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Travel the Scenic Backroads of Bath
Take one of our driving tours below, or find a pathway all your own!
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Photo credits: WG Photography (Fall scene, Lake Moomaw); Douthat State Park (boat); Charles Garratt (wildflower); Meadow Lane Lodge (scenic); Charles Garratt (Jackson River) |
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ath
County is a place of scenic byways, curling back roads, and quiet
country lanes. There are no interstates here, no
major highways, no stoplights, no traffic jams. Here the
journey is more than half the fun. With miles and miles of
lovely roads cresting Allegheny mountaintops, melting into rich
forest, and winding along crisp mountain streams, Bath’s
back roads will take you on a tour of Virginia unlike any you’ve
ever seen. 
Jackson River/Fort Dinwiddie Tour: Begin your
journey in Warm Springs and head west on Route 39 four miles to
its crossing of the trout-laden Jackson River. The site of Fort
Dinwiddie, a colonial era fortification designed to protect early
white settlers from Indian raids, is upriver from the bridge on
the west bank. Continue
your tour as 39 winds up Back Creek Mountain, past the unusual
phenomenon of Blowing Springs, and into the crossroads of Mountain
Grove. Here, you can take a right onto Route 600 and explore
a pastoral valley and have a picnic lunch and afternoon fishing
excursion at one of the lovely ponds at Dominion Back Creek Recreation
Area.
Bacova/Richardson
Gorge Tour: From
Route 39, west of Warm Springs, turn left onto Route 687, and
head toward the old mill town of Bacova. Established in 1920,
this Tidewater Hardwood Company town still carries the remnants
of yesteryear when it was once home to a lumber mill, railroad,
and commissary. The company houses
remain, as does the shell of the Tidewater Hardwood Company’s
brick electric plant. About one mile south of Bacova, take
the Richardson Gorge Road, Route 603, along the lovely Jackson River to its
mergence with beautiful Lake Moomaw. 