The Blue Ridge Institute and Museum is the largest folklife museum in the Old Dominion. It is the official State Center for Blue Ridge Folklore and a major venue along The Crooked Road: Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail. Since the early 1970s the institute has documented and presented the folk heritage of the Blue Ridge Mountains and surrounding regions.
The daily-life traditions of music, crafts and customs take center stage at the Blue Ridge Institute, the only Virginia museum dedicated to folklore and folklife. From festivals and concerts to exhibits, workshops and publications, the institute offers educational and entertaining programming of unmatched quality and authenticity.
- Museum Galleries showcase the best of regional folkways through self-guided rotating exhibitions.
- Blue Ridge Heritage Archive contains thousands of photographs, audio and video recordings, manuscripts and other documents. Holdings date from 1780 to the present.
- Museum Store offers hard-to-find authentic folk crafts, wooden-ware and baskets, recordings that showcase the musical heritage of Virginia folk culture, and books .
Across the road is the institute’s Blue Ridge Farm Museum, a re-created 1800s Virginia-German farmstead featuring living history demonstrations, heirloom gardens, historic breed of livestock, and unique hands-on activities. Open Seasonally.
Lectures/Guided tours/Group tours available by reservation. Open year-round. For hours and information, visit www.blueridgeinstitute.org.
