Lexington Zoo Daily
Natural Bridge Zoo
Spotlight
Located only 15 minutes from beautiful Downtown Lexington Virginia, Natural Bridge Zoo offers more animal variety than you have ever experienced. Their program for rare and endangered species allows you to see many animals that may not be available in any other facility. Many of the zoo animals are bottle fed from birth which creates closer, more friendly encounters than you have ever experienced. On your visit, you will encounter a variety of exhibits and wide open regions that offer the maximum in up close experiences. Natural Bridge Zoo in Natural Bridge VA is one of the few zoological parks in the US to offer an African elephant ride with an opportunity for hands-on interaction. more »
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Lexington Virginia
Introduction to Lexington, VA
Lexington, Virginia, (population 7,000) is a picturesque Shenandoah Valley town steeped in Civil War history, rich with collegiate and military tradition, and surrounded by natural beauty. Founded in 1777 in western Virginia, Lexington has historic sites associated with local sons Robert E. Lee, "Stonewall" Jackson, George C. Marshall, and inventor Cyrus McCormick. It is also home to Washington and Lee University and Virginia Military Institute, and close to the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, and the Blue Ridge Parkway
During the 1960's, Lexington could not keep up with the shopping strips and outlet malls that started surrounding the town. But local residents, preservationists, and business owners realized that the preservation of Lexington’s downtown was tied to its economic recovery, and began to purchase, restore, and resell the town’s most significant and threatened historic structures. Brick sidewalks and old-fashioned street lamps were installed to create an authentic atmosphere that reflects the town’s 200-year-history. The entire downtown area is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Downtown buildings once used as a car dealership and a failed department store now house the regional library and county administrative offices. Structures once called hard-toadapt are restaurants, business offices, and quaint hotels. Visitors to downtown Lexington can dine in pubs and restaurants in gracious antebellum buildings and stay in historic inns and bed and breakfasts within walking distance of downtown shops. Lexington has countered the nearby invasion of superstore retailers by offering customers needed and desired goods and services and small, independent shops with specialized merchandise.
More than 20 annual events in Lexington unite the community and celebrate its individuality and history. Downtown is host to outdoor concerts, festivals, art shows, and retail events. A "festive interaction" between merchants and customers marks the holidays, when parades, decorations, activities, and even Halloween trick-or-treating fill the streets. Visitors can tour downtown Lexington by horse and carriage and take a Civil War driving tour to 14 locations.
Historic and cultural attractions in Lexington represent a range of interests and include the George C. Marshall Museum, Stonewall Jackson House and Memorial Cemetery, Lee Chapel, Virginia Military Institute Museum, Cyrus McCormick Farm, Washington and Lee’s Lenfest Performing Arts Center, Lime Kiln outdoor theater, Virginia Horse Center, a showplace for national and international horse competitions, and Natural Bridge Zoo which is home to the largest collection of exoctic birds and animals in the state of Virginia.
Lexington Virginia Headlines
and Rockbridge County VA Headlines
Lexington Virginia
other notables about Lexington Virginia
36 miles South of Staunton; 180 miles South-West of Washington, D.C.; 138 miles West of Richmond
A college atmosphere prevails in Lexington VA, one of America's most charming small towns. Fine old homes line tree-shaded streets, among them the house where Stonewall Jackson lived when he taught at Virginia Military Institute. A beautifully restored downtown looks so much like it did in the 1800s that scenes for the movie Sommersby were filmed on Main Street (Richard Gere's character was hanged behind Stonewall's house). After the Civil War, Robert E. Lee came to Lexington to serve as president of what was then Washington College; he and his horse, Traveller, are buried here. And Gen. George C. Marshall, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his post-World War II plan to rebuild Europe, graduated from VMI, which has a fine museum in his memory.
Washington and Lee University has one of the oldest and most beautiful campuses in the country. Built in 1824, Washington Hall is topped by a replica of an American folk art masterpiece, an 1840 carved-wood statue of George Washington. Lee reputedly planted some of the massive trees dotting the campus.
Sometimes called the West Point of the South, VMI opened in 1839 on the site of a state arsenal, abutting the Washington and Lee campus (W&L's buildings are like brick Southern manses; VMI's look like stone fortresses). The most dramatic episode in VMI's history took place during the Civil War at the Battle of New Market on May 15, 1864, when the corps of cadets helped turn back a larger Union army. A month later, Union Gen. David Hunter got even, bombarding Lexington and burning down VMI.
If you have time to stop in only one Shenandoah Valley town, make it lovely Lexington.
Music
Rockbridge County is home to several national recording artist, such as Keith Bryant and the Nothing Fancy bluegrass band.
Keith Bryant was raised on a farm in the foothills of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains and grew up singing and playing in church. He eventually formed his own gospel band. At age 15, he was inspired by his piano player to learn the instrument. He began performing with local bands and at age 19 won best male vocalist honors at the East Coast Country Music Championship. He then formed his own band, Ironhorse, named after a song he wrote as a child. Keith Bryant has one of the most powerful voices in Nashville today, capturing the attention of producers and critics on Music Row. After first hearing Bryant's first Christmas release "What Will Christmas Be," Robert Oermann, music historian/critic for Music Row Magazine, commented "Keith Bryant, whoever you are, my best wishes for your success." Oermann also awarded Bryant a DISCovery Award and Honorable Mention for his debut CD, The Secret to Life. With the release and success of "Live It Slow" , the single and the album, Keith will be hitting the road in 2007, doing what he loves the most, performing live, visiting radio stations all over the country, and building relationships with his existing fans, and making some new ones along the way.
Nothin' Fancy was formed as a bluegrass band in September of 1994 with the purpose of competing in the East Coast Bluegrass Championship in Crimora, Virginia. Since their auspicious debut, they have grown in popularity, released 7 full length albums and one CD single, played the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, the Lincoln Center in New York City, the Birchmere in Alexandria VA, and have their own festival in Buena Vista, VA which is now in its 7th year. Nothin' Fancy is signed to North Carolina-based Pinecastle Records, and with them have released three recordings, "Once Upon A Road", "Reflections", and “Album # 7” as well as a Chris Sexton solo project "Coffee at Midnight." Each year they hold an annual festival in Buena vista hosting dozens of top bluegrass performers.
Stonewall Jackson
Maj. Thomas Jonathan Jackson came to Lexington in 1851 to take a post as teacher of natural philosophy (physics) and artillery tactics at VMI. Jackson lived here with his wife, Mary Anna Morrison, from early 1859 until he was summoned to Richmond in 1861; it was the only house he ever owned. Exhibits tell the story of the Jacksons' stay here, and many of the Jacksons' personal effects duplicate the items on the inventory of Jackson's estate made shortly after he died near Chancellorsville in 1863. His body was returned to Lexington and buried in Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery on South Main Street. Also have a look at the backyard vegetable garden and the carriage house, which protects a Rockaway model Jackson owned.
Lee Chapel
This magnificent Victorian-Gothic chapel on the Washington and Lee campus was built of brick and native limestone in 1867 at the request of General Lee. Begin by walking up on the auditorium stage and Edward Valentine's striking white-marble sculpture Lee Recumbent. A docent will explain the history of the building and the intricacies of the statue, which Valentine carved between 1871 and 1875, shortly after Lee's death. Charles Willson Peale's 1772 portrait of George Washington wearing the uniform of a colonel in the Virginia militia and Theodore Pine's painting of Lee in Confederate uniform flank the statue. Then climb down the narrow rear steps to the basement, where the remains of the general and many other members of the Lee clan (including "Light-Horse Harry" Lee of Revolutionary War fame) are entombed. Robert E. Lee's beloved horse, Traveller, is buried in a plot outside the museum. Across the vestibule, Lee's office remains just as he left it when he died on October 12, 1870. The museum is devoted to the history of the university and its two namesakes and includes the impressive Washington-Custis-Lee collection of American portraits. Allow 30 minutes to see the statue, the crypt, and Lee's office, another 30 in the museum.
Virginia Horse Center
Sprawling across nearly 400 acres, the Virginia Horse Center offers educational seminars and sales of fine horses, and it has a coliseum for concerts as well as horse shows. Annual events include draft pulls, rodeos, various competitions, and competitive breed shows. Call or check the website for the schedule. It's not worth driving out here to see, but a corner of the main concourse is devoted to the American Work Horse Museum, displaying carriages, wagons, plows, and other horse-drawn farm implements.
George C. Marshall
Facing the VMI parade ground, this impressive stone structure houses the personal archives of General of the Army George C. Marshall, a 1901 graduate of VMI. As army chief of staff in World War II, Marshall virtually directed that conflict (he chose Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower to command all Allied forces in Europe). After the war he served as secretary of state and secretary of defense under President Truman. He is best remembered for the Marshall Plan, which fostered the economic recovery of Western Europe after the war. For his role in promoting post-war peace, he became the first career soldier to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, in 1956. His Nobel medal is on display. An electronic map charts the war and Marshall's decisions, and films explain his extraordinary life. Allow an hour to explore the museum on your own and, if you're here in 2006, another half-hour to explore VMI Museum's temporary exhibits .
Presidential Prototype -- The George C. Marshall Museum and Research Library served as the prototype for modern presidential libraries, starting with President Truman's in Independence, Missouri.