The first leg of our road trip was Charlotte to Harpers Ferry WV, a roughly 6 hour drive. We were staying the night in Harpers Ferry but wouldn’t arrive in time to do any sightseeing that day. So I wanted to be sure we broke up the trip and made at least one stop along the way.
Since this would be a longish driving leg, I just wanted a quick stop, some sort of roadside attraction or scenic viewpoint that wasn’t too far off our path. I already had Luray Cavern and Natural Bridge planned for the trip back so I struggled to find something else that fit the bill.
The night before we left, I finally settled on Big Walker Lookout, which claims to be Virgina’s oldest private scenic attraction. It is a 100 foot observation tower dating back to 1947 with incredible views spanning 5 states.
I had stumbled across this place a few times in my research but could never quite figure it out. I knew there was a country store there too but thought there had to be more to it than just a lookout and a store. It had 450 google reviews with 4.6 stars after all. There was mention of live music and book signings and local artisans. I figured it was probably a whole market type place with a festival vibe to it.
Boy was I wrong. It is literally just a store and a lookout tower. And run down at that. And it is on the corner of two highways, not on some lush, scenic grounds like I had envisioned. An old store, a gravel parking lot, and a rickety tower. That was it.
Now in fairness, we didn’t even get to go up the tower because it was so foggy. There was patchy fog at the bottom of the mountain but it kept threatening to clear up so I decided to give it a try. I had read a lot of reviews from people who said they almost didn’t go because it was foggy but the fog miraculously lifted at the top to give them an incredible view.
We weren’t so lucky. The fog got thicker instead of thinner. (And, by the way, it was much more of a commitment off the I-77 / I-81 interchange and up the mountain than I had anticipated. This was not a 10 minute side trip.) I literally laughed out loud as we climbed higher up the mountain and the fog grew thicker around every curve. But there was no way to turn around even if we wanted to. We were committed. When we reached the lookout and I saw what it was, I immediately regretted coming up.
I’ve seen a photo taken from the same exact spot where my boys are standing below and there was indeed a lovely mountain view. But on our visit the fog was too thick to see to the edge of the property, let alone to the mountains beyond.
Clearly, the fine folks at Big Walker Lookout cannot do anything about the fog. And I don’t hold it against them. But I continued my foggy climb up the mountain because I was holding out hope that there would be more up there to make our side trip worthwhile, and there just wasn’t.
The store sold a huge variety of random stuff. The boys absolutely loved looking through it. They could have spent an hour and a lot of money there. But despite the claims of selling largely “local” and “handmade” goods, I found that the majority of things were your typical made-in-China tchotchkes. It reminded me of a worn-down Cracker Barrel gift shop.
There was a small table with autographed copies of books by local authors, and there were definitely some products made by local artists on sale. These things just weren’t the majority of what was sold. The “LOVE” sign outside the store was artsy and unique though.
The thing that saved the entire trip for us was the ice cream. Oh my goodness, the ice cream. This actually was locally made and it was delicious. The boys still talk about it as the best ice cream they’ve ever had.
Having seen photos online of the view from Big Walker Lookout, it absolutely looks gorgeous on a clear day. But there are plenty of other spots along the route to get great views. For us, it was not worth the detour. The reviews I read made it sounds like it would be a happening place, fog or not. But on a summer Saturday afternoon, we just found a sleepy little store on the side of the road and a roadside attraction that seemed borderline unsafe and well past its prime.
