A Weekend in Staunton, Va

Last weekend for my birthday, Brendan, Konrad and I visited Staunton, Va. We stayed at the Stonewall Jackson Hotel which is located downtown and is absolutely beautiful. It was built in the 1920s and recently restored. Here is a link to the hotel. Our room was perfect, we had a nice view of the surrounding historic home roof-tops, the American Shakespeare Blackfriars Playhouse theatre, Mary Baldwin College, and Woodrow Willson's birthplace and presidential library. The hotel had an indoor pool that we basically had to ourselves every night, and a full really fancy breakfast every morning.
What was so convenient was that the hotel was downtown, so we walked everywhere. We were surprised how nice the town was, as all the buildings and sidewalks were very neatly restored and used. We had our choices of coffee shops, contemporary restaurants, galleries, boutiques, a tea house, organic groceries, and hair salons. Yes, there were at least 10 (or more) hair salons within walking distance (Brendan got his hair cut for $15). Everyday we ate lunch and dinner at a different restaurant. The only thing we missed out on was the Shakespeare Theatre, they have 1-2 shows per day every day and the theatre is one of two exact replicas in the world. We will have to go back when we have a babysitter available.

Here is a random picture of the train station. We were amazed how beautiful it was. It was one of the only places that hasn't been fixed up yet. It's still a working train station, used by Amtrak.

It was like something out of a movie - this train station. You have to see it in person as these pictures don't really capture it.

And here is Brendan and Konrad walking up to the School for the Deaf and Blind - to their tempting playground. We took lots of pictures of their campus as it was very nice.

Konrad had a good time at the playground. The weather was nice and the sun was warm.

Konrad placing rocks on the slide...

Brendan is working on a video from our trip, so I will be posting that next. I don't want to spoil it now with repeated pictures...

Staunton has 5 historic districts - all downtown and within walking distance of each other. The town is known for it's architecture, so you can imagine that most of the buildings are really something to see. There is a free trolly that you can hop on and ride throughout the town - this is how we saw the areas that we didn't walk to. The people were so nice everywhere we went. And on our way out of town we stopped off at the Mental Institution (formally), which was closed down in the 1970s (I believe) it has been bought and made into some really amazing contemporary apartments/condos. We got a tour for the heck of it and were blown away how amazing they were. I could go on and on, but you really have to go see it for yourself. If you are ever in the mood to get out of town for a long weekend, I highly recommend you go to Staunton. I know we will be going back!