Lynchburg - Town Views

On Sunday morning, I had about an hour’s worth of time on my hands so I decided to take a walk around the town of Lynchburg. It’s a pretty place, set on a series of cascading bluffs that roll right down to the James River. The river itself is the key to the city’s success – the place is named for John Lynch, who ran the first ferry across the river here.


A Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynchburg,_Virginia  includes all the facts you’d want to know about the place - it's had quite a history as a center of commerce and industry. There is a lot to tell, besides the fact that this is the home of Liberty University and “Jerry Falwell World.“ In fact, that association alone was enough to keep me from ever wanting to come here, even though I’ve driven through on US 29 a few times and thought the place was beautiful.

So on my walk, I was giving the town a chance to grow on me, in a way. I liked what I saw, and what I was hearing about the downtown community and their initiatives to make the city a great place to live. There is no choice but to have something of a symbiotic relationship with the big school in the suburbs, but for the most part, that community seems to keep to itself. There are quite a few other great colleges and universities that call themselves home here, too – and those communities are often part of downtown events and commerce.

Among the photos I collected, there is a shot of the Allied Arts building downtown, an art deco tower built in 1931; an interesting elevator that was designed as a solution to getting down the bluffs from the upper town to downtown (there are staircases all over the place); the farmers’ market; and a view down to the river, where the fountain here is set on one of the piers of an old bridge. The fountain draws your eye to the river, parks, and other cultural attractions located in that part of town.

With just an hour, I didn’t have time to get into any of the historic neighborhoods – Lynchburg was a prosperous town in the mid-1800’s but escaped burning during the Civil War – there are several neighborhoods of historic homes that have been restored and are well-kept. Mary’s told me she’d be interested in a return visit to check the place out sometime…I guess I’m up for that too.