Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 9, 1993 TAG: 9305120340
SECTION: DISCOVER PAGE: 53 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Wythe County offers all those possibilities and more.
The main trick to visiting the Factory Merchants Mall at Fort Chiswell, along Interstates 81-77 east of Wytheville, is to know where to get off.
Try Exit 80. Shoppers then turn off U.S. 52 onto Factory Merchants Drive and follow it to the red-roofed buildings in the multilevel mall.
The mall offers more than 25 stores, with more opening all the time (including a London Fog outlet store recently).
It also has a regional visitor center (telephone 637-6766) operated by the U.S. Forest Service offering information on other attractions in the region.
Other outlet stores, such as Corning Revere and Donnkenny Fashion, can be found from Fort Chiswell to Wytheville to Rural Retreat. Information on them also is available through the Wytheville-Wythe-Bland Chamber of Commerce in the Wytheville Municipal Building (228-3211) as well as on the area's other offerings. The Municipal Building also has a visitor center.
Wytheville alone has some 35 restaurants, ranging from 17 national chains to fine dining at Scrooge's, musical entertainment with fare at Words & Music, and a dining tradition stretching back 45 years at Durham's, to name a few.
Unique architecture can be seen on a historical walking tour of downtown Wytheville (see box). A historical art exhibit is on display in the Municipal Building.
People also can go to places like Austinville, birthplace of the first president of Texas, and the site of an earlier courthouse where the Fincastle Resolutions - forerunner of the Declaration of Independence - were written.
The greatest variety of entertainment can be found during the annual Wytheville Chautauqua Festival during the third week of June, with professional musicians, plays, food, arts, crafts and other activities throughout the town.
Wytheville Community College holds an arts and crafts festival each April. Plays, band concerts (the area has its own band) and other activities are often going on (see box).
The town has a public information line (228-3060) with updated information, including the five movies playing at Wytheville's two indoor theaters and, in season, a sixth at one of the few remaining drive-in theaters at Rural Retreat.
Wythe County is home to the headquarters for Virginia's newest park, New River Trail State Park, offering hiking, biking, horseback-riding and more along its length stretching almost all the way to Pulaski.
Wytheville has its own tree-lined Elizabeth Brown Memorial Park, with wooden bridges over a stream; Withers Park, with a swimming pool and walking ring; and is near the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area and other state parks. Rural Retreat has its own 90-acre fishing lake and 350-acre campground. The visitors' centers have brochures on them all.
As for places to stay, the county has more than 2,000 motel rooms. Its location on the crossroads of Interstates 81 and 77 makes it a natural stopover. But it also offers plenty to see and do during those stops.
by CNB