Here are some other ideas of things to do when you are visiting the area.

• Luray Caverns

  Page Valley Museum at Luray Caverns

  You don’t want to miss the caverns, and the new Luray Valley Museum gives you a peek into our history.

Hiking / Enjoy Nature

• Shenandoah National Park, Skyline Drive: Thornton Gap/Panorama entrance is approx.20 minutes from Piney Hill.
• Massanutten Mountain Trails: Approximately 15 minutes from Piney Hill.
• Kennedy Peak Trail; Massanutten Mtn
• Walk or Bike along our Hawksbill Greenway, Luray

Visit some of our favorite nearby wineries

• Wisteria Vineyard
• Rappahannock Cellars
• Linden Vineyards
• Shenandoah Vineyards
• Cave Ridge Vineyards
• Gadino Cellars

Shenandoah River Cruise View

We just recently went out with Captain Bo on a beautiful section of the Shenandoah River. It is a wider section of the river with deeper waters not too far from the dam. We took a couple of friends along and had a great time.

Captain Bo is an excellent host and very knowledgeable about the river and wildlife.

If you’re looking for something fun to do while visiting the Luray, VA area than you’ll surely enjoy cruising along with no worries in Captain Bo’s pontoon boat.

He can take up to 6 people at a time. The boat landing is only about 10 minutes from Piney Hill Bed & Breakfast and we’ll provide you directions if you’re one of our guests.

Hope to see you soon!

The weather was beautiful and the many waterfalls along this 4 mile circuit was AMAZING. Once you get to the second bridge you have the opportunity to climb up to see the Dark Hollow Falls or you can continue on the fire road back to the Fishers Gap parking area.

Since it was one of our first hikes of the season we opted to continue on back to the parking area, LOL!

Take a look at the pictures that we took along the trail by clicking on the individual picture to enlarge 

You can go to www.nps.gov/shen/planyourvisit/mapshiking.htm and print out hikes of interest. At the bottom of each map it will give you a description and difficulty of each hike.  You will want either the North or Central District hiking areas which are closest to us.

• If you’re limited on time, but want to enjoy an easy hike we recommend Stonyman Trail.  It is 1.6 miles round trip with a  gradual climb to a spectacular view.
• Mary’s Rock is also a very nice trail to an outstanding view.
• The Rapidan Trail takes you to the cabins that were once housed by President Hoover.
• If you’re looking for an all day hike you might consider either Old Rag or White Oak Canyon.

What ever hike you decide one thing is clear, you will feel completely destressed and rejuvenated afterwards. We hope you enjoy some of the photos we have taken on recent hikes. 

Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello

May 10th we took a trip to Monticello in Charlottesville, VA with our friends Eleanor & Al. We decided, at Al’s recommendation, to take the scenic route down RT 231 from Sperryville to Madison. It is a beautiful and less traveled route through the countryside. At the end you pick up Route 29 which takes you into Charlottesville.

We arrived at Monticello around 2:00 p.m., paid for our tickets which are $22 per person and took the shuttle over to the main house. Our tour didn’t start until 2:40 p.m. so we enjoyed walking the gardens and reading some of the sign age throughout the area.

The tour began outside in front of the grand old house and then moved inside to the various downstairs rooms of the house. We were instructed not to use cameras or to touch anything as the house is a museum.

The tour is very informative about Thomas Jefferson’s life and those that lived on the property during that time period. The tour last about an hour and afterwards you can visit the other building such as the smokehouse, icehouse, summer kitchen and various other rooms at your own pace as well as the grounds.

The Univerity of VA can be viewed from the upper deck on the property.

We came upon a group that were working on an archeological dig. One woman was kind enough to explain what they were doing, the history that they were hoping to unearth and showed us some of their finds for the day.

During our tour we were told that more exhibits are in the works which would offer a tour of the upstairs bedrooms as well as more history of family and friends during that era. There was evidence of additional exhibits in the basement.

One thing that I found interesting after the tour is there are no grand stairs in the main entrance foyer like many VA mansions have.  The stairs instead are located at each end of the house. The one set that I saw was very narrow. It was said that Jefferson had many visitors daily, many of which were invited to  stay for dinner.

My thought is  that there were no stairs in the main area as he didn’t want people making their way up to the bedrooms uninvited!  LOL  I think it was stated that visitors traveled a minimum distance of 30 miles.  Which, during that time period could take an entire day to travel.  I’m sure they were hoping for an overnight stay invite as well.  On the grounds you can also visit the cemetery at your leisure, where Thomas Jefferson and his family are buried .

Afterwards we headed to downtown Charlottesville and enjoy a nice dinner at Bizou. We were able to dine in the outside courtyard which was very nice as the weather was sunny and pleasant.  We then headed back towards home. Hank mentioned ice cream and Al’s eyes lit up so we stopped off at the Dairy Queen in Elkton and all had an ice cream to finish off the evening. After dropping off Al & El we drove back home to Piney Hill and were faced with our left behind chores, LOL

For those that haven’t been I would surely recommend a trip to Monticello during your stay. For those that had been before I would definitely keep up with the changes that are soon to take place.

It is about an hour and a half drive from Luray, but during an extended stay of more than 2 nights to the area, well worth the drive. Take the scenic route as we did, you’ll enjoy it!!