Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 48

well-furnished 1800s rental cabins so families can experience a little of what life was like 150 years ago.
"We'd like to see folks hiking our woods, catching
crawdads in the creek, meeting our farm animals or
just enjoying themselves as a family," says Mike Perry,
a former lawyer and bank CEO. The Perrys started
with a burned-out log cabin and grew the abandoned
farm into five family cabins, a farm zoo, a log village
and six separate museums (Progress, Transportation,
Industry, Heritage, Country Store, and Children's
Activity Museum).
"Once you came over into these hills, if you wanted
something, you had to make it," Mike Perry says. "Our
ancestors were amazingly ingenious." He points to an
early juicer, carved from wood. In addition to a blacksmith shop, a kiln and a walk-through coal mine, the
museums contain early sweepers and almost 100
antique washing machines.
Overnight guests can stroll among the village's
reconstructed log buildings, perhaps picking out those
recognizable from the "Hatfields & McCoys" or looking for wildlife among the trees. Donkeys, sheep, goats
and other farm animals linger near the fences for petting and compliments. Overnight guests have the
advantage of being able to accompany the Perrys as they
make the rounds feeding the animals in the morning.
If, that is, they can push themselves from the cabin's
cozy beds. The cabins smell of old oak and wood
smoke, but have amenities like convection ovens, air
conditioning and laundry rooms among the antiques.
Every cabin has a fireplace stocked with wood that you
don't have to split. Yet the slightly squeaky doors and
off-plumb floors let you know these are the real goods.
Poplar Hill Cottage
10 West First Street North, Big Stone Gap, Va.
276-523-1322; ralphstanleymuseum.com
Southwest Virginia Museum State Historical Park
is housed in an 1895 mansion that chronicles the
region's development during the 1890s coal boom, as
well as the pioneer period. Poplar Hill Cottage is just
across the street, giving guests easy access to the
48 | BlueRidgeCountry.com

grounds as well as the music festival, campfire sings,
quilt shows, first Friday performances, and summer
lunches on the lawn.
The cottage itself isn't old, but its three gardenthemed bedrooms, baths, kitchen and living rooms
are furnished with enough reproduction pieces to give
it the feel of another era, or of visiting a great aunt in
a nice old neighborhood. It's modern enough to have
television, a DVD player, and good cell phone reception. Spending the night gives you the opportunity to
settle into the small town setting and see the museum
mansion in its natural habitat. Although the museum
is closed in January and February, the cottage rents
year round.
Ralph Stanley Museum Suites
Main Street, Clintwood, Va.
276-926-8383; ralphstanleymuseum.com
The Ralph Stanley Museum is full of music - early
recordings of legendary mountain musicians, recent
recordings of the area's traditional music and occasionally the famous Dr. Ralph Stanley in person; he lives
about 15 minutes down the road.
What most folks don't realize is that when the
museum closes its doors at 6 p.m., some lucky souls
can arrange to stay on in the four-story mansion in
downtown Clintwood - in a suite on the third floor.
The old Chase mansion, now known as the Ralph
Stanley Museum, hosts visitors in a two-bedroom, twobath suite with an adjoining kitchen and sitting area.
Rooms can be rented singly or as a whole. Although
you'll have to bring your own music to the suite, it
makes an ideal base for exploring Ralph Stanley's
stomping grounds and perhaps taking in a live event at
the Jettie Baker Center just down the street.
From its beginning as the first brick home in
Dickenson County, the mansion has been prominent
in Clintwood activities. Built by Roland Chase, a
Virginia state senator and bank president, it became a
boarding house and then a funeral home before
Clintwood renovated it to honor Ralph Stanley and
other mountain musicians. 

Left: Scenes from History
Channel's "Hatfields &
McCoys" were shot at
Heritage Farm Village.
Above: The cabins at
Heritage Farm Village
smell of old oak and
wood smoke, but have
amenities such as air
conditioning, microwaves
and swimming pools.

http://www.ralphstanleymuseum.com http://www.ralphstanleymuseum.com http://www.BlueRidgeCountry.com

Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014

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