City of Lexington

At just 2.5 sq. miles, Lexington is second only to Falls Church as the smallest of Virginia’s independent cities. Located in the Shenandoah Valley, roughly mid-way between Staunton to the north and Roanoke to the south, it forms a pair with the City of Buena Vista, located just seven miles east across Interstate 81. The city also serves as the county seat of Rockbridge County, which completely engulfs it. Lexington is mostly known as a college town, and is home to both Washington & Lee University and Virginia Military Institute. These schools, and the city, are also steeped in Civil War history, a fact which remains an important—if occasionally divisive—part of Lexington’s identity today. In the popular imagination, Lexington is frequently associated with Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, who taught at VMI prior to the outbreak of the war. It is also associated with General Robert E. Lee’s post-Civil War career, as following the conclusion of the war Lee settled into a role as the president of what was then known as Washington College, but has since been renamed Washington & Lee in honor of its erstwhile president. Both Lee and Jackson are buried in Lexington, and while Lee’s beloved horse Traveler was given the honor of being buried nearby its owner, Jackson’s horse Little Sorrel has been somewhat more roughly handled, and is mounted and on display at the VMI museum. In recent years, the city has sought to reevaluate its relationship to its Civil War history in order to acknowledge the contested legacies of Lee and Jackson while making the community more inclusive; a significant part of this reevaluation is renaming the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery, an initiative which is still in-progress as of September 2020.

Its small size, as well as the relative lack of intact habitat, make Lexington one of the more challenging jurisdictions in Virginia from a birding perspective. Coming into the city from the north, one of the first places birders will encounter is Jordans Point Park, located on an island in the Maury River. This park is one of the better birding opportunities in the city, as it combines a wooded section with some edge habitat and views of the river (though this straddles the county line). In winter, it is a good place to find mixed feeding flocks, while it can occasionally yield migrant passerines in the spring. The Maury River can sometimes be good for waterfowl, though birders concerned with county lists may find the shared boundary frustrating. In spring, the river can also be a good place to find aerial insectivores including swallows, swifts, and nighthawks. Alongside Jordans Point, the under-birded Uncas Trail offers public access to one of the largest woodland tracts in the city and traverses a mile-long stretch on a high bluff overlooking the Maury. Another good birding spot is Lime Kiln Bridge Park, which serves as an access point for the Woods Creek Trail, a riparian buffer zone that is maintained along Woods Creek. The trail is another good area to find winter flocks and spring migrants, while the creek can often have species like Great Blue Heron or Belted Kingfisher that are otherwise tough in a city with few bodies of water. Two cemeteries, Evergreen and Stonewall Jackson Memorial, are good places to find species such as Chipping Sparrow that prefer more open areas. Evergreen Cemetery also has some wood edges that can be productive at times. Birding in Lexington is limited by the lack of any standing water, so most ducks and shorebirds are quite difficult in the city.

Assessing notable records for Lexington is somewhat difficult due to the difficulty of ascertaining precise locations for historic records, but there are a number of records from “Lexington” which may or may not be from the city proper. These include Lark Bunting, Harris’s Sparrow, Yellow Rail, Clapper Rail, Least Tern, Swallow-tailed Kite, Common Tern, and Snow Goose.

—Matt Anthony

Hotspots

Amenities

Although it is small, Lexington is nothing if not charming, and visiting birders will find plenty of non-birding ways to pass an afternoon here. Much of the action is to be found in the downtown historic district between Preston and Henry Streets. This area is home to a delightful array of boutiques, eateries, galleries, and other shops that are both eclectic and easily explored in a few hours. In the morning, a stop at Lexington Coffee Shop is essential to fuel up for the day, while just a few doors down, Sweet Treats Bakery offers breakfast sandwiches and pastries. While Lexington has fewer dining options than larger cities, there are still plenty of choices. For a more upscale experience, consider visiting either the Southern Inn, the Red Hen, or Haywood’s (and also consider making a reservation first!). Macado’s, a regional chain, offers a robust selection of specialty sandwiches. A must-visit for dessert is Sweet Things Ice Cream Shoppe, located adjacent to the Washington & Lee Campus. Craft beer aficionados will certainly wish to visit Heliotrope Brewing, which not only serves up excellent brew but also has excellent sourdough pizzas. Brew Ridge Taps also merits a mention as a quirky destination that combines draft beer and pub food with a bottle shop offering a nice selection of both local and national craft beer to-go. Wine drinkers will want to consider a visit to Washington Street Purveyors, a bottle shop with an ample selection of wines as well as some cider and beer.

Lodging options are numerous, as befits a college town located near a major interstate. The most luxurious accommodations are in the historic hotels downtown, including The Georges, the Sheridan Livery Inn, and the Robert E. Lee Hotel. Those in search of more modest lodging will find over a half-dozen hotels, representing most of the familiar national chains, located just north of the city limits at the US 11 and I 64 interchange. For a more rustic overnight experience, there are a few B&Bs in town and in the surrounding environs of Rockbridge County. There are also some farmhouse-style cabin retreats located in relative proximity to the city.