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Virginia’s Adventure Towns: Martinsville – Blueways, Trails, Camping and more in the Foothills of the Blue Ridge with Anna Wheeler and Brian Williams, Dan River Basin Association (Ep 75, Part 2) · Virginia Outdoor Adventures: Hiking, Camping, Kayaking, Local Travel and more!

• 0:00
  Jessica Bowser: Announcer, from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia is a mecca for outdoor travel and adventure. Virginia outdoor adventures Podcast is your local guide for hiking, camping, kayaking, travel and so much more. Get the information and the inspiration to plan your own adventure right here in Virginia. I'm your host. Jessica Bowser, tucked into the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Martinsville reveals itself as an unexpected paradise for outdoor enthusiasts. ANNA Wheeler and Brian Williams from the Dan River Basin Association share their intimate knowledge of this small city with its outsized adventure potential, the Smith River blue way provides 45 miles of accessible paddling and world class trout fishing on the crown jewel of Martinsville, just beyond city limits, Philpott lake offers 25 miles of undeveloped shoreline with camping, paddling and hiking opportunities. Bring your bike or borrow one for free and ride the Smith River Trail System, a network of local trails, including the 11 mile paved dick and Willie passage trail that serves as both recreation corridor and community connector. Ana and Brian also highlight local museums, culinary gems and fascinating history to add to your must do Martinsville bucket list. Let's go. So let's move on to Beaver Creek Reservoir. Talk a little bit about that.
• 1:33
  Unknown: That's a interesting place. It is another beautiful lake, another hidden gem. It is the Martinsville city water supply. So it's got about 12 miles of shoreline, and no motorized craft are allowed there. You can take a boat with a motor on it, you just can't use the gas powered motor. You have to use electric motor. Or you can rent a canoe or a kayak there. And the city of Martinsville runs that. There's a nice boat ramp. We have trails on either side. We have the Rock Ridge Trail on one side, and on the other side is the Patrick and Henry Community College, and we have a trail there as well.
• 2:09
  Unknown: We'd like to get a trail eventually, all the way around the reservoir. That's one of the things that is in the master plan. That's a beautiful lake.
• 2:14
  Unknown: Max depth is about 60 feet over near the dam, but it's a finger lake, so it runs up into these long coves and long fingers. And when you're standing there at the boat ramp, you just see the big part of the lake, but you don't see actually how big that lake is. You get out there and start paddling or run it with an electric motor, and then you realize just how big it is.
• 2:36
  Unknown: There is all kinds of stuff there. We've got Eagles there.
• 2:39
  Unknown: We've got cormorants. We've got large mouth bass and brim and they have catfish tournaments out there. There's even been a muskie caught out there before.
• 2:49
  Unknown: They've stocked some interesting things in there. But it's a very convenient place to go. My brother lives over in Georgia.
• 2:56
  Unknown: When he comes in town, one of the first places we go to fish is Martinsville reservoir. So it's it's so close, there's no houses on it. Is another one of those mountain type lakes where you're going to be out there and you're going to be very secluded, Beaver Creek that actually runs into there's several creeks that run into it.
• 3:13
  Unknown: Beaver Creek is the largest creek that runs into it. And we were up there in the wintertime fishing, and the beavers had created a new dam across Beaver Creek. It was absolutely beautiful, so it was interesting that the beavers were working on Beaver Creek there. But it's a great place. It's never too crowded, even though it's gets a lot of use and it's a gorgeous thing, and we like to keep it, you know, clean, because it is a water supply for the city and the county does a real good job of it. All of my friends that paddle it are always like, wow, it doesn't feel like it's five minutes away from the city, you know. So just how, like we're all talking about how close things are in the community, just five minutes away from Uptown Martinsville, is this beautiful reservoir that feels like you're in the middle of nowhere, but are so close to all of the amenities and things that you may need in the community. The first time I went to Beaver Creek Reservoir, I saw a hog nose snake. So that was really cool.
• 4:11
  Jessica Bowser: Oh, that is really cool. It's like my favorite snake. How did you know that? Anna, well, now
• 4:15
  Unknown: you know even Brian was upset he wasn't even there.
• 4:19
  Unknown: Yeah, what a shame. Yeah, it's known for that. Actually, that's one of the places that we find Hognose Snakes around here. And fox squirrels too. There's a big population of fox squirrels out there, so there's, there's a lot of wildlife there. And like Anna said, it's so close. I mean, it's right next to the Henry County administration building, and on the other side is Patrick Henry Community College. But you paddle out a few strokes and you feel like you're in the middle of nowhere. Yes,
• 4:42
  Jessica Bowser: they do have canoe and kayak rentals there, which is fantastic, right on the water, which is great. And I'm glad that you mentioned that it's so much bigger than you realize, because I was so surprised to find out just how big it is, because when you pull up to the parking lot and you see the lake, yeah, it's big, but, like. Said, you don't realize that there's all these fingers that stretch up beyond where you can see. And so there's a lot of exploring to be done there.
• 5:08
  Unknown: Yeah, it's and it is good fishing too. I mean, the further further back you get in there, away from the main area, but you can catch fish right there, because they do have tournaments there as well. And like I said, we have trails there, and we'd like to get more trails there, but if you're not even paddling, you can just go there and hike a trail. But you can find out more information on the city of Martinsville website. It's listed there,
• 5:31
  Jessica Bowser: yes, okay, there's just a couple more things that I want to touch on before we dive into lodging, dining and attractions, and one of those is the Smith River sports complex. Now I got a tour of this, and this is where the dick and Willie passage trail ends, right? Yes,
• 5:47
  Unknown: currently, this one terminus of the dick and Willie passage and the sports complex.
• 5:50
  Unknown: We started in maybe 2007 I can't remember, but I would like to mention we have a local foundation here, known as the harvest Foundation, and they're really good about funding things like this that help with an active lifestyle, because one of their directives is to help the community become healthier. So the sports complex was a big part of that was some funding from the harvest, and they created a Sports Authority complex that took care of it, but now that belongs to the Henry County. They eventually turned it over. So Henry County actually runs that as well. It's a fantastic place for everything. It's got a wonderful playground. I used to bring my grandkids up here all the time.
• 6:35
  Unknown: This first place we go is that cool playground? Soccer fields.
• 6:39
  Unknown: They do soccer field, hockey, you name it, they play it out there. It's got an access boat ramp. The Dick and Willie trail runs into it. It has a all natural dog park. It's a fenced in two acre place where you can take it. There's trails inside it, but you can go inside the fence, let your dog off the leash and let him run around while you walk the trail through the whole thing. We have major events out there. That's where we hold the Smith River Fest every year in August. And Henry County Parks and Rec does a great job with it. There's also a driving range. And what else am I missing out there? There's
• 7:15
  Jessica Bowser: like, workout facilities. The outdoor exercise
• 7:18
  Unknown: arena is out there, which is really cool, yeah, and you can walk, you know, there's a trail, a concrete path, all the way around the sports complex. Tons of people go out there, like people used to walk in the malls all the time. They go out the sports complex, because you can walk around the whole fields and get some good exercise. There's a little retention pond that the trail goes around that, and there's places to sit and relax, and then that's where you can pick up the dick and Willie trail and go all the way into town on the dick and Willie trail. And the Smith River Sports Complex sits on the Smith River. So we hold our Smith River Fest there every year. And there's free tubing. You can grab a tube and walk upstream and jump in the Smith River. We have a Smith river boat race. We have the helger might hustle Mud Run. Dan River Basin started Smith River Fest in 2008 and we used to do it up in Basset and it got so big, we started partnering with the county and the city and moved it down to the sports complex. And so I usually run the river race and help with the Helga might hustle Mud Run. So even though we love to do this stuff ourself, we don't get to participate because we're doing all this other stuff, but we also have a big demo pool there that we fill up.
• 8:23
  Unknown: We put a liner in the ground, in this little pond, and we put paddle boards and kayaks on it, and people can come and try out a kayak or a paddle board. So we Dan River Basin Association volunteers and board members still run that every year. So we're heavily involved. We've always been involved in it, and we still are. And that's a that's a big event for us here.
• 8:41
  Unknown: It's a great summertime event.
• 8:44
  Jessica Bowser: Yeah, I saw the little fenced off dip in the ground where you fill it with water and do that. Yeah, that was really neat. And I also was impressed that there's both an accessible fishing pier and an accessible kayak launch. I think those are starting to become more popular all around Virginia and probably all around the country, but it was really great to see that in Henry County.
• 9:03
  Jessica Bowser: Yeah,
• 9:05
  Unknown: we've never had anything like that here. And we have a what we call an eco Ambassador council with Dan River Basin and their corporations around here, Frith Corporation, Lester, they all get together and they support different projects. So they all put a pot of money in so we're not running around, going to each Corporation, begging for money all the time. These guys have created their own Council, and they're in charge of it, and they just say, Hey, give us a list of projects, and we'll decide what we want to do with it. And one of them was the all accessible deck that you saw down there, that we just completed last year. And we wanted to design something that people could roll right out of the car, on a wheelchair or whatever, and get right to the water and fish. So we're looking at doing that more. It's really tough to do that on a river.
• 9:49
  Unknown: It's easier to do that on a lake, because a river moves up and down so much. But we're still developing areas like that. At the great road, we have an out. Outdoor Education pavilion that has a very long accessible deck where you can roll up there. We use that for the kids a lot, but anybody's Welcome to use it. So each time we're building projects, we're trying to think about the accessibility issues as well.
• 10:14
  Jessica Bowser: And speaking of projects, there is a brand new state park in Henry County that's in development the
• 10:21
  Unknown: future Mayo River State Park in Virginia, is something that the Dan River Basin Association has been quite like, entangled with for a really long time. We assisted with the first property purchase for that property, so we kind of had our first ribbon cutting along with that a couple years ago with the Eco Ambassador council that we just talked about, about some mayo river trails that are out there right now. So if you're curious about what the future Mayo River State Park in Virginia may look like, just go out there and take a peek at it.
• 10:52
  Unknown: It's it's very undeveloped right now, just because they're still working on the master plan for it. But in partnership with a few people, including fairy stone state park staff. We have a huge gratitude for them for helping maintain it. There are trails and the river is accessible there, so we have a little parking lot, some restrooms and about what would we say, like, three or four miles of trails right now out there? Yeah, and it does connect to the North Carolina Mayo River State Park. The last triangle at the end of the trail is the North Carolina Mayo River State Park. And DARPA was also super integral to that project coming to completion as well. And so we're hoping that that state partnership for a bi State State Park would you know continue.
• 11:37
  Unknown: The Virginia side is located along the north and south Mayo which are both considered scenic sections of river, and there's six or seven miles of both of them are scenic rivers for Virginia, and they come together to Confluence. The north and south come together to form the mayo river property. And as Ana said, right where they come together, that's actually in North Carolina. So you can walk from Virginia down to the Confluence and be in North Carolina. You can hike along the bird's ledge trail and see this real famous place where William Byrd, who surveyed Virginia and North Carolina, they had an encampment there, and they call it bird's ledge. We have paddle events down the North Mayo river. We do them in the winter times. Kind of crazy. It's contiguous with the North Carolina State Park, and Ana works very closely with both Virginia and North Carolina State Park personnel. We release Roanoke log perch there down in the North Carolina side. We do muscle surveys on the mayo River, which is a beautiful river, and so basically, once the Virginia master plan gets done, you'll be able to paddle.
• 12:42
  Unknown: You can do it now, but you've got to do it from a bridge, but they'll have an access where you can paddle from Virginia in down and get out of North Carolina.
• 12:52
  Unknown: And once you do that, you're going into a section of river when has a really famous rapid called the boiling hole that we utilize a lot. And it's it's neat. It's on the far western corner of Henry County, and we're super excited to have it.
• 13:06
  Unknown: The people at fairy stone are in charge of the state park right now. So as Anna said, the Eco Ambassador Council helped us pay for a parking lot and build some trails and put some basic infrastructure there. So we're pushing to try to get that open.
• 13:22
  Unknown: The State Department, DCR is working right now on the master plan, and we hope by sometime next year, they should be finished with that master plan, and then they can go before the General Assembly to get some money to help us build some infrastructure there. But the good news is you can drive down to the end of Pratt road hike.
• 13:37
  Unknown: You can hike all the way to the confluence of the north and south mayo, and it's a beautiful piece of property. Yes,
• 13:44
  Jessica Bowser: I had a tour of mayo River State Park maybe two years ago now, and it is absolutely beautiful, especially once you get down to the water.
• 13:51
  Jessica Bowser: So I'm very excited for the master plan to be finished and for the amenities to start to be developed. Right now, it is just like a parking lot and a porta potty at the entrance, but if you're cool with that, then that you can really enjoy some beautiful hikes at that park.
• 14:08
  Unknown: Yeah, and Dan River Basin Association. Our founding members were very influential in establishing the North Carolina side and the Virginia our founders were in love with this region. They lived here all their lives, and they wanted to see it protected. And that's one of the things that they looked at the north and south mayo and said, we really got to do something here. So they really pushed North Carolina to get that North Carolina State Park, and it's been going great guns, and Ana's on that stakeholders committee. And the good thing is, we've put the states together. That's one of the things that we do with Dan River Basin is build partnerships.
• 14:43
  Unknown: Since we're a bi state organization, our main office is in Eden, North Carolina, and then honest has an office in Henry County, Virginia, so we can work across state lines, whereas sometimes states really can't do that, and sometimes they don't even talk to each other about stuff. So one of the cool. Things that we've done has been able to say, hey, the Smith River, the north and south mayo, the Dan. It stitches our two states together. You know, it's an emerald ribbon of tourism, and you guys need to work together. Hey,
• 15:12
  Jessica Bowser: adventure seekers, can you believe I traveled 10,043 miles across Virginia last year? Yep, over 10,000 miles to bring you stories from Virginia's most incredible adventure towns. If you've enjoyed discovering these hidden gems and want to hear more, consider supporting the podcast through my buy me a coffee page. Your contribution, whether it's a one time tip or a monthly membership, helps cover the cost of creating these episodes and keeps the adventure going every bit helps fuel the journey, plus members get some awesome perks. So head to my buy me a coffee page by clicking on support the show. In your show notes, shout out to the newest members of Virginia outdoor adventures. Anne from Fredericksburg, Matt from Roanoke, Barb from Chesterfield, Lori from Norfolk, Raphael from Falls Church, Kevin from Richmond, and Allison from clear Brook. Thanks for helping me share Virginia's wildest, most inspiring places one adventure at a time.
• 16:14
  Unknown: We've got the beaches to the Bluegrass, which is a DCR trail system that runs all the way from the coast all the way to the other end, and that's still in development, and it just basically connects all these existing trails together.
• 16:28
  Unknown: And years ago, the folks from DCR came down and sat with us in the office and said, Hey, this is you've got more trails on the ground than anybody along this whole stretch. Now, South Boston and Pennsylvania County, they've got some trails too. So all that's tying together, and then we developed a master plan to actually tie the beaches to the Bluegrass to the mountains to the sea trail in North Carolina.
• 16:49
  Unknown: So we see these networks of rivers and trails as very integral to the way that people do plan their trips and do recreation. You know, from campgrounds to paddling to hiking, and then having those amenities, whether you want to stay in a bed and breakfast, we have Airbnbs around here, and then, you know, available restaurants. So it's all, all part of the big package, and it's, it's a underutilized area, you know, we don't want it to get overcrowded, but we do want you to come visit and enjoy what we do have to offer. Speaking
• 17:25
  Jessica Bowser: of amenities, this seems like a good segue into lodging, dining and attractions around Martinsville, where can visitors grab a bite to eat or a morning coffee? I
• 17:35
  Unknown: guess it depends on where you start. But Jessica, I'm gonna say we're starting where you were. So we're gonna wake up maybe at one Starling bed and breakfast, and then head to perhaps the ground floor in Uptown Martinsville, go on a paddle. Maybe it's in Bassett, going to the railway cafe. Super great place has got my favorite thing is the barbecue chicken sandwich. So let them know. Anna told you to order it. And then, along with that, you know, for sweet treats, go to dippers, ice cream, cocoa trails in Collinsville on the way back.
• 18:05
  Unknown: Anything for dinner. There's so many options. You can look them up, but our favorite is Hamlet kitchen. It's a food to go place, and so you can get the best of both worlds in one place. Take it out somewhere and go sit by the river and have a little picnic with it. I'd also recommend, you know, some local breweries, renewal, scuffle Hill, are great places to stop by and, like, grab some really good local beer. It's award winning out here. And then, you know, for other options, Jessica, like you are, like a lot of people have vegetarian options. One of our favorite places is the dew drop Inn. And it's actually a gas station, but nobody would know, because it is the best place for Indian foods.
• 18:41
  Jessica Bowser: It was so good.
• 18:41
  Jessica Bowser: Oh my gosh,
• 18:45
  Unknown: great. Yeah. And you know, things are opening up and changing all the time around here. So take a peek on visit Martinsville website, and you can find so many options. And we have an entrepreneurial community down here, so there's always something going on and something getting added. So take a peek. There plenty of places to eat, plenty of unique places. When I go somewhere, I want to eat something hometown that's there.
• 19:07
  Unknown: I'm not looking for a McDonald's or an olive garden. We do have some chain restaurants here, and that's fine, if that's what you like. But generally, even when on and I go all somewhere, we're constantly looking for that local ice cream shop or the local place to eat, because I want to experience what the food there is. And so you can get, you know, good southern cooking here. You can get Indian cuisine. You can get hibachi or whatever. There's Mexican food, there's there's a ton of variety here. So it, it doesn't really matter what you what you want, you're, you're going to be able to find it somewhere here. Yes,
• 19:39
  Jessica Bowser: Brian, I could not agree more, the local food scene is what makes a town I feel like and it's those places that you remember when you're thinking back on your visit and how much you enjoyed it, those are the things that stand out.
• 19:53
  Jessica Bowser: Like was it renewal brewing where we walked in and you go down the steps, it's like a speakeasy set. Thing. And I was like, No way. I cannot believe this place is here. It was so cool. And I was like, What? What is this doing here in Martinsville? And so it's that kind of experience that I'm not gonna forget, right? 100%
• 20:15
  Unknown: everything around here is so unique, and we try not to be like the others. We've got so much good local talent here too, and a lot of entrepreneurials, just like the studio we're sitting in here, Rudy's girls media, who allowed us to use the studio for this podcast, and people that are really thinking way ahead, and so they're they're thinking about new ideas, new ways to engage tourism and the local folks too. You know, we we've got people here that never were able to experience some of the things that we've had in the last 10 or 15 years come in.
• 20:49
  Unknown: We've also got people that have left the community and come back. You know, we always encourage kids. We do a lot of work with kids, and we say, hey, grow up. Go see the world, get knowledge, bring it back here, and we love to see that. And that happens a lot now. It happens a lot more than it used to, and we're thrilled to see it. Let's
• 21:08
  Jessica Bowser: talk about some of the museums, because I was also quite impressed with the museum offerings in Martinsville. Yeah.
• 21:14
  Unknown: Well, Jessica, you got a few, one on one tours of a lot of locations. So I'm sure you have a lot to say, but the Virginia Museum of Natural History is the State Museum for natural history, and it's located in Martinsville, Virginia, it's so interesting.
• 21:28
  Unknown: Has a lot of different options for natural heritage in their exhibits, and I'd add that they have a lot of events throughout the year, on the weekend, so if anybody's interested in going to reptile fest or Dino fest.
• 21:42
  Unknown: They're open every weekend, and the events for the weekends are listed throughout their website.
• 21:46
  Unknown: Piedmont arts is a local art exhibition that brings art all the way from around the world to Martinsville, Virginia. Piedmont arts is a free option, and it's part of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and it has a beautiful art scene. They also have host events throughout the year, and something that they host is called dancing for the arts, and it's really fun.
• 22:07
  Unknown: Brian, do you want to add something? Yes, a lot of competed last year, and dancing for the arts. And one no
• 22:15
  Jessica Bowser: or team one, wait a minute. I didn't hear this story.
• 22:18
  Unknown: Oh yeah. It happens every two is it every two years, that's their big fundraiser.
• 22:22
  Unknown: It's called dancing for the arts. And they get local celebrities, of which Ana is, they team them up with someone else, and you raise money for the event, get people to donate, and then we have a big show, and it's just fantastic. There's eight teams, something like that, and everybody gets two dances, and it's just a whole lot of fun. Piedmont Arts is fantastic. They have all kinds of events and the museum as well. You know, we Dan River Basin partners real closely with both of these organizations. We help out with reptile fest. Just a couple of days ago, I was at fairy stone state park with Virginia Museum of Natural History. We had a bio blitz there, where we go out and we take kids and look for salamanders and snakes and do an educational program there. We've been working with the Museum of Natural History for as long as I've been here. We have a trout tank there that showcases our Trout in the Classroom program.
• 23:11
  Unknown: It's full of brook trout. It's a small town, so everybody kind of knows everybody, and everybody works together. And that's that's one of the things that makes it really unique. So if you walked into Piedmont arts and said, What is there to do around here? They're going to tell you, yeah, if you did the same thing at the museum or whatever, you've not got like a corporation that's from out of town that is only interested in making money and doesn't know anything about what's going on around here. If you walk into any, almost any of our establishments and say, Hey, how do I get on the river? Where can I go to get on a trail?
• 23:42
  Unknown: Somebody's going to know, and they're going to tell you, because they're proud of we're proud of it. Yes,
• 23:48
  Jessica Bowser: I did get behind the scenes tours of pretty much every museum. One of my favorites was the African American Museum and Cultural Center that was so fascinating, and what I thought was really interesting that I think a lot of people would know, because I certainly didn't know this was how many big name celebrity musicians came through Martinsville, like in the early 1900s and I was just like, wait, what Fats Domino was here? Like, what is I mean, there's just so many neat things, and the all the items that they have on display, just tell the story so well of the role that Martinsville played in the African American community and and what a strong community they had in Martinsville. Saw that was one of my favorites. And then the Virginia Museum of Natural History, I almost lost my mind in that museum. I could have been in there for a month.
• 24:34
  Jessica Bowser: It was just so cool. So we got a tour from Marshall, and the first thing I asked him was, is the skeleton from the prehistoric cat that they found in the cave in Lee County in this museum? And he went, Oh, Petra. And he just waved me into the back and we got to go where the archeologists were actually working on it. He walked in the room. He's like, Hey, where's Petra? And they're like, Oh, she's right there. And. They point out the table, and here's the skeleton. And I've talked about this skeleton in a past episode I did about caving, and I have met the cavers who discovered the skeleton, and I know the cavers who are part of the process to remove it from the cave and bring it to the museum, and I know the folks at DCR who were involved in it. And so I feel like this whole story is something that I've just been, like, totally fascinated with. So to walk into the museum and actually see it there on the table like I almost lost my mind. And then they took me into the back where they pulled the skull out of a drawer, like they had, you know, where they store all the different preserved animal parts and skeletons. And she just opened the drawer, and she pulled the head out, and the skull is just sitting there on the table. And she's like, Yeah, look, you can see, like, you know, little bat bones inside the eye cavity and all. And I was just eating up every bit of it. It was amazing. That's
• 25:53
  Unknown: cool that you knew about Tetra Yeah, we had the grand opening down here. A lot of my friends, I caved too. So a lot of them worked in Bursa cave on that project, and we're excited to have it down here. It really is unique. There's a lot of other unique stuff in there too. I've been there a million times, and I can still spend forever, you know, going through the collections and the Fayette area historic initiative that you mentioned, the fahe we call it for short, here, the African American Cultural Museum is fantastic. People don't realize that this was actually a pretty friendly area for black musicians to come through. So that's why a lot of big names had come through here during the jazz area. Martinsville is old.
• 26:34
  Unknown: You know, we're older than Atlanta and places like that.
• 26:37
  Unknown: It's a very old community lucky to have that influence over near fielddale, we have the town of Waller. Before field crest cannon was ever started, was a historic African American community that had a mill over there that's still standing. So there's a lot of history here.
• 26:51
  Unknown: Lot of descendants from everybody still live here.
• 26:55
  Unknown: That's what you have when you have a small community like that. So it's, it's really a good mix, good diversity of different folks here, mainly people that have lived here all their lives. On and I are both transplants. I've only lived here 19 years, so I'll always be an outsider, but I feel like I've lived here forever, and I love it, and I don't plan to go anywhere. You know, we're building a new house here. You know our dream house up on some property, and we love it.
• 27:23
  Jessica Bowser: Are there any other attractions you want to mention before we close up? A lot
• 27:28
  Unknown: of people probably know Martinsville from the speedway that's here. So if you have a NASCAR lover in your life, that's exactly what everybody else asked me, oh, you moved to martinsville? Like, have you been to a NASCAR race yet? So if you have people who are interested in that, we do also have the Speedway, and you can come for a weekend, and, you know, go to a race one day and go hike the next day. So it can be the best of both worlds.
• 27:49
  Unknown: Along with that, we do have one of the love work signs at the sports complex, if you guys want to go take a peek at that. And then something that, you know, gives homage to some of our furniture. Capital of the World stuff is the big chair in Uptown martinsville. So that was created by Bassett furniture industries to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the industry. And so you can go and take a peek at that, also along that it has history about all of the textiles and furniture industry in the community, yeah, if you're interested in racing.
• 28:19
  Unknown: And you know anything about the history of it? You know, we have the paper clip here. We call it.
• 28:25
  Unknown: And of course, NASCAR racing got started from moonshining, and we are the moonshine capital of the world. Here. People like to say Franklin County is that's fine.
• 28:32
  Unknown: We'll give it to them. It's the county to the north of us. Every single Creek has an old still on it somewhere, even in within the park. If you hike up in the park and salt house branch, you can see remains of old stills. So we do celebrate that heritage here, since the NASCAR and the moon shining was hand in hand, Franklin County always known as the wettest county in the country. Actually, Henry County produced more moonshine back in those days, but we'll let them have that. But they they are working on the moonshine Heritage Trail as well. So all of this stuff ties in together.
• 29:06
  Unknown: And Martinsville is one of the oldest, I think it is the oldest Speedway on the NASCAR circuit.
• 29:09
  Unknown: So it draws a big crowd from the truck races to the major circuit races.
• 29:17
  Jessica Bowser: Are there any popular lodging options in town?
• 29:20
  Unknown: The Hampton Inn is a conventional hotel, but we also have plenty of Airbnbs and verbose so take a peek around there. You know, you can find anything from like somebody's above car garage apartment to something like the Oakdale inn or one Starling, which are full bed and breakfast locations.
• 29:38
  Unknown: Take a peek at what you want.
• 29:38
  Unknown: Also RV camping at the Smith River RV and Indian heritage, and then camping along places like fairy stone or Philpott Lake.
• 29:48
  Unknown: Yeah, it's neat. The Indian heritage RV park is right there below Martinsville dam, so you're right on the river.
• 29:54
  Unknown: That's one of our access locations. You can paddle from there to the sports complex, and then Smith River RV park. Park is up in Stanley town, so you can paddle up in Bassett and the upper part of the river above martinsville. So good camping options. And of course, Philpot fairy stone, their campgrounds closed right now for renovation, so you got to go to Philpott.
• 30:14
  Unknown: But as Ana mentioned before, a lot more Airbnbs than we've ever had before here, and then conventional motels like the Hampton man Jameson inn, and we have a couple of other motels around here too, so we can hook you up with whatever, whatever kind of place you like to stay in.
• 30:29
  Jessica Bowser: Fantastic. And for people who like to plan trips around upcoming events, what's on the calendar? The first
• 30:35
  Unknown: thing coming up is a rooster walk at pops farm, which is May 22 to the 25th huge list of amazing artists, including trampled by turtles this year, which will be really awesome.
• 30:46
  Unknown: We're excited about that. Franks and drinks at Piedmont Arts is July 18, another amazing time to just hang and spend time with friends and family and stop by Piedmont arts. Dino festival is coming up at the Virginia Museum of Natural History On July 25 and 26th very friendly family event. So stop by one day at the museum, and then go the other day to go hiking or whatever.
• 31:08
  Unknown: And then we also have the Smith River Fest at the sports complex on August, 23 that will be all the fun outdoor rec people that anybody wants to have. So come join us there. And then also the Henry County Fair at the speedway, which is September 24 to 27th and that's, you know, just all the good time, fair stuff, and you can take a peek at the speedway while you're there. Excellent.
• 31:28
  Jessica Bowser: All right, so I think we're gonna land this plane here pretty soon. Do you have any parting advice to future visitors
• 31:34
  Unknown: for anything tourism related? Go to visit martinsville.com and you'll get up to date information anytime.
• 31:41
  Unknown: And they have a great staff that is willing to answer any questions for you.
• 31:44
  Unknown: Yeah, you can find information just about anywhere. You can go to the Dan River Basin Association website. We have an interactive map. Yes, Martinsville has an interactive map. Smith River, blue way, Henry County Parks and Rec city of Martinsville, there's plenty of good information out there.
• 32:00
  Unknown: Just no lack of information important people can get. So we encourage people to come. Like you said, you can plan your trip around an event, but you don't even have to do that. You can come into town, and I guarantee you will find something fun to do here. The river is beautiful.
• 32:12
  Unknown: It's my favorite thing. I've been working on the river for years, since I've been here. I love to fish. I love to paddle Philpot Lake. The hiking opportunities are outstanding.
• 32:21
  Unknown: People used to always say, Well, what do we have here? We don't have a beach. It's like, yeah, we're not Myrtle Beach, and we like it that way. We are the foothills of the Blue Ridge, and it is a gorgeous place to be.
• 32:34
  Unknown: It's temperate. You're not going to get too hot, you're not going to get too cold. It's a great place to do just a little bit of everything you want to do, and enjoy some culture and some arts as well. What
• 32:46
  Jessica Bowser: is the best way for listeners to connect with you two? You can connect
• 32:50
  Unknown: with us through the Dan River Basin association. So if you look us up via that, you can find anything on a search engine like that. Our Instagram is at Dan River Basin our Facebook is Dan River Basin Association, and Dan river.org is our website, and you can find any contact information on there as well.
• 33:08
  Unknown: There's a ton of information on there about the river, about safety, about the environment, about our trails. It's a really good resource, and you can get in touch with Ana that way. I personally am retired, so
• 33:22
  Jessica Bowser: I will link all of those websites that you mentioned in the show notes so people can find them easily. I will certainly link at the very top visit Martinsville, so that all of the lodging, dining and attractions and the outdoor recreation opportunities will be at everyone's fingertips. So Anna and Brian, thank you so much for being guests on Virginia outdoor adventures, but also thank you so much for everything that you do for conservation and tourism and outdoor recreation in Southside Virginia. Well,
• 33:54
  Unknown: thank you. And we enjoyed having you down here to visit and paddle and bike with us, and we hope we can get you back down here again, we'll see
• 34:01
  Jessica Bowser: you next time adventure on Virginia, outdoor adventures is inspired by and supported by listeners like you, which is why your messages and feedback mean so much to me. You can text me directly by clicking on Send me a text message in your show notes. I answer questions, respond to comments and share your feedback on the show. Never miss an update. Get even more information and inspiration by signing up for my newsletter. Click on newsletter.
• 34:28
  Jessica Bowser: Sign up in your show notes or visit virginiaoutdoor adventures.com thanks for listening until next time.
• 34:35
  Jessica Bowser: Adventure on Virginia is for outdoor lovers, and you'll love everything Martinsville, Henry County has to offer you.