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An aerial view of Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge reveals tidal marsh and pristine beach.

photo from Barter Theatre

During the Depression, Porterfield was an out-of-work actor in New York. Nothing notable about that -- today anyone fitting that description is called a "waiter." But times were tough in the 1930s, so Porterfield brought some of his cohorts to his hometown. No one back home had much money for entertainment, but the actors only needed enough to get by. They set up a theater where play-goers could purchase a ticket in exchange for vegetables.

They raised the curtain in June 1933, and the price of admission was 35 cents or the equivalent in produce. "At the end of the first season," according to theater lore, "the Barter company cleared $4.35 in cash, two barrels of jelly, and enjoyed a collective weight gain of over 300 pounds." The lobby holds memorabilia from that time. In 1946, Barter gained official recognition as the state theater of Virginia, and now it's the longest-running professional equity theater in the nation.

The Main Stage production when my husband and I arrived was "The Honky Tonk Angels," a musical featuring country hits. The program described it as the comic escapades of three women: "Darlene, the back-woods dreamer; Angela, the smart-talking, street-wise trailer trash; and Sue Ellen, a frustrated secretary from the city." The show was a tribute to big hair and the women of country music. As we took our seats, my husband leaned over and whispered, "I earn big points for this. Big points." This wasn't my first pick of performances -- I'm not big on musicals, no matter how well-done, and no country stations are pre-programmed on our stereo. But a combination of scheduling woes, bad weather and the flu landed me in Abingdon during this run. Note to prospective visitors: The Barter is dark -- that's closed, in green-room speak -- during January.

I expected to be able to say the performance was pretty good for regional theater, but skip the qualifier. The Barter presented a top-quality, professional performance in an intimate setting. The theater, which seats 507, was packed, but there are no bad seats in the house. The room shook with hand-clapping and foot-tapping from the country-music fans in the audience.

The Barter isn't all about country musicals, however. It's big on variety. Plans for the 1999 season include "Shenandoah," based on the Civil War movie starring Jimmy Stewart, "Wuthering Heights," the comedies "Perfect Wedding" and "Golf with Alan Shepard," and Thorton Wilder's "Our Town." These are Main Stage productions, but there are more offerings across the street at Barter Stage II, which seats 141, and First Light Theater, which during the summer produces plays for young audiences.

While Abingdon overflows with bed and breakfasts within walking distance of the theater, we stayed in digs across the street that, a year after the Barter was founded, housed such aspiring actors as Patricia Neal, Ernest Borgnine and Ned Beatty. At that time, it was a defunct school for girls, Martha Washington College, which closed because of the Depression and declining enrollment. Before that, it had been an impressive mansion built in 1832 by Gen. Francis Preston. It is now the renowned Martha Washington Inn, one of the top hotels in Virginia and part of the Historic Hotels of America program. Instead of a mint on the pillow, the Martha offers guests a carafe of complimentary sherry.

I'd heard good things about dinner in the Martha's dining room, but instead we headed a few blocks down the street to The Tavern. Built in 1779, it began as a tavern and inn for stagecoach travelers, with such notable guests as Louis Phillippe, the king of France, and President Andrew Jackson. The building saw many uses through the years -- it was even a hospital for wounded Civil War soldiers. One hundred years later, Mary Dudley Porterfield, wife of the Barter founder, acquired the Tavern. But Max and Kathy Hermann have owned and operated it since 1994.

The restaurant has a true tavern feel: Our table in one of many rustic, low-ceiling rooms was almost too cozy, as it backed up to one of the gas fireplaces that warm the place on chilly nights. Max Hermann brings his native Germany to the menu, although there's fare for any taste. Entrees include salad and the "starch du jour." Don't be put off when the wine comes to the table uncorked, a touch of incongruity in a place with a reputation for fine dining. Hermann says they do it that way every time.

Timing is everything on a trip to Abingdon -- I didn't leave enough hours to browse in the shops and boutiques, to hit Sunday brunch at the Martha, or to visit the town's other notable historic sites. I even missed my chance to take a leisurely walk on the Virginia Creeper Trail, a rails-to-trails project not too far from downtown.

If I'd really planned it right, the trip would have coincided with the Virginia Highlands Festival, which ranks among the top 20 tourist events in the Southeast and draws more than 200,000 people. In addition to special theater offerings, the festival features antiques, arts and crafts, re-enactments, writers' workshops, music, dancing -- you name it. Last year's festival also had gardening workshops, a film festival and tours of the Ice Age excavation and research taking place in nearby Saltville. This year's festival runs from July 31 to Aug. 15, but make reservations early. "We will sell out for a lot of those shows," says the Barter's Marsha Miller.

Porterfield's tribute to the arts lives on in this Southwest Virginia town, not only with the theater, but with the festival. He began the festival to celebrate and preserve the region's cultural heritage. The first festival was held in 1949, so expect this year's 50th anniversary celebration to be a big one. At the least, it gives me a reason to head back down the interstate.

© APRIL 1999, Media General Business Publications Inc.,
publisher of Virginia Business Magazine