The Blue Ridge Interpretive Center at Explore Park near Roanoke will provide a central educational and interpretive facility about the Parkway, the National Park System, Explore Park and the Roanoke region. The 10,000 square foot facility will include educational exhibits, visitor information, a theater and a bookstore. Visitors will learn about the 469 mile Blue Ridge Parkway, the longest and first rural parkway in the country. Modern transportation will be highlighted in another gallery.
Visitors can learn about the area's attractions, lodging and meal choices.
Staunton - Shenandoah Shakespere's Blackfriars' Playhouse is an authentic Elizabethan playhouse in Staunton modeled after Shakespere's Blackfriars. This is the world's first re-creation of this historic theatre and home to the internationally acclaimed Shenandoah Shapespere. The 300 seat theatre, located on South Market Street in downtown Staunton, offers tours along with authentic Shakespere productions. Using an 85 minute audio tape as a guide, visitors follow the 45 mile trail along back roads to attractions and farm markets in Virginia's apple capital. The tour passes by a giant apple monument, Civil War sites, one of the state's only remaining drive-in theaters and, of course, apple orchards.