Blue Ridge Music Center and Fishers Peak
1000 acres on the Blue Ridge Parkway Carroll/Grayson County, VA.
Blue Ridge Music Center and Fishers Peak
Blue Ridge Music Center
700 Foothills Rd
Galax, VA 24333-4887
In this region one finds many variations of the ancient fiddle and banjo music of Virginia and North Carolina. This music can be traced to the meeting of the African banjo and the European fiddle in the Tidewater before our nation was created. Here also are found older ballads and religious music that reach deeply into the American past.
The Center celebrates these arts by enabling their presentation, and it is largely concerned with local artists who best show this history, and not with “stars.” The museum that is under construction will open with a display of temporary exhibits in 2005. The permanent exhibits that will be created at this site will trace the history of this music through local artists back to the creation of the music generations ago by persons from Europe and West Africa, and will show how it has been kept in America.It will also show how this first American ensemble, the fiddle and the banjo, are emblematic of the meeting of European and African cultures in the New World, how the nation has drawn strength from these varied roots, and how many blends of folk and popular music have grown from these roots.
Turn right on to Farmer’s Market Rd, then right at stoplight to Rt. 58 East.
Turn right on I-77 south go 6miles to I-77, exit 8, take ramp, then turn left onto Chances Creek Road.
Go one mile to stop sign on Rt. 52. Turn right onto Rt. 52 south, go 1 mile to Fancy Gap, VA.
Turn right onto Blue Ridge Parkway South
Go 13.3 miles to Mile Post 213
Turn left into Blue Ridge Music Center, check with information center for current trail conditions.