This book is a very good documentary of the pioneer era in Southwestern Va. It covers the histoy of a farm now owned by Va Tech from its incepion until the present time. It gives a brief history of all the families that have lived there and how most of them are tied together. It also tells of some of he hardships they went through.

This book was very informative. I learned the "behind the scenes" of the great historic preservation movement in action. The book was very in depth and very easy to read!

As I've stated many times, the quality of falcon guidebooks varies immensely. What's more is that even when its from the same author it's inconsistent. Such is the case with this book. The Falcon Guide: Hiking North Carolina (also written by Randy Johnson) is a good book, yet for this book the author has done a very poor job.

The route descriptions are especially lacking in details. As are the trip difficulty scales, not to mention the author completely bypasses mentioning water sources. I don't have any recommendations on general hiking guides to virginia but if the appalchian trail is your cup of tea then look no further than Exploring the Appalachian Trail: The Virginias. That series of books is far more detailed than any of the falcon guides for the area. You'll actually want to take those books to the field because they will do more than just get you to the trailhead and no more like this particular falcon guide does.