When the valley fog settles in and the trails turn to soup, drive down to Lexington and spend a couple of hours inside the oldest museum in Virginia. The VMI Museum sits beneath Jackson Memorial Hall on the Institute’s parade ground, and it’s free to enter.
What’s inside is more interesting than “military museum” suggests: some 15,000 objects covering nearly two centuries, including Stonewall Jackson’s horse Little Sorrel — preserved, and yes, that surprises people — the coat he was wearing when he was shot, and cabinet after cabinet of gunsmithing, saddlery, tailoring and engineering work. It amounts to an accidental history of American craft. If you spend your days at a bench or an anvil, you’ll find yourself lingering over the toolwork long after everyone else has moved on.
Allow ninety minutes. Open daily, closed on major holidays, and best mid-week when the school groups aren’t in. The George C. Marshall Museum sits on the same block, so a genuinely wet day can turn into a good one. Park on Letcher Avenue, walk the parade ground if the rain eases, and get coffee on Main Street before the drive back up.
