Musical heritage trail gains national distinction

The Crooked Road, Virginia's heritage music trail, is recognized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

By Ralph Berrier Jr. and Katelyn Polantz The Roanoke Times

For a few hours Wednesday, men and women in suits and dress clothes filled a dance floor usually reserved for mountain cloggers.
At the Floyd Country Store, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named The Crooked Road -- a heritage trail linking towns and music venues in Southwest Virginia -- one of 2010's Dozen Distinctive Destinations.
"This is where America learned to be America," Joe Wilson, co-founder of The Crooked Road and chairman of the National Council for the Traditional Arts, said into a microphone still warm from the Rugby Gully Jumpers playing old-time music minutes before. "The Blue Ridge was a great mixer of people, and it can still be a great mixer of people."
This is the first time the National Trust has named a region rather than a town or city as a Distinctive Destination, and the award will give The Crooked Road a platform for marketing on the National Trust's Web site and in other publications. It doesn't include a cash award.
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BRI included on National Geographic map

Wednesday, December 30, 2009
By JOEL TURNER - Staff Writer

Nearly 20 sites along Virginia's Crooked Road and Wilderness Road, including the Blue Ridge Institute and Museum at Ferrum College, are part of the new National Geographic Society's Appalachian Driving Tours Map.
The highlighted sites range from bluegrass music venues to state parks.
The map is a partnership of the National Geographic Society and the Appalachian Regional Commission.
The map features 28 driving trails in the nation's Appalachian Region from New York to Georgia.
It includes color photos, including one of Ralph Stanley, a bluegrass music legend for more than 50 years.
The Crooked Road Heritage Music Trail begins inﾠRocky Mount and ends at Clintwood in Dickenson County, the site of the Ralph Stanley Museum and Traditional Mountain Music Center.
The Virginia General Assembly designated the route of the music trail, which begins at the intersection of Route 220 and Route 40 in Rocky Mount. It goes west on Route 40 to the Blue Ridge Institute and Museum at Ferrum College, and then follows Route 40 to Shooting Creek Road to Route 221.
The trail winds through nine Southwest Virginia counties, ten towns and three cities.
More.