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We think of ourselves as having three "local towns": Alderson, Ronceverte and Lewisburg.

Located on the Greenbrier River, Alderson, our closest town, has 165 structures of historic significance, dating back to 1871. Alderson is interesting because, although it is a very small town, it is located at the intersection of three counties: Greenbrier, Monroe and Summers. Once important as a regional transportation stop, the recently-restored historic train depot now houses an art gallery and hosts various displays. Alderson also offers 2 country cafes, hardware, grocery, post office and small pharmacy. Alderson's major employer is the Federal Prison Camp for Women, one-time home to Martha Stewart!

Ronceverte, also on the Greenbrier River, was once an important timber center on the C&O Railroad and is now home to a fine old-fashioned hardware store, a good country restaurant and the Ronceverte River Festival, which takes place at the Ronceverte Island Park..

Lewisburg is the largest town in Greenbrier County and the county seat. Much of the town lies within a National Register Historic District and it has been recognized as "One of the Best Small Art Towns in America" and one of National Geographic's Best Small Town Escapes. Coupled with the adjoining town of Fairlea, it is the center for much of our shopping, dining out and other entertainment. Who would think that a town of less than 4,000 people would have so much to offer? But we have found more than enough to do and have enjoyed more live entertainment -- at reasonable prices -- than we ever did when we lived in big cities.

CONTENTS OF THIS PAGE

Plays, Concerts and Other Entertainment	Outdoor Adventures	Libraries
Festivals and WV State Fair	Eating, Drinking and More Eating	Medical Care

Plays, Concerts and Other Entertainment: Live entertainment of the highest caliber abounds in our area -- and most of it is quite reasonably priced. Greenbrier Valley Theatre, the only year-round professional live performance theatre in the state, offers a variety of plays from Stephen Sondheim musicals (A Little Night Music and Company) to Shakespeare's tragedies (Othello). Also enjoyed during past seasons were plays such as The Importance of Being Earnest; A Christmas Carol; Over the River and Through the Woods; Always, Patsy Cline; The Cripple of Inishmaan; A Complete History of America (Abridged), which was hysterically funny; I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, fantastic play and even more amusing than the title; Honky Tonk Angels, with great performances and wonderful country music; God's Man in Texas and Free Mel Greenberg. (GVT opens dress rehearsals to the public at a reduced rate which enables us to see four plays for the price of regular tickets to one play.) GVT also presents a regular series of music performances featuring the Manhattan Jazz Quartet, led by famous tenor saxophonist Gary Klein, and the West Virginia Jazz Orchestra among other groups. And in October, a weekly series of Literary Teas (not as snobbish as this sounds) are sponsored by GVT, which offer readings by local writers or actors from the theatre, along with coffee, tea and cookies. Only a few blocks away is Carnegie Hall which presents a series of concerts by artists as varied as well-known country singers to jazz to chamber music ensembles. A gift from Andrew Carnegie, the building was built in 1902 as part of the Greenbrier College for Women. We've taken in the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, Nathan Gunn, Eileen Ivers, the Cleveland Chamber Orchestra and the play The Man Who Would Be King. During the summer, the Ivy Terrace Concert series brings us musical entertainment on the lawn in front of Carnegie Hall. Free concerts and picnics in the park: what more could we ask? Paintings by local artists are also on display in Carnegie Hall's galleries, as well as in other galleries in town. In addition to the offerings of GVT and Carnegie Hall, concerts by the Greenbrier Valley Chorale and visiting groups round out the entertainment scene.

Festivals and the West Virginia State Fair: Sometimes WV seems like one big non-stop festival! Early in the spring, we've gone to the Maple Syrup Festival in Pickens. June brings the Ronceverte River Festival, followed by Alderson's Independence Day celebration. Both these events include Rubber Ducky Races, as do other festivals in the state. We've never seen these races anywhere else but they are brilliant fund-raisers for the local communities. Everyone buys a rubber bathtub-toy duck -- or rather a numbered ticket which corresponds to a duck -- to enter the race. The ducks are dumped in the river where they float down to the "finish line" -- a funneling apparatus suspended in the water. Prizes are generous -- ranging from new cars or cash, dinners at local restaurants, savings bonds and more. One year, Dave won a white-water rafting trip in the Alderson race: Ducks on the Greenbrier, shown at left. Parades are also a big part of local festivities, being part of the River Festival and the 4th of July celebration. Farmer's Day in Union (shown at right) includes a large parade and Lewisburg's Shanghai Parade welcomes in the New Year on January 1. The WV State Fair comes to Lewisburg in August. Along with the usual midway rides, junk food and entertainment, there is a heavy emphasis on agriculture. We were impressed with the draft horse pulling competition during one visit to the fair.

Outdoor Adventures: With so much beautiful countryside, we find it irresistible to explore the local area. Of course, WV roads take some getting used to as the county roads are usually only one lane wide, sometimes paved, sometimes not, with gravel shoulders. We enjoy picking out a destination on our West Virginia Atlas & Gazetteer and mapping out the back roads to get there. Oh, yeah, so we've been lost a few times. But we've found beautiful streams, lovely vistas, interesting small towns, attractive farms and covered bridges, such as the Laurel Creek Covered Bridge, shown at right. Our local area is also home to two large caverns: Organ Cave and Lost World Caverns. We had a great visit to Lost World Caverns (see one of the formations in the photo at far right) with Dave's son John and two of his children, Elizabeth and Nicholas.


Eating, Drinking and More Eating:  We love to go out to eat and our local area offers a range of dining options from country cafes to fine dining in an old inn. In Alderson we like Big Wheel for breakfast or burgers while Rudy's Corner Grill in Ronceverte is another favorite, especially for breakfast. Lewisburg gets the nod for gourmet dining with Food & Friends (featured on the Food Network, as was Moxie's in Union), the General Lewis Inn (love that mountain trout!) and Tavern 1785 (nice little piano bar). We have a local winery -- Wolf Creek Winery -- which we like to visit to sample their wines and restock our wine rack. In fact, this winery comprises one stop on a trip around the countryside which we call the Tour de Tastebuds. Starting from our home, we drive to Union in neighboring Monroe County for lunch at Moxie's, then on to Gap Mills to the Mennonite Cheese 'n More store where we stock up on such treats as New York Sharp cheddar, dill havarti, baby Swiss, sliced deli meats and every kind of spice imaginable. The Kitchen Bakery across the road provides freshly baked bread, cookies and pies. We next head for Morgan Orchard to pick peaches, apples or berries. Finally a stop at Wolf Creek Winery provides the final supplies for a bread, cheese, wine and fruit supper back at Our Hermitage. A lovely drive in the country and a selection of the freshest and finest local products make this trip one of our favorites, whether it's just the two of us or we share the outing with family and friends. Food is also the focus for an eagerly anticipated annual event in October when Lewisburg hosts TOOT (Taste Of Our Town). The downtown streets are blocked off to traffic and food booths of all kinds are set up as a fund-raiser for Carnegie Hall. Along with turkey kebabs, BBQ pork sandwiches, grilled shrimp, fried green tomato sandwiches, vegetarian Reubens, pecan pie, bread pudding and other treats too numerous to mention, there is musical entertainment, special events for children and a chance to visit the local stores and galleries.

Wolf Creek Winery	Dave Picking Peaches at Morgan Orchard

Libraries: As avid readers, we make great use of the local libraries. We have four available to us within our immediate area. The Alderson library is very small and we use it least often but it does have a nice supply of books on home improvement and building projects. The Ronceverte library often yields new books that are on the waiting list at the Greenbrier County library in Lewisburg, which is housed in a beautiful building dating from 1834, although a new library is in the works. We frequently have six or more books checked out at one time from both Ronceverte and Lewisburg. We also can use the library at the local community college. And of course, all these libraries are part of a larger system with interlibrary loans available for our use. Oh, it's that same old problem: so many books, so little time!

Medical Care: Naturally, the availability of health care was a major concern for us when we were seeking our new home. We were pleased to find that Lewisburg is home to the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, a highly regarded institution. Also located in Lewisburg is the Greenbrier Valley Medical Center, a small but well-appointed hospital. Fortunately neither of us have had to make much use of that facility so far. We have found good basic health care and nearly every specialty that we could need. For additional specialized care, the University of Virginia Medical Center is not far away in Charlottesville, VA. Dave has found a top-notch vascular surgeon there.

For additional information on our local area, visit the Lewisburg, Greenbrier County Convention & Visitors Bureau and Greenbrier Historical Society websites.

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