Frontier Culture Museum – We’re only an hour from the Virginia border in the Triangle, which makes many spots in Virginia great options for day trips. If farming, architecture and historical daily life interests you, you’ll love The Frontier Culture Museum. Exhibits include reproductions of a Native American farm, early American farm, several European farms and an African farm, as well as an Irish Forge and an early American schoolhouse. 4 hours from the Triangle.
Roanoke is another Virginia destination, just 3 hours from the Triangle, and a wonderful place to visit, with it’s mountain views and “big sky.” The population is just under 100k (think about half the size of Cary) but with a dense urban core, plenty of cultural attractions and a foodie scene to rival any city. While Cary feels small town-ish, Roanoke is like a miniature city, with a small town vibe.
Check out one of the city’s museums such as the Virginia Museum of Transportation or the Taubman Museum of Art while you’re there. If you’re looking for craft brews or a farm-to-table experience, don’t miss Historic Grandin Village.
Since it is fall, trips to the mountains are on many people’s calendar and Asheville is a favorite destination. While you’re there, take a Haunted Comedy Tour on the Lazoom Purple Bus, challenge your problem solving abilities at an Escape Room or nurture your inner artist with a one night pottery class at The Odyssey Center in the River District. If you’d like to time your trip with maximum fall leaf color, check out this Ashville Foliage Guide.
I love how Old Salem, a historic living museum in Winston-Salem, mixes museum-like residences with costumed historian hosts, interspersed with privately owned homes on the same street. Careful not to step into the wrong home! Guides go through their daily routine as it would have been historically and during your visit you may encounter hosts cooking their lunch over their open fire place, crocheting dishcloths, making medicines from medicinal plants, fermenting food for storage or any number of things that dominated the daily life of colonial North Carolinians. This is one of my favorites!
A combination Aquarium, Museum, Zoo & Treetop Adventure Park, you should get a membership to the Greensboro Science Center because you really can’t see everything in one day. You’ll see tigers, maybe closer than you are comfortable with (can’t they scale a chain link fence?) kangaroos, penguins and more in this wonderful collection of animals from around the world.
I would love to hear what your favorite day trips are! Are there any you would add to the list? Leave it in the comments below! For more of my favorites, check out the Harmony Realty Pinterest board, Day Trips from the Triangle.
Ready to start your search for a new home? Wake County Real Estate Search
