Western Virginia/McAfee Knob — Finkel Family Adventures

From Charlottesville, we traveled about an hour south to the Appomattox Courthouse. This is the place where General Lee surrendered to General Grant, all but ending the US Civil War. I knew almost nothing about this place prior to visiting, and I was pleased to learn so much on our visit.

Perhaps because it is a courthouse, I had always had this notion that there was a pre-planned time and place for this surrender to take place. The truth is very much the opposite: Lee was surrounded on three sides by Union troops at Appomattox, with the James River behind him. His critical railroad resupply had been intercepted by the Union cavalry that same day. Jefferson Davis, the president of the confederacy, wanted him to continue fighting, but Lee realized the futility.

He basically said, “time and place” to Grant, and being that they were near the little town of Appomattox, they made use of the courthouse to discuss terms of surrender.

The agreement itself was negotiated in the living room of the McLean farm next door. I kept trying to imagine being the owner of that house when both armies knock on the door all “can we borrow your parlor for a few hours?”

We wrapped our visit with a lunch picnic and marked this as the farthest both south and east that we’ll travel on this journey. Then, we headed about two hours west, towards Roanoke, Virginia.

Our camp for two nights was sourced via Hip Camp, a sort of Airbnb for campsites. We’ve had two good experiences in previous years (the goat farm near Cuyahoga Valley and the forest campsite on someone’s private property in Durango). This spot was noted as the most popular Hip Camp in Virginia and I was intrigued!

Set on someone’s private acreage, tucked back near a creek, with a rock face at the back, it felt seriously off-grid. The hosts seemed a little quirky, though also very private. We couldn’t decide if they were homesteading, doomsday prepping, or just avid DIY-ers. They certainly collected plenty of stuff on their property. I noted that the contents of one truckbed included both chain saw and antique typewriter. Ben, knowing his mother, remarked that if we were the owners of this particular Hip Camp, I’d have that stuff all hauled out of there faster than you can say 1-800-JUNK.

But, the location provided for a perfect day in western Virginia. It was only about ten minutes from the trailhead for McAfee Knob (pronounced MACK-uh-fee). This is the most photographed spot on the whole Appalachian Trail and the most popular hike in Virginia. All-Trails clocked us at 8.6 miles, with about 1800 feet of total elevation gain.