an independent city. In 1908, Staunton adopted the city manager form of government. Charles E. Ashburner was hired by Staunton as the nation's first city manager."¹ And it is "known for being the birthplace of Woodrow Wilson, the 28th U.S. president, and as the home of Mary Baldwin University, historically a women's college."¹

Staunton's marquee draw is on a downtown street corner: the American Shakespeare Center's Blackfriars Playhouse. "In September 2001, the Blackfriars Playhouse—the world's first re-creation of Shakespeare's indoor theatre—opened in Staunton, Virginia."⁴ Time a visit to a performance — it's the reason theater lovers make the drive.

Two more anchor a full day. At the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum you can "walk the halls in the house where he was born,"⁵ the 1846 Manse just uphill from downtown. On the edge of town, the Frontier Culture Museum — "the biggest open-air living history museum in the Shenandoah Valley"⁶ — reconstructs Old World farmsteads with costumed interpreters. Leave time to simply walk the center: "Staunton is home to nearly 200 buildings designed by architect Thomas Jasper Collins (1844–1925), who worked in various styles during the Victorian era,"¹ and the compact, hilly downtown is the best way to see them.