118 Cool and Unusual Things to Do in Virginia - Atlas Obscura

Unusual
Attractions
in Virginia

Abandoned Virginia Renaissance Faire

Fredericksburg, Virginia

Abandoned Virginia Renaissance Faire

The remains of a failed attempt at medieval nerdery are hidden deep in the woods of Virginia.

38.2599, -77.3859

Added by EricGrundhauser

Note the size of the person below

Natural Bridge, Virginia

The Natural Bridge

A sacred site for Indians surveyed by George Washington and owned by both King George III and Thomas Jefferson.

37.6282, -79.5447

Duffield, Virginia

Virginia's Natural Tunnel

A 300 yard long natural tunnel through a ridge deep in the Appalachian Mountains.

36.7030, -82.7430

Dinosaurland

White Post, Virginia

Dinosaurland

Outsider art meets paleontology at this roadside reptile repository.

39.0554, -78.1414

Added by brf2001

The Organ

Luray, Virginia

The Great Stalacpipe Organ

An organ located deep within a cave and whose "pipes" are the geological features of the cave itself.

38.6614, -78.4850

President Heads

Williamsburg, Virginia

President Heads

43 giant busts of U.S. presidents are sitting in a field in Virginia.

37.3850, -76.7569

Added by Hannah Frishberg

The CIA Museum is located in the George Bush Center for Intelligence

McLean, Virginia

CIA Museum

This collection of artifacts from the history of the CIA is as secretive as the organization itself.

38.9522, -77.1445

Added by EricGrundhauser

The Raven Room

Charlottesville, Virginia

The Raven Room

Edgar Allan Poe's old dorm is now a shrine to the author's legacy.

38.0348, -78.5020

Added by bondsarah007

See All 118 Things to Do in Virginia See All 118 Places

Unique
Food & Drink
from Virginia

George Washington’s Whiskey

Gastro Obscura

George Washington’s Whiskey

Taste the white whiskey that America's first president once distilled and enjoyed.

Gastro Obscura

Added by Matt Blitz

Peanut Pie

Gastro Obscura

Peanut Pie

The Virginia treat can “make even your deepest-dyed Yankee start complimenting you with a southern accent.”

Gastro Obscura

Added by rachelrummel

Get weekly dispatches on the world’s most wondrous food and drink with Gastro Obscura.

Explore Virginia

Virginia Leaderboard

Places Added

Places Edited

Places Visited

Recent Virginia Activity

jlcmaine20th has been to Mount Rogers

cammycat wants to go to Eastern State Hospital

cammycat has been to State Street

dshuhler wants to go to Hollensbury Spite House

dshuhler wants to go to Foamhenge

Stories
About Virginia

Mark Cline.

Inside the World of Virginia’s Roadside Attraction King

For more than 30 years, Mark Cline has been keeping the state weird.

by Eric J. Wallace

Gianni Zonin, Count Cicogna, and Gabriele Rausse in 1978 making plans for Barboursville’s Vineyard.

How Two Italians Achieved a 200-Year-Old Dream of Virginian Wine

Since Thomas Jefferson first tried, growing European vines had always failed.

by Eric J. Wallace

The recently described species <em>Apheloria whiteheadi</em>.

Up Close With the First and Only Millipede Lab in the United States

They got legs, and they know how to use them.

by Vittoria Traverso

January 31, 2018

Two views of colorful but lethal: <em>Apheloria polychroma</em>.

Found: A Millipede With 6 Colorways and a Cyanide Coating

A bright, shining example of "predator education."

by Vittoria Traverso

December 05, 2017

Marion revealing the bear-ravaged remains of a small cluster of wild grapes.

The Mountain Man Who Makes Chefs’ Wild Dreams Come True

Jay Marion never expected Virginia's elite restaurants to be interested in the foraging skills his grandparents taught him.

by Eric J. Wallace

November 15, 2017

Langley researcher Elton W. Miller in Langley's Propeller Research Tunnel, 1927.

100 Years of Rocketry and Research at NASA’s Langley Facility

See pioneering mathematicians, giant wind tunnels powered by submarine engines, and hypersonic rocket models.

by Anika Burgess

October 20, 2017

Oyster pirates illegally dredging under the cover of night.

The Notorious Oyster Pirates of Chesapeake Bay

They were the colorful villains in a conflict that lasted almost a century.

September 28, 2017

"Edgar Allan Poe Square" in the Boston Common, near the place where Poe was born.

10 Places That Rejected Poe in Life But Celebrate Him in Death

Edgar Allan Poe gets the recognition he deserves in the afterlife.

by Molly McBride Jacobson

February 09, 2017

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