Castle Rock

Backyard Tourist Spotlight on Castle Rock Golf & Recreation

Backyard Tourist Spotlight on Castle Rock Golf & Recreation

Castle Rock Golf & Recreation is located at 900 Castle Rock Drive in Pembroke, Giles County, Virginia. They have been open since the mid 1960’s and serving the public ever since, and the operations are managed by Adam Harman.

Castle Rock Golf & Recreation strives to ensure your whole family can find enjoyment with their 18-hole golf course, Junior Olympic size swimming pool, club house, lighted tennis courts, outside picnic shelter, 15 picnic tables, and two charcoal grills. Memberships are available to enjoy all of these amenities and the golf course is welcoming to the public. The 19th Hole, the additional meeting space at Castle Rock, is available for renting for civic and corporate meetings, showers, parties, or workshop space. Contact the Office of Tourism & Marketing, at (540) 921-2079, for more information on renting the space.

Castle Rock Golf & Recreation overlooks the New River Water Trail and its’ namesake “Castle Rock”, in Giles County. The views from the course are of breathtaking vistas of the surrounding Blue Ridge Mountains. In 2017, Castle Rock Golf course was recognized as the 2nd Best Golf Course in Southwest Virginia by Virginia Living Magazine.

They are open seven days a week from 8am to 7pm. They can be reached at 540-626-7276 or online or on Facebook.

Happy Business Appreciation Month and National Teacher Appreciation Month!

Link to website: http://www.castlerockgolf.club/

Link to Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Castle-Rock-Golf-Club-273538837334/

Ballads - Mtn. Lake

The Crooked Road & Mountains of Music Homecoming

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Mountains of Music

May 22, 2017

Contact: Jack Hinshelwood, Executive Director
The Crooked Road & Mountains of Music Homecoming
(276) 492-2402 O, (540) 239-2110 M
jhinshelwood@thecrookedroad.org

Karen Tessier
Mountains of Music Homecoming Public Relations
(828) 398-5250 O, (828) 231-6268 M
ktessier@mktconnections.com
 

Scotland’s Archie Fisher Joins Crooked Road Artists in Ballad Event at Mountain Lake Lodge for Crooked Road’s 2017 Mountains of Music Homecoming

 

Abingdon, VA: Renowned Scottish folk and ballad singer Archie Fisher will join Kay Justice, Rich Kirby and Carol Elizabeth Jones on the Gazebo Lawn at Mountain Lake Lodge in Pembroke on Monday, June 12 at 7:00 PM.  This special concert is part of the 2017 Mountains of Music Homecoming.  In the event of rain the concert will move indoors to Mary’s Barn.

 

Archie Fisher, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, grew up in a musical family. In the 1960s and 1970s, Fisher performed regularly with his younger sister Ray on television in Scotland.  He recorded his first album in 1968, and thereafter appeared as a backing musician (on guitar) and arranger for the legenday Irish artists Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy.  In the 1970s, Fisher recorded his acclaimed albums, The Man With A Rhyme and Will Ye Gang, Love.  In 1996, Fisher’s next album, Sunsets I’ve Galloped Into, was spotlighted on National Public Radio.  Following the success of that release, Archie toured throughout North America with British guitarists John Renbourn and Bert Jansch.  Fisher has released two subsequent albums, Windward Away (2008) and A Silent Song (2015), combining performances of his own compositions with those of traditional Scottish songs.  Fisher is a consummate guitarist whose intricate playing creates the perfect backdrop for his warm, almost hypnotic baritone singing voice.

 

For several decades Scott County native Rich Kirby has been committed to uplifting old-time mountain music in multiple roles – as performer, researcher, radio host, record producer, and workshop leader.  During the 1970s, he performed with John McCutcheon and Tom Bledsoe as the trio known as Wry Straw, and he recorded three albums for the June Appal label, including an acclaimed album of coal mining songs recorded with folklorist Michael Kline.  In 1978, Kirby produced an album of his grandmother’s ballads, Been A Long Time Traveling, and in 2015 he produced the compilation album, The Very Day I’m Gone: The Songs of Addie Graham, featuring performances of his grandmother’s repertoire by a range of talented roots musicians, including Kirby himself.   Kirby carries on the ballad tradition with many of his grandmother’s songs as well as being an accomplished performer on banjo, guitar, and fiddle.

 

Kay Justice, a respected folk and old-time singer, lives in Wytheville, Virginia.  She has a rich repertoire of traditional songs and ballads. She has recorded three critically acclaimed albums as a duo with Ginny Hawker – Signs & Wonders, Come All You Tenderhearted, and Bristol: A Tribute to the Music of the Original Carter Family.  Justice has been a master artist with the Apprenticeship Program of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.

 

The evening will be rounded out with Carol Elizabeth Jones, a songwriter and acclaimed traditional singer with many albums to her credit.  These include two as part of the folk duo Jones and Leva, two of country and bluegrass duets with Laurel Bliss, an album with Hazel Dickens and Ginny Hawker, and a solo album entitled Cataloochee.  A regular on Garrison Keillor’s, A Prairie Home Companion, she has performed with several groups and toured Africa and Southeast Asia as a cultural ambassador for the U.S. Information Agency.  Her ballad singing will be showcased on a compilation of Appalachian balladry to be released by the Great Smoky Mountains Association in 2017.

 

Tickets to this very special concert event are available online at www.mtnsofmusic.com and at the Giles County Visitors Center (540) 921-2079. You can also call the Chamber of Commerce at (540) 921-5000.

 

Attendees to this concert can also visit “From These Woods,” an exhibit of works by highly skilled Appalachian artisans at the Moss Arts Center at Virginia Tech, one of over 130 cultural events that are part of the Homecoming.

 

The Mountains of Music Homecoming is an extraordinary nine-day music and cultural showcase event that stretches across the 330 miles of The Crooked Road, Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail. With 25 featured concerts and 130 cultural events, the Mountains of Music Homecoming invites travelers to follow the music through the heart of the scenic, culturally rich Crooked Road region. The theme for the 2017 Mountains of Music Homecoming is The Year We Sang.

 

The Crooked Road’s 76-page Official Guide to the 2017 Mountains of Music Homecoming is free and available at all Virginia Welcome Centers, at Southwest Virginia public library branches, and at Southwest Virginia branches of New Peoples Bank, the Bank of Marion, and Union Bank & Trust. In Giles County, guide books are available at the Visitors Center.

 

The Crooked Road is grateful for the generous support of the Virginia Department of Housing and Economic Development, David and Judie Reemsnyder, Blue Ridge Beverage, Mountain Lake Lodge, Union Bank & Trust, WDBJ-7, and Chantilly Farm for helping to make the 2017 Homecoming possible.  For tickets, schedules and more information about all Mountains of Music Homecoming concerts and cultural events, visit www.mtnsofmusic.com.

 

For hi-res images and more info, click here.

Caution on the New River due to very high flows

Memorial Day weekend typically brings many people to Giles County to enjoy the beautiful New River.  Unfortunately, the recent heavy rains have created very high flows which are currently at more than 30,000 cubic feet per second creating a gauge reading at Glen Lyn of 9.6 feet.  While below flood stage, this volume of water can create dangerous conditions and extremely strong currents in many parts of the river.  We ask that you carefully consider skill levels, equipment, and river conditions prior to getting on the river.  Depending on the weather, improved conditions are forecast for later this weekend.  We encourage you to monitor these conditions at the National Weather Service website.

http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=rnk&gage=gllv2 which is specific to the Glen Lyn gauge or visit  http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/index.php?wfo=rnk   which will give you access to stream gauges across the region.

Extended Giles County Scavenger Hunt Until July

Extended Giles County Scavenger Hunt Until July

Giles County, VA- The excitement has been building for the second annual Giles County Scavenger Hunt and now there’s more news to share. Participants can still register and attempt to complete as much or as little of the 50+ items until the 4th of July festivities in the Town of Narrows! If you are a resident of Giles, chances are good that you’ve hiked and taken a picture at Cascade Falls in Pembroke, Virginia. Many of you have also enjoyed a meal at The Palisades Restaurant in the Village of Eggleston. Right Turn, Clyde Brewing Company (RTC) in Narrows is sponsoring the Hunt and all proceeds will benefit the Giles County Access to Community College Education (A.C.C.E.) Fund.

 

 

To participate you can either visit RTC during their evening business hours, get the hunt list, and pay the $2 registration or, Monday through Friday 9am to 5pm you can visit the Narrows Town Hall or the Giles County Visitors Center, located with the Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Marketing Office at 203 N. Main St, Pearisburg. Upon registering each user will receive the hunt list that includes 51 different tasks to complete and their official entry wrist band. Each photo must have the wristband visible for it to count. There are three levels of tasks that make it easy for a youth or family adventure, or you can try to conquer them all!

 

Scavenging and finding the items may be hard enough for some, but to qualify participants may also need to take a picture at the location and share to social media or with us with photos. Follow along on the journey by watching #GilesHunt on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. All entries should be returned, including all items needed according to the list, to the Narrows Homecoming Celebration at the Narrows Town Park on July 4th. You should stop in and see the RTC folks in the Beer Garden! If participants are unable or finish early, their lists and items can be returned to the Giles County Visitor Center in Pearisburg during the work week.

 

Prizes will be given and an overall winner will win the official, custom made Giles County Scavenger Hunt trophy that will stay on display at RTC, and the bragging rights. How well do you know Virginia’s Mountain Playground™? Are you up for the Hunt?

 

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For more information about planning your visit to Giles County or about activities and events, please visit www.gilescounty.org or contact us at tourism@gilescounty.org.

May 12-14 Kairos Motorsport Weekend

Kairos to Host Motorsport Weekend May 12-14

 

Giles County, VA- The newest tourism destination property in Giles County, is hosting their first Motorsport Weekend, May 12-14. Kairos Wilderness Resort, home to the recent New River 500, is a 1,500 acre mountain top property in the western part of Giles County and eastern part of Mercer County, West Virginia. A more than 1,500 acre haven situated adjacent to the beautiful New River, just west of Glyn Lyn, in Giles County, Virginia; the vision of Kairos is to create an atmosphere where people of all ages can experience positive, memorable moments. Kairos provides a picturesque setting where there are numerous breathtaking views, as well as beautifully wooded serene areas. Kairos offers camping in wilderness settings or in the RV campground. There are 40+ miles of trails and roads for hiking, mountain bike riding, horseback riding, or guided motorcycle trips. These services are coming available June 1 when the property opens officially. For now, guests are encouraged to participate in any one of their special events.

 

 

The Kairos Motorsport Weekend happens May 12-14, 2017. Included in registration is exclusive access to the network of trails on the expansive property and camping onsite. Full hookups in the RV and camper campground area or primitive camping sites are available in addition to the bathhouse and Ed’s Place, a gathering indoor area near the campsites for socializing or to utilize for meals. Full hookups camping is $130 per rider and an additional $10 for passengers. Primitive camping sites for the weekend are $50 per rider and also $10 for a passengers. Passengers must be on the same vehicle. This additional item can be added on during registration.

 

Photo credit Sam Dean for Kairos Wilderness Resort

 

All participants for the Motorsport Weekend must pre-register and can do that via Facebook or Eventbrite until May 10th at 5pm. The event kicks off after 6pm on May 12th when guests are welcomed to the property to set camp. Riders and their passengers can then explore the miles of trails on both Saturday and Sunday. For this event no food service is provided but local options and grocery stores have everything you will need. Dual sport, dirt bikes, ATVs, and UTVs are welcome to experience the 40+ miles of trails on this expansive, premier property that will soon feature bookable event space, a wedding venue, cabins, and more.

 

Future events and bookings will be available for all of the Kairos services through their newly launched website, KairosResort.com. With an official opening day of June 1 for the renting of campsites and access to other guided services, this May Motorsport Weekend is the perfect opportunity to get in before the crowd and experience first-hand the heightened experience at Kairos. Stay up-to-date with event announcements by following the event on Facebook, by searching ‘Kairos Open Trail Day’ or visiting GilesCounty.org. Tickets are now available online at https://kairosmotorsportweekend.eventbrite.com.

 

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For more information about planning your visit to Giles County or about activities and events, please visit www.gilescounty.org or contact us at tourism@gilescounty.org.