This is the seventh in our series profiling the hometowns of current (and past) members of the Penn State Women’s Volleyball team. Today we look at Purcellville, Virginia, the hometown of Penn State All American Blair Brown.
Purcellville, Virginia is a town of 6200 (January, 2006) located 50 miles from Washington, D.C. in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains (with its own newspaper, the Purcellville Gazette).
Let’s start with a quick tour of the town, including Trail’s End Bicycles (at the end of the beautiful Washington & Old Dominion (the “W & OD”) Trail) and Nichols Hardware: “the oddest store in Loudoun County.”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLvMtl-Jx7c[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyYx7i1vXy0[/youtube]
Here’s more on the W & OD Trail – we’re tempted to rent a bike right now:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwFZ82TnVj8[/youtube]
[To see film clips of the W & OD from the 1920s to 1930s, Click Here]
Whether you bicycle on the W & OD or drive into Purcellville, you’ll want to check out the restaurants. We enjoy — OK, we’re addicted to — barbecue. In Purcellville, there’s Main Street Wings & Things, with New York Style Buffalo Wings (the owners were raised there) and 20 other popular wings flavors. Cue watering mouth. For more variety (other than wings), you might try Magnolias at the Mill. Take a look:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgKGb-U6zts[/youtube]
In addition to great food, Loudoun County is wine country. You might want to visit Breaux Vineyards, only five miles outside of Purcellville, which is host to the annual Breaux Vineyards Harvest Festival:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fudVOogwK7M[/youtube]
After you finish your meal (or your visit to the vineyards), you might consider taking a Walking Tour through Purcellville (DigNittany’s elite, but singularly cynical team of statisticians and researchers insists we are merely attempting to justify the next round of barbecue, but it really is a nice walk). Here are people doing just that on Christmas in 2007:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N-CKJBViT0[/youtube]
If you enjoy riding, Loudoun County is the capital of Virginia’s horse country:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huIKKtff2n4[/youtube]
Purcellville also is home to the Franklin Park Performing & Visual Arts Center, an impressive facility whose goal is to provide the residents of Loudoun County with quality performing, visual and literary arts programming in an accessible, affordable manner. Their slogan: “Art Builds Communities”:
Here’s a performance at the Center on March 28, 2009 by the Sam Grow Band:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH5_zl8h-aM[/youtube]
Whether it’s the spirit of a small town, the natural beauty of the Blue Ridge, the great food and drink, the outdoor recreation, or the opportunities for music, theatre and the visual arts, people have built a very nice community in Purcellville.