The Crooked Road: Unique Stops and Shops

These Unique Shops & Stops Along the Crooked Road all have something to do with music and the Appalachian heritage and culture.

BR19102404V_013

Franklin County

Ferrum — Don't miss the Blue Ridge Institute & Farm Museum Shop for hard-to-find, traditional Appalachian crafts.

Floyd County

Meadows of Dan — The Mayberry Trading Post is a great place to find recordings.

Meadows of Dan — Mabry Mill is one of the most photographed places on earth. Concerts take place here during warm months, too.

Carroll County

Fancy Gap — Faye's Country Store sells area crafts, antiques and collectibles.

Galax

Galax — Barr's Fiddle Shop is owned and operated by Tommy Barr, a fiddle maker and musician. This is a place to get those banjo lessons from his son, Stevie Barr, purchase a handmade fiddle, banjo and/or dulcimer, and new strings, picks and tuners.

Galax — The Jeff Matthews Memorial Museum features two log cabins furnished with period items.

Grayson County

Independence — Mill Creek Arts features custom-made works of local artisans.

Bristol

Bristol — The Paramount Theater is a National Historic Landmark and a restored 1931 Art Deco theater. Concerts, plays, movies, dance and other entertainment take place here. Tours are available, too.

Bristol — The Birthplace of Country Music Mural in downtown Bristol. It's right outside on a big concrete wall with a performance stage in front of it. Awesome!

Scott County

Duffield — Natural Tunnel State Park's Gift Shop is open daily. They sell Papa Joe Smiddy's CDs here among other Crooked Road memorabilia.

Gate City — The Homeplace Mountain Farm & Museum is a collection of authentic structures and artifacts that have been assembled here from their original locations throughout Scott County.

Wise County

Big Stone Gap — The June Tolliver House & Folkart Center offers crafts and gifts and paintings by local artists.

Big Stone Gap — The John Fox Jr. Museum is the home of the mountain author of many novels and short stories. Most well known are "Trail of the Lonesome Pine" and "The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come."

Big Stone Gap — Southwest Virginia Museum's Gift Shop is a great place for one-of-a-kind items.

St. Paul — The Dickenson Bundy Log House is dated from 1769, the oldest found in the area.

Wise — Appalachian Showcase at the Clapboard House features handiwork of more than 50 area and regional craftsmen and artists, regional foods and other Appalachian items.