Our last two hikes in Virgnia have been in very popular spots so have been much more crowded than our usual haunts. Both the Natural Bridge State Park and Crabtree Falls (separate post) were impressive though very different. The Natural Bridge State Park is a little over an hour drive from Charlottesville in Natural Bridge, VA. The town and state park are named for the natural stone bridge that everyone comes to see and which has ties to 2 former presidents. Thomas Jefferson purchased 157 acres of land, including the Natural Bridge, from King George in 1774. See below for the 2nd president associated with the site.
The $8/person entry fee gives you access to a main trail which takes you under the bridge, through a replica of a Monacan Indian village, into a saltpeter cave, and ends at a falls. The state park also has a couple of other trails that you can currently hike for free. Also in the town of Natural Bridge, to take advantage of the tourist traffic, is a hotel, caverns, a zoo, and some kind of amusement park.
After walking the popular trail, Bob and I drove up the road a bit to walk the much quieter Monacan Trail. As is more typical for us, we had the 3.3 mile trail to ourselves.
After our hike, we had a look through the Visitor Center gift shop and them walked under the street to the Natural Bridge Historic Hotel and Conference Center. A space for people to come and stay after visiting the site has been in existence on the property since Jefferson built a guest cabin there shortly after buying the land. While it is a beautiful hotel, we saw photos of the lovely original wooden structure built on the current location (built in1890) with wrap-around porches that burned down in 1963 (cause unknown).
On our way out of town, we stopped at the local amusement park for a quick photo op with a big head.
Peckish Travels 