In the westernmost part of Virginia is the Heart of Appalachia region, where country music got its start.

Country Music Roots

Visit the A.P. Carter Museum in Hiltons, home of the Carter family — A.P., Sara, Maybelle and June Carter Cash — who are considered Country

If you're in town on a Saturday night, be sure to stay for some of the greatest foot-stompin' bluegrass and old-time music around!

Gate City

Go a bit further southwest to the Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail in Gate City, one of the nation's most historic routes, blazed by legendary Daniel Boone himself! Visitors can drive the the trail to Cumberland Gap at Virginia's westernmost tip.

Tazewell County

North in Tazewell County, see the Historic Crab Orchard Museum & Pioneer Park, which focuses on the history of the area from prehistoric times to the present. See Native American artifacts unearthed during the construction of Highway US 19/460, many of which date back to the Paleo people who hunted the Woolly Mammoth!

North of Tazewell is the Pocahontas Exhibition Mine & Museum, the first exhibition mine in the nation. The Town of Pocahontas was developed for the miners and their families. See the old country store, Silver Dollar Saloon and the Opera House.

Big Stone Gap

Travel southwest to Big Stone Gap, site of the John Fox Jr. Museum. Author of 14 novels and 500 short stories, Fox was an avid outdoorsman who served with Teddy Roosevelt as a Rough Rider. His novel, Trail of the Lonesome Pine, is performed as a musical throughout the summer at the Trail of the Lonesome Pine Outdoor Amphitheater / June Tolliver Playhouse.

Go west to Cumberland Gap National Historical Park and visit Hensley's Settlement, a truly rural Appalachian settlement. Twenty-five of the original buildings have been restored, and the surrounding landscape has returned to the original farming and pasture lands.