The Underrated Virginia Town That Pairs Blue Ridge Mountain Views With Brews And History

Southwest Virginia offers beautiful views of the rolling Blue Ridge Mountains, a budding craft brewery scene, and is filled with surprising historical landmarks. Those elements all come together in Bedford, a mountain town of historical significance that has managed to maintain its rural charm.

When driving into Bedford from U.S. Routes 221 or 460, you'll come upon Bridge Street, a main thoroughfare lined with old brick buildings holding museums, restaurants, multiple antique stores, and other shops. Unless you're visiting for a popular event (like Centerfest, an annual craft festival), you'll likely encounter a quiet, relaxed atmosphere in Bedford. The town of just over 6,500 people lies between the historic city of Roanoke to the West and Lynchburg to the East, which both generate millions more dollars in tourism revenue.

However, Bedford's tourism is on the rise. The Virginia Tourism Corporation reported last year that visitor spending increased in Bedford by nearly 14%, a rate higher than the 7% increase in Roanoke and the 6% increase seen in Lynchburg. Locals credit the boost in visitors to more people becoming aware of the town's lakes, mountains, galleries, historic sites, and overall friendliness. 

A quintessential Bedford experience includes two distinct types of trails: one of the several hiking trails in Peaks of Otter Park and the "Bottled in Bedford Craft Beverage Trail" that takes visitors to nine breweries, wineries, and meaderies. One is a new attraction, while the other has been a tourism draw for hundreds of years. 

"Peaks of Otter" refers to the area that surrounds three mountain peaks — Sharp Top, Flat Top, and Harkening Hill — located about 10 miles from Bedford and accessible via Appalachia's scenic Blue Ridge Parkway. Nature lovers have been flocking to Peaks of Otter since the 19th century to soak in the 360-degree views and relax in the area's lodges. The most popular and most recommended of the park's trails is Sharp Top Trail, a steep, 1.5-mile path that rewards hikers with views of the Shenandoah Valley, Allegheny Mountains, and Virginia's Piedmont region. For an easier experience, try the paved, ADA-accessible Abbott Lake Trail, a 1-mile loop around Abbott Lake. 

If you're seeking out a post-hike brew, the Bottled in Bedford Craft Beverage Trail will lead you to one. The trail was introduced in 2023, adding to the long list of Virginia road trips for wine lovers. The Bedford trail, though, includes breweries and meaderies as well as wineries, including one award-winning brewery located within the town boundaries. Beale's Brewery has won many national awards, including a third-place prize at the 2020 Great American Beer Festival and a gold medal at the 2022 U.S. Open Beer Championship. Their website sums up their operation like this: "We make beer in Bedford, Virginia. A sleepy town with secret treasures. You just discovered one of them."

In addition to its brewery scene and natural beauty, visitors to Bedford are drawn to the small town for its outsized historical significance. Tourists can schedule an appointment to tour Avenel, a historic 200-acre plantation that served as the social and political center of Bedford for more than 150 years. Alternatively, visitors can drive about 20 miles east of Bedford to experience Poplar Forest, Thomas Jefferson's plantation, where the third U.S. president retreated to read and study.

However, Bedford's biggest historical draw is a national site recognizing the town's sad distinction for suffering the most per capita losses of men on D-Day during World War II. Twenty men from Bedford's hometown Army National Guard units died during the D-Day invasion. The community's loss was so severe that the town was selected in 1994 as the site of the National D-Day Memorial, which opened in 2001 and pays tribute to all Allied forces that participated in the invasion.

The memorial is perched on a hill southwest of Bedford's downtown and offers unobstructed views of the surrounding mountains. It contains multiple levels of gardens, statues, and arches that symbolize the planning of the D-Day invasion, its execution, and the eventual victory of the Western Allies. One visitor wrote on Google Reviews that it was "the most impressive war memorial I have seen. Everything at this location has meaning and symbolism." The memorial is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and tickets cost $15.