Glade Spring, VA

Glade Spring is a Washington County town in southwest Virginia, with I-81 passing through at Exit 29 and the Salt Trail following an older transportation story. The 2020 census counted 1,367 residents. Civil War troops passed through, Virginia Intermont College spent a short chapter here, and the former rail connection to Saltville gave the town a working crossroads role long before interstate traffic. The town's older name and newer trail meet in a place that still knows how to use its geography.

Brook Hall and the Glade Spring Commercial Historic District keep the older town visible, while Patrick Henry High School and the surrounding Washington County roads tie it to present-day routines. The Salt Trail gives the old rail corridor a new use for walking and biking, which feels like a fitting handoff from freight to foot traffic. Glade Spring's local scoop is a Virginia town with a Civil War layer, a college story, a salt-road past, and an interstate at the edge.