Discover Glade Spring

When looking for a hotel in Glade Spring, you can plan your stay around what matters most to you: scenery, regional connections, or history. The Appalachian Ridge-and-Valley region, the Virginia Salt Trail between Glade Spring and Saltville, and the Glade Spring Commercial Historic District offer different perspectives on the area. The Town Square Center for the Arts also provides a specific connection to the arts. Consider whether the scenery, the community’s development, or a cultural offering is the main focus of your trip.

Scenery in the Ridge-and-Valley Region

Glade Spring is located in the Appalachian Ridge-and-Valley region and offers views of rolling hills. Its location gives these hill views a regional context. This is a distinct consideration for planning your trip, alongside the area’s historical themes: here, the focus is on the landscape, not the development of individual buildings. If you take the surroundings as well as the town center into account when choosing a destination, this gives you an initial way to place Glade Spring in its landscape.

The Virginia Salt Trail and Its Connection

The Virginia Salt Trail was established in 2008 as part of the Rails-to-Trails program and connects the towns of Glade Spring and Saltville in Virginia. If Saltville is also part of your travel plans, this connection offers a specific point of reference when choosing your regional focus. The route offers a different perspective from the Glade Spring Commercial Historic District: the district represents the town’s 19th-century history, while the trail connects two towns. The year it was established and its connection to the program also place the trail in a historical timeframe.

Local History and Access to the Historic District

The Glade Spring Commercial Historic District forms the core of the 19th-century Glade Spring community, which was oriented around the railroad. The district therefore highlights both the historic town center and its orientation toward the railroad at the time. The oldest surviving building in the Glade Spring Commercial Historic District is a hotel built in 1866. This brings the development of the community’s core and a specific, dated building together in one historical context.

When visiting, it is important to distinguish between visibility and access. Many of the properties listed in the district register are private residences and are not open to the public; however, many can be seen from the public right-of-way. When finding your way around, it is therefore important to distinguish between viewing a property from the public right-of-way and entering a private residence.

Another historical connection is Virginia Intermont College. The institution began in 1884 in Glade Spring, Washington County, as the Southwest Virginia Female Institute, and later moved to Bristol. This means its original location and later site represent two different stages: Glade Spring is associated with the institution’s beginnings, and Bristol with its later move. This sequence adds an institutional perspective to the history of the Historic District.

Art and Exchange in the Area

The Town Square Center for the Arts at 137 Town Square Street offers the public the opportunity to talk with resident artists and learn from them as they create, exhibit, and sell their work. A visit therefore combines meeting the artists with an insight into several stages of their work, from creation to presentation and sale. If you want to make art a specific reason for your trip, this offers a different focus from the landscape or the district’s history. Check operating details before your visit.

You can then compare hotel offers with your own travel plans.

Discover more destinations: Abingdon.

For the broader travel overview: Washington County.