Boyce, VA

Boyce is a small Clarke County town on U.S. 340, six miles southwest of Berryville and 16 miles northeast of Front Royal. The 2020 census counted 749 residents. It began in 1880 where the Shenandoah Valley Railroad met the Winchester–Berry's Ferry road, first as Boyceville and later as Boyce for Col. Upton Boyce. The town incorporated in 1910, and the railroad still runs through the center of the business district. Boyce grew from a crossing, not a county courthouse, and the tracks remain the giveaway.

The 1913 Boyce rail station remains a centerpiece, with the Boyce Historic District retaining stores, churches, homes, and the old bank. Just outside town, the State Arboretum of Virginia at Blandy Experimental Farm spreads across a former Clarke County estate; the University of Virginia's farm and arboretum add plant collections, field study, and free public grounds to the local orbit. Boyce's local scoop is a railroad town with a preserved station, a historic street grid, and a university-run arboretum just beyond the last houses.