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NOTICE: Trail Town USA is OPEN for business!
Please be patient and kind as long-term recovery efforts continue. Damascus, Virginia was severely impacted by Hurricane Helene and recovery efforts are ongoing. However, due to an incredible outpouring of community support, nearly all local businesses have reopened and are eager to welcome visitors back to town.

There are only two remaining closures relevant to the Damascus area:

US-58, Mount Rogers Scenic Byway, is closed just east of town from Damascus to Straight Branch and is expected to reopen by November 2025.
The upper half of the Virginia Creeper Trail from Whitetop Station to Damascus is in national forest and remains closed until it can be rebuilt. Project implementation is expected to begin in March 2025.

Welcome to Damascus VA, Trail Town USA!

Damascus, VA is a small town in Southwest Virginia with a big claim to fame: Seven nationally known trails intersect within town limits, making us "Trail Town USA". Originally a railroad town in the lumber boom of the early 20th century, this small-town economy reinvented itself through outdoor recreation and tourism in the 1990s and has been thriving ever since. Tourism is one of the largest economic drivers in Washington County, VA, second only to agriculture.

The Appalachian Trail enters the state of Virginia just a few miles south of town, then runs through the Town Park and down the sidewalk of Laurel Avenue, our Main Street. The AT passes right by the Damascus Trail Center, one of three visitor centers operated by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy along the 2,200 mile trail. We are at the heart of the Virginia Creeper Trail, which stretches across the middle of town two blocks to the south. In the busy summer season, wheeled tourists pass through town on the TransAmerican and TransVirginia bike routes, as well as the Virginia Bird and Wildlife Trail, The Crooked Road, and the Mid-Atlantic Backcountry Discovery Route (MABDR) motor routes. Nearby are the Mount Rogers Scenic Byway, The Snake 421, and the Overmountain Victory Trail. The Iron Mountain Trail offers classic ridgeline singletrack for mountain biking. Damascus is a gateway town to the five highest peaks in the state: Mount Rogers (5,729ft), Whitetop Mountain (5,525ft), Pine Mountain/Wilburn Ridge (5,525ft), Buzzard Rock (5,095ft), and Haw Orchard Mountain (5,007ft). Nearby are Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, Grayson Highlands State Park, and Cherokee National Forest, all popular destinations for outdoor recreation with hiking, backpacking, bouldering, horseback riding, biking, paddling, fishing, and more. Just south of town is Backbone Rock Recreation Area, also known as the "World's Shortest Highway Tunnel".

One of our best-kept secrets? Several trout streams and whitewater runs converge in Damascus. Whitetop Laurel, Beaverdam Creek, and Tennessee Laurel come together in downtown to form Laurel Creek for a short distance and join the South Fork of the Holston River just downstream. Each a fishing destination in their own right, Whitetop Laurel is renowned as one of Virginia's greatest wild trout streams and forms in the shadow of Whitetop Mountain, Virginia's second highest peak. The river flows into nearby South Holston Lake, a popular spot along the Virginia/Tennessee state line for motorized boating, flatwater paddling, swimming, and bass fishing. And the famed South Holston tailwater in Tennessee is just a short drive away!

The biggest event of the year in Damascus is the Appalachian Trail Days Festival, known locally as 'Trail Days'. Each year in May, the town swells from 650 residents to an estimated 25,000 people for the weekend. Trail Days is a celebration of the Appalachian Trail and thru-hiker culture and a massive reunion of thru-hikers past and present.