This is southwest Virginia.

Yeah, it's gorgeous, isn't it?

And they say there's only one Wytheville, Virginia.

Well, I'm happy to elaborate next on "Beyond Your Backyard".

- [Announcer] Beyond Your Backyard is being brought to you in part by the following.

(suspenseful music) (lively music) The Perillo Tours Foundation.

For 73 years, we've been bringing travelers to Italy.

It's where our heart is.

Escorted tours and custom vacations.

Italy, the dream destination.

- My name is Erik Hastings.

Yeah, that's me.

And for as long as I can remember, I've always loved to travel, and I still do today.

But you know what I've learned?

There's so much more that brings us together than divides us, which is why I've made it my mission to do the very same things you can do, but to take you beyond the experiences, to uncover the soul of every place we visit.

Let me introduce you to the people, the places and the secrets that remind us how exciting it is to share with one another, to understand one another and to realize just how connected we really are.

I am Erik The Travel Guy, and this is "Beyond your Backyard."

Thank you for watching and welcome to Wytheville, Virginia.

Did you know that no other town in the United States is named Wytheville?

That makes this place one of one.

Now, I'm sure you do know that Virginia was one of the original 13 colonies, and this town was established all the way back in 1789 and named after George Wythe, one of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence.

But how did this town survive hundreds of years through economic depression, disease, wars, and social injustice?

Well, the answer may surprise you.

That's why on today's episode, we're gonna learn more about this scenic, geographic beauty that is Wytheville.

We'll meet some of the people that make up the proud local resident population.

And we'll learn this town's role in presidential governing.

It's time to go beyond the exits off the interstate.

So let's get started.

Our trusty map shows us that Wytheville is located in Southwest Virginia, at the crossroads of Interstate 77 and 81.

It's a charming small town filled with thousands of miles of hiking trails, gorgeous vistas, a charming and historic downtown, delicious food, wild animals, the oldest privately-owned attraction in the state and locals who honor its past and are committed to taking care of its residents and visitors alike.

It's a four season sliver of Americana and home to about 8,000 Wythevilians.

So let's start our trip down historic lane.

People might be surprised to learn that for a very small town, there are how many museums here?

- Well, Wytheville itself has six museums.

The town of Wytheville owns and operates four.

- We're gonna start with first.

What is the name of this particular museum?

- Thomas J. Boyd museum.

It's our general history museum.

So you've got a little bit of several different important topics.

- When was the town established?

- 1792.

So location was the original reason for Wytheville.

- That's what my real estate agent said, right?

Location, location, location, right?

- And then because of our climate, we had very cool evenings, low mosquitoes or typhoid fever.

And you just didn't have that here in the mountains.

We became known as a summer resort.

So over the years, up until really the invention of air conditioning, we were a cultural center and a resort center from people from the deep south would come up and spend the summers here.

People would come in early on Saturday mornings, park on Main Street, go to the movie theaters for 10 cents, 25 cents.

We had two movie theaters.

We're a small town, lot of restaurants and shops.

So downtown was bustling until about nine or 10 at night.

- But they wanted to keep that original charm.

- They're doing a project called Heritage Walk that goes through town.

- Will you talk about the late 1700s and into the 1800s of this country.

In this part of the country, life was hard.

Some of these exhibits I'm noticing here is a celebration and education of that.

- Yes, that's what we're trying to impart to the young people coming across today, because they have no concept of what it took to survive, to sustain yourself or your family.

So we are focusing on the early technology, the human energy that was needed for planting, harvesting, the kind of tools they used.

And then we're going into the technology with the mining, which was backbreaking work.

That was the economy of our community.

It was farming, mining, light industry.

- You know, Wytheville was actually renamed after a massive fire.

I mean, it was originally named what?

- [Frances] Evansham.

- [Erik] Why was it renamed Wytheville though?

- [Frances] George Wythe one of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence, very prominent figure.

- So now, we fast forward, of course, into the 1930s and '40s and into the late '40s.

This polio outbreak must have, I wouldn't say taken the town by surprise, but really, for lack of a better, caught the town off guard because of the number of cases.

How many cases of polio in that summer?

- [Frances] 184 cases.

- [Erik] On a population of what?

- [Frances] The town was 5,600, maybe 10,000 in the county.

- That's incredibly high.

And we still don't know why that happened.

- No, we don't.

We know that every summer, you had had polio cases, but for some particular reason, that summer, you had more concentrated and you had a stronger virus.

The Washington Post wrote an article about the town that kept its head.

The thing I think that made Wytheville unique about how we handled it is there was no panic.

They realized, you know, we've probably got an epidemic on our hands here.

And they started bringing people in from the state, from the National Foundation.

They were taking water samples every day.

Swimming pools were closed.

School was put off until later in the year.

The polio exhibit is the most popular exhibit we have.

I think you can see in that exhibit, we try to make it relevant to today so that young people come in and say, oh, that's why we get vaccines.

That's why it's important.

We also do programs with all the county schools.

So we have standards of learning-based activities.

Hands-on, interactive for children, grades pre-K through fifth and sixth, yeah.

- It's a fascinating museum.

It's good to meet you.

- Thank you.

- Thank you for this.

In the course of a historical discussion, it's not always about the place.

It's usually about the people.

And in this case, one of those people was Edith Bolling Wilson.

And while you may not remember that name, history sure does, which is why we're continuing our journey right downtown at the museum of her birthplace.

All right, what's the official name of the museum?

Let's start there.

- So the Edith Bolling Wilson Birthplace Museum.

- Got it, and how appropriate, because this is where she was actually born.

- Yup, right upstairs.

- Got it.

- So they didn't have anything to do downstairs.

They just rented this out, but they own the building and they live throughout the entire second story.

- Well, it's a pretty large building.

There were a lot of people in this building, a lot of family members.

What are the numbers again?

- So there were 11 children, nine of whom lived to be adults.

There's up to 20 people that live in the space.

Two grandmothers, two dogs.

- Oh my gosh.

- 26 canaries.

- Yeah, I was gonna ask you about this.

Now, you have to explain this to me, the canary situation.

- Canaries are a status symbol, or at least they were a status symbol.

So for the first, maybe three centuries of canaries existence, they were for royalty only.

So it was very tightly controlled network.

It was a cartel.

And so they were really, really expensive.

You couldn't breed your own canaries.

And so then they became just a symbol of wealthy.

So you didn't have to be royal anymore, but you still had to be really wealthy.

Taking care of the canaries was probably the most important thing to Grandmother Bolling.

So she entrusted that only to Edith.

- Wouldn't most people not know about Edith?

- The fact that she was the first woman to own and drive an electric car in D.C., that's probably the thing that catches most people by surprise.

But also that she's descended from Pocahontas.

There was one individual that wrote a letter demanding that she be arrested because she drank alcohol in public.

And at the time, there was a federal law forbidding native Americans from drinking alcohol.

- This is the only museum in the world dedicated solely to this subject.

- There's not a whole lot of museums dedicated to first ladies' period.

So yes, this is the only museum dedicated solely to Edith.

So we certainly talk about her time period as first lady.

We talk about her work with the Girl Scouts of America and the American Red Cross, and just how she became this wartime first lady and set the standard for others.

But most of what we tell here is the story of her upbringing, her childhood, the family struggle.

- You actually have interpreters coming almost daily.

- So our first person interpretation program is really phenomenal.

They will go and they will meet with people anywhere.

You know, something like a reenactment to like a Victorian tea or even baseball games, because Woodrow and Edith's first date was to a world series game, which is a great experience, but we take it to people wherever they are.

- Did I get this right?

That when Woodrow Wilson asked Edith to marry him, she turned him down?

- Oh yeah.

- Do we know why she turned him down?

- They'd only known each other for six weeks.

- Okay, well- - So that's a good reason right there.

Also, she would have gone or she did go from being an average person to being first lady of the United States overnight, which, that's a dramatic change and that's not something, three women in history have had that experience, to go overnight to become first lady.

So it really would have been wise for her to take that time and say, let's pause on this.

Let's take some time.

- Let's put a pin on that.

- Let's get to know each other better.

Let me kind of figure out the media and get accustomed to the White House first.

- Very good.

Chris, good to meet you, man.

- Sure, thank you.

- I appreciate it.

Don't be surprised if you manage to spend a half a day looking at every single artifact.

I sure did.

But on my drive in for this episode, I noticed the gorgeous landscapes.

And while you may not be pitching at 10 for the weekend, I opted to stay downtown at the Bolling Wilson hotel.

Nice.

I did take a stroll by one of the two rivers in the world that flow south to north.

That would be the New River.

And thankfully, I had a little help.

There's that intangible thing that keeps people coming back from the first time they visited here.

- It gives people an opportunity to truly relax and unwind.

And at the same time, some of the scenic areas that you can go to up and down this trail and on this river, we have access to.

And so we provide the public a golden opportunity.

- And this land that we're on now, what did this used to be?

It wasn't always a park, what was it?

- One time from 1919 to 1962, it provided a home for some of the children in this area that were homeless.

- A lot of times, we'll see rails to trails.

That's what we're standing on right now, right?

And this used to be?

- [Sam] 57 miles a rail to trail.

- And today, you can come out and you can walk on it.

You can bike on it.

Can you horseback ride on it?

- Yes, you can.

- [Erik] You can.

- We provide guided horseback rides here at Foster Falls at this location.

The access next to Chestnut Creek, there are some beautiful waterfalls here and there.

We've got a couple of tunnels, but over 30 bridges.

- What are some of your favorite times of year to come out and visit?

What time of year?

What do you think?

- Spring, summer, and fall.

People come out all the time to see the birds that are out here and along the trail.

In addition to that, if you are a mountain biker and biker in general, anytime during the year, you can ride.

Of course, the biggest time is probably summer.

But this time of year, fall, fall colors.

A lot of folks like to get out and enjoy, but we also have fishermen.

We're a great place for muskie.

Wildlife in the spring and the fall, catfish throughout the year.

We also do canoe, bike, tub rentals, shot towers a mile.

And in addition to that, if you like to go by the dams, Buck and Byllesby and stuff, they're all that direction.

- Well, I'm glad you mentioned that too, because shot tower, it is more like its name than you might think it is.

What exactly is it?

- Well, they made shot in early 1800s there, and literally, they would melt down to the ore and drop it through a sieve, 150 feet into a kettle pot of water.

And it would create that round musket ball.

- So that little musket ball, they made it there?

That was one of many places, but they made it there.

- Yes.

- That's so cool.

And you can go and see it today?

- Yes, you can.

- Sam, I can't think of a better way to end this interview.

Thanks, man, I appreciate this.

Good to meet you.

- You as well.

- Spending time in the sun, surrounded by stunning vistas always reminds me how beautiful Virginia is.

Here in Wytheville, you can see from miles and miles by climbing to the top of the oldest, privately-owned attraction in the state.

That would be Big Walker Lookout.

When we climbed to the top, I thought I could make out the shape of a giraffe named Cheeto.

Yep, I was right (laughs).

Those are the lovingly cared for residents of Fort Chiswell Animal Park.

Of course, I took a tour.

Your entire family will love this.

I met Humphrey, the camel and Heidi, the caretaker, and had an unforgettable visit.

Heidi is yet another example of a local who cares deeply, not just for the animals, but for her fellow residents of Wytheville.

And there's no finer example of that than the work being done at the Open Door Cafe.

- This is Andy.

Good to meet you, man.

- Nice to meet you too, Erik.

- The work that you are doing here is unbelievably impactful, and you're doing it in a really cool way.

- Yeah, we turned a business model on its head.

We were giving away a free lunch here.

- Well, they, you know, not to make light of this, but I mean, they say there is no such thing as a free lunch.

And you said that that's not true, right?

So help me with this pay what you can.

- Right, so we've been doing a food kitchen, a soup kitchen for a number of years in Wytheville here, and we were really interested in expanding it beyond two days a week.

We wanted to serve more people, but we want to make it sustainable.

The soup kitchen is gonna obviously require lots of donations every single day.

So we had a young intern with us a couple of years ago, who said, have you ever heard of this network, one world, everybody eats and a pay what you can restaurant.

- What was the phrase that you used?

Food insecure.

- Food insecurity, yeah.

So you can go anywhere and you can ask around, poke around and see for a community, what percent of that population is food insecure?

Here in Wytheville, it's around 15% of the population doesn't necessarily know where their next meal's coming from.

- [Erik] Got it.

- They may be on food stamps.

Their children may be getting free and reduced lunches in the school system here in our county.

50% of the students get a free or reduced lunch.

That sounds hard, but there are a lot of communities where it's 70 and 80, 90%.

- Well, once again, this, you know, we talk about, because we are in travel, and we were always talking about places to go and people to meet and museums and hearing Wytheville, it seems to me that what there is to do is homegrown, and you don't have these homegrown experiences, museums and what, without tremendous community support.

- [Andy] Absolutely.

- So it would seem to me that this is the perfect location to serve this community.

- The epitome of community support.

We have 20 volunteers a day.

- Yeah.

- They may be elderly, retirees.

They may be people doing some port service time.

They may be disabled folks, but they're doing, they make it run.

We have two staff.

We got a chef and a manager.

So we've got 20 volunteers.

And then we've got this ratio of about it's about 50-50 right now.

50% of our customers are paying a suggested price of $8 or more.

And 50% are paying $8 or less or nothing.

- Andy, thank you for letting me come by.

- Thanks for coming by.

- Amazing stuff.

- Let's go eat.

- I really appreciate it.

I can eat again, I got no problem with that.

Thank you.

Unbridled generosity here in Wytheville is part of the town's DNA.

And every person I spoke to is proud of their corner of the world.

For instance, I ate well here.

Down-home favorites at the log house, famous, popular, and delicious chili dogs, Virginia wines, local breweries.

I'm really glad the downtown is walkable because I needed to get in my steps, which somehow led me right to Wiffle Pops, where I learned how easy it is to make a crepe for lunch.

Help me out, what is in a crepe?

- [Dewey] Crepe is basically milk, water, butter, salt, flour.

Mix it up really good, mix it up.

- All right, what are we gonna make?

Which one did you select?

- Well, I would, my personal favorite is the Philly.

- Oh, my god, you are speaking my language.

- So our crepe mix is already made up.

- Okay.

- It is better to do it the night before and let it sit overnight.

- Really?

- That's really gonna allow the flour and everything to incorporate.

Now, your water is gonna rise to the top.

You mix it up and this way, you're not gonna have the lumps on it.

- What temperature should we be working with on a stove?

- On the stove, I would go with a medium high, and what we're gonna do, we're gonna get about a half a cup of batter.

- Okay.

- Just kind of drop it right in the center.

- [Erik] And this is specifically designed to do exactly what we want.

- [Dewey] Exactly, and now there's is a little stone, this little wooden piece here, we'll twirl it around.

Take it around a couple of times.

And if there's a hole, don't worry about it.

We can fill it right up.

- I think you've done this before.

This is amazing.

- Once.

Philly gets two scoops of meat.

What about two spoons of onions in there?

Peppers, we got green, yellow, red.

All that just for color and look.

- [Erik] Again, all you did was saute these down, cook these down.

- [Dewey] Correct, and then of course mushrooms, 'cause a steak and cheese and all that without mushrooms- - [Erik] Mustard sandwich.

- So all we're gonna do is now just heat it back up.

So now, that's about ready to flip over.

You wanna make sure you do both sides.

- Come with the flip.

Look at this.

Oh, my gosh.

- It's literally that simple.

- I'm gonna cry right here on my own show.

I love it.

- [Dewey] We'll grab some cheese.

- [Erik] What kind of cheese we working with?

- [Dewey] This here's a mozzarella cheese.

And again, your choice, you can do a provolone.

You can do cheese whiz.

You can do whatever.

You can have mayonnaise, ranch, chipotle ranch.

You can have mustard.

You can put whatever on it.

- [Erik] Mayonnaise.

You gotta put mayonnaise on it.

- [Dewey] All right, and now to do is literally just kind of spread it out through the vegetables.

So you can have it all the way all around and then just kinda drop the meat into it.

- [Erik] My mouth is watering.

- So that's all we're doing now.

And now, we're just gonna fold it up.

- [Erik] And you do the quarter fold, okay.

- [Dewey] Correct.

Grab the plate.

- [Erik] Oh my.

Heaven's sake.

- [Dewey] So you got meat and cheese and peppers and onions and all ready to go.

- Cheers, cheers.

Oh my gosh.

You've done something magical here.

What you've done, no disrespect to bread, none, 'cause I love bread.

Please, I have the size to prove it.

But what you've done is you've sort of removed that giant heavy element out of a phenomenal sandwich.

- Yes.

- It's very light, tender, fluffy.

I'm taking another bite.

I don't know if we're doing a TV show or not.

Are we still rolling?

I don't even know.

I don't care.

This is amazing.

All right, Dewey.

I knocked down three of those things we made earlier and now I'm a little full, but there's always room for dessert.

- Always was room for dessert.

- What are we gonna make here?

- We're gonna make the berry cheesecake.

- [Erik] Now, can I do it?

- [Dewey] I was just gonna ask, do you wanna do at this time?

- [Erik] I'm kind of excited about it.

- If I can just give you a little bit of advice, - Okay.

- [Dewey] This is your access point.

- [Erik] Okay.

- [Dewey] Not this.

- [Erik] Not that.

- [Dewey] If that makes sense.

So if you use that as your middle access to spin it around, not the middle.

- Okay.

- All right?

So I'm gonna step around.

We're gonna get a spoonful or a half a cup.

- Half a cup.

- [Dewey] Grab your little twirly thing.

And actually now's a good time.

And you're actually just kind of balance it, drag it along.

Don't hold it stiff.

Kinda drag it along.

- [Erik] Dewey, I knew this is gonna flip.

- [Dewey] That's right, we got plenty of batter.

- [Erik] Yours look so much better than mine.

- [Dewey] Now, I did it one other time.

This is your first time.

So your next one's gonna be great.

- [Erik] Then what do we do?

- [Dewey] That there's a berry cheesecake.

It's already makes, it has the three berries already blended in.

It has the cream cheese and it, has everything that we need for berry cheesecake.

Now, the secret of it, you see it starting to curl here?

- [Erik] Yeah, and break.

- [Dewey] That means it's ready to be turned.

So you can just kind of get under with that and just kinda flip it up and around if you can.

- [Erik] Oh, I see.

- [Dewey] Right around, look at that.

- We have a comparison shot of mine to Dewey's.

Perfect.

(laughing) - [Dewey] So I usually put about five tablespoons.

So now, you kinda wanna spread it and make it like you're doing a pizza or something like that.

Yeah, exactly.

- [Erik] But really on half, right?

- [Dewey] Exactly.

So actually right now, we're ready to go ahead and fold it over.

- [Erik] Okay.

- [Dewey] We'll go like this just to turn it over.

So that way, I put a crease in it.

So that's where it's gonna fold.

Now, fold it this way.

- [Erik] Oh, we can fold over our mistakes Oh, you're the best, Dewey.

- [Dewey] And then we'll sprinkle some powdered sugar on it.

Just dumping the berries on it.

We're gonna throw a little bit of whip cream, kinda.

- [Erik] Oh, my word, that's incredible.

- [Dewey] Now, this one, you might wanna think about the fork.

- This one, we'll do the fork, 'cause we're civilized people.

- Yes (laughs).

Go for it.

- This idea was your best one.

That flavor is amazing and you really can choose what you wanna do inside there.

- [Dewey] Correct.

- [Erik] Doesn't matter.

Caramel, could put a little ice cream in there.

You put ice cream on top after it comes out.

You can do anything.

Chunk chocolate chip cookie in there.

- [Dewey] You got the opportunity to put a scoop of ice cream or gelato on this.

- [Erik] What's the difference between gelato and ice cream?

'Cause there is a difference.

- It's basically the way it's made.

Gelato is churned a little slower.

So it's richer, denser, more flavorful.

At a molecular level, I guess, it has more air pockets than the ice cream.

- Thank you.

Peanut butter and jelly gelato.

Oh, wow.

- [Dewey] We trim the crust.

There's no crust in there.

- No crust in there at all.

It appears to me as though you really are living your best life here.

- I am.

- Thanks for the tour, we appreciate it.

- Thank you very much.

- Oh, yeah.

Wow, everything I sampled here was delicious.

And every place I sampled here in Wytheville was remarkable, from the museums to dinner theater in the mountains and every point in between.

The scenery, Wytheville's history, and its residence stood out from moment one, proving once again, by taking an exit off an interstate, you might just be rewarded for taking the time to take a little time away.

You know, it's a pretty tall order to exceed expectations, but based on my firsthand experience, this town delivers.

Maybe that's why they say, Wytheville, there's only one.

I'm Erik The Travel Guy.

Thank you for exploring "Beyond your Backyard."

This is the New River trails (laughs).

This is the New River Trail State Park.

Think I'm gonna take the steps.

Justin, say take the elevator down.

Hey, y'all, look out folks, look out.

They don't let me off the bus.

And for good reason.

They heard what happened in Mississippi.

News travels fast to the wild kingdom.

Apparently, my mom has a question.

Mom, I'm busy.

(phone ringing) Mom apparently was not happy that she couldn't reach me.

She'd called Dewey (laughs).

It might be a little rough on the edges, if you know what I mean.

I think I may have had too much coffee.

Coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee.

A guy shaking his groove right there on the side of the road.

(humming) I'm thinking about what mom will say.

You know what?

Now, I'm a little more concerned about your gun belt now.

Is that thing all right?

I'm gonna check a weight limit on this thing.

It's supposed to be for a 10-year-old.

Yeah, I might whip out a margarita on my jacket.

Stranger things have happened on this show, you know?

There's one showing my beard.

- [Announcer] For more information on this episode, visit ErikTheTravelGuy.com.

And while you're there, you'll discover other fascinating destinations just beyond your backyard and links to follow me on social media.

That's ErikTheTravelGuy.com.

(suspenseful music) (lively music) - The Perillo Tourist Foundation.

For 73 years, we've been bringing travelers to Italy.

It's where our heart is.

Escorted tours and custom vacations.

Italy, the dream destination.

- Hi, I'm Erik the Travel Guy.

You know, I've been exploring the world professionally for more than a decade.

And you know what I've learned?

Is that fantastic experiences await you in every corner of the globe, but you don't always have to travel that far to uncover them.

So join me each week as we go on and off the beaten path, learn something new, and sample delicious culinary.

We're exploring "Beyond your Backyard."

(upbeat music)