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�Down Home In Bedford"

One of Virginia�s fastest-growing communities, picturesque Bedford is home to the national D-Day monument.  

Bedford, Virginia, is a rich mother-lode for history buffs, with its restored late-19th-century downtown historic district, antique shops welcoming customers on nearly every corner, and abundance of antebellum and Victorian-era residences, all of which have a story to tell.

At the same time, the city of Bedford and Bedford County, which surrounds it, are witnessing explosive residential, business and industrial growth. The county, according to demographers, is developing at a pace almost rivaling that of Virginia�s urban crescent.

Yet with its low crime rate, comparatively reasonable real estate taxes, and hospitable, friendly people, Bedford�s a place that is easy to call home, whether you�re a descendant of some of the area�s 18th-century settlers, or a newcomer from another region of the country.

A decade ago, Bedford was listed in a publication called �America�s 100 Best Small Towns,� praised as an ideal place to put down roots, raise a family, or start a business.

Located between the metropolitan areas of Roanoke and Lynchburg in the western Piedmont of central Virginia, Bedford is home to the National D-Day Memorial. Bedford was selected for this honor, and the majestic monument constructed to commemorate it, because the region lost 19 soldiers the first day of the D-Day assault in World War II. This was the highest per-capita loss of life for a community its size during the June 6, 1944, invasion of the coast of Normandy, France.

On June 6, 2001, President George W. Bush and 20,000 others, including local and foreign dignitaries, gathered atop the City of Bedford�s highest pinnacle to dedicate the $25 million memorial. The memorial site covers 88 acres. 

Overlord Arch greets each visitor as an impressive, 44-foot structure with a polished, green granite fa�ade that bears the word �Overlord,� the code name of the Normandy landing. Below the arch, a featured piece of statuary called Final Tribute stands as an acknowledgement of the sacrifices made during the assault.

Victory Plaza, surrounding the massive arch, includes five points of inlaid granite representing the five Normandy beaches. Flags of the 12 Allied nations supplying forces or materials during the invasion stand at the perimeter of the plaza.

Water cascades down a 16-foot granite wall, representing the wartime architecture of German bunkers, to what is surely the most moving part of the memorial. It is here, amid water jets zipping like machine-gun fire from a pool at the base of the wall, that statuary has been placed depicting the struggles and deaths of soldiers on the Normandy beaches.

A peaceful and reverent site, the memorial offers panoramic views of the city below, as well as the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Future plans for the memorial include construction of a 49,000-square-foot educational center that will showcase a theater, lecture hall, galleries, compelling exhibits, programs and projects designed to preserve and interpret the history and lessons of D-Day.

First Called Liberty

First called Liberty when it was founded in 1782, tradition says the city took its name for one of two reasons, namely, because of Patrick Henry�s great speech on �liberty� or because of the newly gained freedom the colonies had so recently won from England. The county, and later, the city, adopted the current name from John Russell, Duke of Bedford (Bedfordshire, England).

Today, through a new organization called the Bedford International Alliance, and because of its ties to European communities developed during and after World War II, Bedford has forged twinning relationships with several villages hugging the beaches of Normandy, France, and Bedford, England.

Most of the buildings along both sides of Bridge Street in the city were at one time constructed of wood, so that when a fire was discovered early on the morning of Oct. 12, 1884, very little could be done to save the heart of downtown. There was no organized fire department and a meager water supply, so soon the core of the city succumbed to a huge blaze. The fire, however, proved a blessing in disguise, for when the owners rebuilt, the business establishments were made larger and of more permanent material such a brick. 

Those buildings, occupied by book shops, antique, hardware and furniture stores, quaint eateries and other businesses, stand today, refurbished to their late 19th-century splendor thanks to Bedford�s designation as a Virginia Main Street city in 1985.

Bedford Main Street, Inc., a tax-exempt organization empowered as a public-private partnership to help Centertown Bedford promote a positive image, revitalize the economic base and preserve local character, organizes or co-sponsors a variety of public celebrations and events each year. These include street festivals such as Centerfest (held the last Saturday in September and attracting as many as 10,000 spectators to downtown for the event); the Christmas parade; retail sales; public concerts, most recently �blues and barbecue� and July 4 jazz concerts, with part of the proceeds benefiting the National D-Day Memorial; and Memorial Day ceremonies. 

Bedford Main Street manages and schedules events at the Bedford Farmers� Market, where local growers market their produce from spring until the end of the year. The organization also manages events at the community stage.

On the historical stage, third president Thomas Jefferson and Confederate General Robert E. Lee played prominent roles in 19th-century Bedford. Jefferson�s Bedford County retreat, the octagonal Poplar Forest estate, completed in the first decade of the 19th century, is a popular tourist destination near Lynchburg. Avenel, built in the 1830s and once the centerpiece of a thriving southern plantation, was visited frequently by Lee, a close friend of the home�s original owner. Avenel, also reputedly the haunt of a lady ghost attired in mid-19th-century garb, also is open to tourists. Both Poplar Forest and Avenel are favorite sites for community club meetings, special dinners, weddings and receptions.

Bedford has witnessed many improvements and positive developments during the last decade, all aimed at quality of life and services for its residents and entrepreneurs. Among them were construction of a new Bedford central library and several branch libraries in the county, a new Bedford Elementary School, renovation of the old Bedford Elementary School for use as a middle school, Liberty Lake Park, which includes ball fields, a lake stocked with trout and other game fish, a community center, picnic shelters and hiking trails, one of them specially designed for disabled visitors. The community also boasts a new visitor and tourism center, jointly owned by the city and county, near the site of the National D-Day Memorial, an expanded central YMCA with a branch in Moneta on the south side of Bedford County near Smith Mountain Lake, and another YMCA facility planned in Huddleston, also near the lake.

�I think I owe that much respect to those boys,� he says of why he comes. �I think people should know what happened, and I think it helps them to talk to someone who was there. Tourists walk up, shake my hand, and tell me they appreciate what I did.

National D-Day Monument

Purpose: To memorialize the valor, fidelity and sacrifices of the Allied forces on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

Memorial Hours: Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Closed on Christmas Day, New Year�s Day and Thanksgiving Day. Openings before or after normal operating hours by special arrangement.

Foundation office hours: Open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed on Christmas Day, New Year�s Day and Thanksgiving Day.

For more information, call 540-586-DDAY.

Peaks of Otter, Blue Ridge Parkway

Nestled between two of the three mountains that make up the Peaks of Otter in Bedford County is the Peaks of Otter Lodge and Restaurant, located at Milepost 86 on the Blue Ridge Parkway and open all year. The lodge is the flagship of a chain of visitor concessions strung along the Virginia portion of the Parkway. All are owned and operated by the Virginia Peaks of Otter Company under contract with the National Park Service.

In addition to the lodge, other visitor locations include: The Camp Store and Bus Station, located near the Peaks of Otter Lodge; a service station, also located at the Peaks of Otter Lodge; The Otter Creek Restaurant, located at Milepost 60.8, about 27 miles from the lodge and restaurant.

The Peaks of Otter also has scenic shaded picnic grounds, campgrounds, cabins and hiking trails, including one that offers a vigorous hike to the top of Sharp Top Mountain.

Call 540-586-1081 or 800-542-5927 for more information.

Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest

Poplar Forest, Bedford County home of third U.S. President Thomas Jefferson, offers 40-minute guided tours of Jefferson�s octagonal house from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, from April through November, except Thanksgiving Day.

Tour topics include Jefferson�s design and construction of his retreat, located off U.S. 221 in Forest (Bedford County), his landscape design, the plantation community, the rescue of the property and its restoration.

Tours also include the hands-on history pavilion, which is available daily Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The pavilion features activities from Jefferson�s era, including brick making, building a bucket, and writing with a quill pen. There is also a toddler�s corner with puzzles and coloring pages. Adults must accompany children to the hands-on area.

Self-guided grounds tours are also available. Visitors can walk the grounds with brochures describing the site and the enslaved workers. They also can view the exhibits at the restoration workshop, archaeology laboratory, slave-quarter site, and in the lower level of the house. Also available in the lower level of the house is a 15-minute film on the restoration work and archaeological excavations.

For ticket prices and additional information, call 434-525-1806.

Smith Mountain Lake

Beautiful, 23,000-acre Smith Mountain Lake, with approximately 500 miles of shoreline, lies along the southern border of Bedford County. The lake offers water sports, outdoor recreation, and a variety of other leisure activities. You can call the Welcome Center at 540-721-1203 or 800-676-8203.

Smith Mountain Lake State Park, on Va. 626, covers 1,506 acres with 16 miles of shoreline, a public beach, fishing, boating, swimming, hiking trails, picnicking, camping, a public boat ramp, furnished cabins (off-water as well as lakefront) and interpretive programs. Call 540-297-6066 for more information.