Staunton: Experience Parks, Glassblowing, and Culture

Staunton combines recreational parks and viewpoints with glassblowing, museums, and railroad history. The experiences offer different highlights: you can set aside time for green spaces, explore historical topics, or watch craftspeople at work.

Parks, Trails, and Views

Gypsy Hill Park is in the heart of Staunton and covers 214 acres. As a versatile recreational park, it offers a different focus from the 148-acre Montgomery Hall Park. Its described features include gentle hills, quiet wooded areas, trails, and a public swimming pool. If you are interested in walks or green spaces, the two parks offer different impressions: one is a large recreational park, while the other combines woods, trails, and a swimming pool.

A viewpoint adds to this parkland: Woodrow Park on Sears Hill offers a view of historic downtown Staunton. Nature and city history therefore sit side by side, without requiring you to plan the same kind of visit for both. The golf club offers yet another distinct highlight: the municipal Gypsy Hill Golf Club is an 18-hole, par-71 course and is open year-round to members and nonmembers.

Watch Glassblowing and Try It Yourself

At Sunspots Studios, four glassblowers take turns in the studios and demonstrate live glassblowing every day. If you would like to do more than watch, you can make an ornament, a small pumpkin, or a table sphere using your own breath in a hands-on experience. This gives you two different ways to explore the craft: watching a demonstration or creating something yourself. Check the current visitor options at Sunspots Studios before your trip.

Museums and History

The Frontier Culture Museum is an open-air living history museum. It recreates traditional rural buildings from England, Germany, Ireland, West Africa, and America. The range of regions featured shapes the museum visit, with the buildings at its center. A narrower historical focus is offered by the exhibition on World War I trenches, where visitors can imagine what life was like for soldiers during the fighting.

At the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, a tour takes visitors through the historic Manse, President Wilson’s birthplace. The Camera Heritage Museum offers two perspectives on photography: it has more than 2,000 antique photographs from Staunton and Augusta County and houses a unique collection of antique cameras dating from the 19th century to the present. Together, these collections invite you to consider both images with a regional connection and the development of cameras.

Market, Art, and Local Information

The Staunton Farmers Market brings local farmers, producers, and consumers together at a vibrant community market and offers fresh, locally grown food. If you plan to visit the market, check its current operating days. The Staunton Augusta Art Center offers exhibitions, programs for children, workshops and events, as well as two annual outdoor arts festivals. At the Staunton Visitor Center, visitors can get brochures and advice from local experts who can help with questions.

Railroad History and Travel Planning

The Virginia Scenic Railway’s Blue Ridge Flyer is a three-hour excursion through striking mountain landscapes and a historic railroad tunnel. Topics include the construction of the railroad, the history of the Blue Ridge Tunnel, the communities along the route, and the engineering achievement of crossing these mountains. The ride thus combines scenery and railroad history within a clearly defined time frame. Schedules and fares may change; check them before your trip.

When choosing a hotel, you can start with your travel itinerary: would you like your stay to focus more on parks and views, museums and glassblowing, or a railroad journey? This preference gives you a personal guide for searching for a hotel in Staunton.

Discover more destinations: Staunton, Pulaski County, Fauquier County, Albemarle, Danville, Louisa County, Roanoke, Floyd County

For the broader travel overview: Virginia.