Roanoke Guide

Roanoke is the Blue Ridge’s biggest city and the capital of southwest Virginia, and its symbol glows over it every night: the Mill Mountain Star, an 88.5-foot man-made star strung with 2,000 feet of neon, built by the merchants’ association in 1949 and lit the very first time on Thanksgiving Eve that year. It’s billed as the largest freestanding illuminated star in the world, it’s visible for 60 miles, and the overlook beside it hands you the whole valley. Downtown, the Historic Roanoke City Market is one of the oldest continuously operating open-air markets in Virginia, and the Taubman Museum of Art occupies a swooping, angular Randall Stout building that looks like it landed from a bolder city. Roanoke was a railroad town, and it still feels like the crossroads it was built to be.