{"id":20911,"date":"2024-02-05T21:05:44","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T21:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yxs.ffa.mytemp.website\/?page_id=20911"},"modified":"2025-10-20T11:15:41","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T15:15:41","slug":"historic-main-street","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/visitabingdonvirginia.com\/stagingprop\/blog\/historic-main-street\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic Main Street"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Historic Main Street<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Small Town, Big Charm<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Visitors come to historic downtown Abingdon for unique shopping and dining. Walk the brick sidewalks of Abingdon’s 20-block historic district and you’ll find architecture spanning two centuries, from\u00a0The Tavern, one of Abingdon’s oldest buildings, to classic small-town American storefronts. You’ll also find unique shopping, a thriving farmer’s market, art galleries, and local restaurants proudly proclaiming their farm-fresh roots.<\/p>

Step a few blocks off of Main Street and you can taste a craft brew at\u00a0Sweetbay Brewing Company.\u00a0 A few shopping opportunities include\u00a0Siegner’s LTD<\/a>,\u00a0Abingdon Olive Oil Company, and The\u00a0Gallery at Barr Photographics.\u00a0 Even\u00a0shopping is an Adventure in Abingdon\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The History of Abingdon<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The site of present-day Abingdon is located on a well-traveled wilderness route called the\u00a0Great Road<\/em><\/strong>, which many pioneers traveled through the Blue Ridge Mountains on the way to settle the new American frontier. In 1748-1750, the land was surveyed by Dr. Thomas Walker, who would later be partners with Peter Jefferson \u2013 father of Thomas Jefferson \u2013 in the Loyal Land Company. According to local legend, the area was named\u00a0Wolf Hills<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0by Daniel Boone in 1760 after his dogs were attacked by a pack of wolves.<\/p>

The Town of Abingdon was established by an act of the Assembly of Virginia in 1778. Two short years later, Abingdon played a role in helping the young nation gain its independence. Patriots from Virginia and North Carolina gathered at the Muster Grounds to begin a 300-mile march to Kings Mountain, South Carolina. The ensuing battle was a turning point in the Revolutionary War.<\/p>

In 1860, Martha Washington College opened in a former private residence in Abingdon. The college closed in 1932, but the grand building affectionately known as\u00a0\u201cThe Martha<\/strong>\u201d<\/em>\u00a0re-opened as a hotel in 1935.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Courthouse Hill<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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This district takes its name from the beautiful Washington County Courthouse, built in 1868. Check out the variety of unique shopping, including elegant home decor, boutiques, fine art and edible treats.<\/p>

Katbird’s Wine and Gourmet\u00a0offers a wide selection of wine, plus perfect cheese and cracker pairings, and a coffee bar. Stop by The Spring House, a shared space\u00a0home to\u00a0Wolf Hills Coffee\u00a0and\u00a0The Book Cellar.<\/p>

The Tavern\u00a0is Abingdon’s most famous restaurant, but Courthouse Hill is also home to\u00a0Foresta<\/a>,\u00a0Rain,\u00a0Summers Roof and Cellar, and\u00a0White Birch Kitchen & Juice Bar.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Theatre District<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Right in the middle of downtown Abingdon, two grand old historic buildings face each other across Main Street. The four-star\u00a0Martha Washington Inn & Spa\u00a0sits directly across the street from the famous\u00a0Barter Theatre.<\/p>

Both have lobbies that are open to the public during business hours. Check out\u00a0Barter Theatre’s\u00a0newly renovated lobby, including the wall featuring headshots of its most famous alumni, from Ernest Borgnine to Gregory Peck. Be sure to head upstairs for more historical photos from Barter’s 80-year history.<\/p>

At\u00a0The Martha, care has been taken to preserve as much of the original architecture as possible. Visit the Round Table Library and browse the books, and don’t miss the photography in the hallway, highlighting the building’s past as a private residence and women’s college.<\/p>

Sisters American Grill\u00a0is located in the lower floor of The Martha, and is open for breakfast and dinner seven days a week. Take advantage of complimentary valet parking!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Market District<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Skip forward a century to the quaint brick storefronts of the Market District. This section of Main Street looks much as it did in the 1950s. Here you’ll find eclectic shopping, including exquisite antiques, funky flea markets, gifts and desserts.<\/p>

You’ll find live music most nights at Bone Fire Smokehouse, and award-winning sweets at\u00a0Anthony’s Desserts.<\/p>

The award-winning\u00a0Abingdon Farmers Market\u00a0at the Market Pavilion is open Tuesdays and Saturdays, with fresh produce, meats, eggs and cheese, craft vendors, and southern specialties like pickled okra or muscadine wine.<\/p>

Near the Market Pavilion is the\u00a0Arts Depot, where you’ll find artists in their studio ready to answer your questions or demonstrate their technique in the old railroad freight station, and\u00a0Mr. Siegner’s,\u00a0 a tastefully eclectic men’s shop in the old railroad passenger station.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Historic Main Street Small Town, Big Charm Visitors come to historic downtown Abingdon for unique shopping and dining. Walk the brick sidewalks of Abingdon’s 20-block historic district and you’ll find architecture spanning two centuries, from\u00a0The Tavern, one of Abingdon’s oldest buildings, to classic small-town American storefronts. You’ll also find unique shopping, a thriving farmer’s market, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":21176,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[255,265,256],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-attractions","category-blog-and-itineraries","category-outdoors"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/visitabingdonvirginia.com\/stagingprop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/visitabingdonvirginia.com\/stagingprop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/visitabingdonvirginia.com\/stagingprop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitabingdonvirginia.com\/stagingprop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitabingdonvirginia.com\/stagingprop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/visitabingdonvirginia.com\/stagingprop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitabingdonvirginia.com\/stagingprop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/visitabingdonvirginia.com\/stagingprop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitabingdonvirginia.com\/stagingprop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitabingdonvirginia.com\/stagingprop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}