Visit Brunswick

The original home of Brunswick Stew

Brunswick County is the original home of Brunswick Stew, and the stew is not all of it. Two Virginia Byways, a 1714 fort site, a rail-bed trail, and enough water for a summer.

The rusted iron gateway over the Tobacco Heritage Trail, hung with a round red trail sign, where the old rail bed runs on between split-rail fences — The Tobacco Heritage Trail gateway On the old rail bed

The Byways Visitor Center

The Brunswick Byways Visitor Center sits on Highway 46, about three miles south of U.S. Route 58 and the Town of Lawrenceville. It opened in October 2017 on the former International Paper commercial site.

Inside are two- and three-dimensional exhibits, graphics, artifact cases, hands-on displays, a short film, and the brochures and maps that point at everything else in the County. The center interprets the two Virginia Byways, Christanna Highway and the Lake Gaston Byway, along with Native American heritage, colonial frontier history, Civil War history, early American religious history, and the agricultural economy.

Tourism office: 434-848-2728

A school group on a field trip seated across and around the Brunswick County LOVEwork letters, which are built as a cast-iron stew kettle, tobacco leaves, and brick, with their bus parked on the road behind — A field trip at the Brunswick LOVEwork Lawrenceville

History on the ground

Fort Christanna Historical Site is 25 acres marking the fort Governor Alexander Spotswood established in 1714 as a trading depot and school. It has information kiosks, a garden area, a cannon, and a wilderness walking trail. There is no charge, it is open year-round, and the Brunswick Museum and Historical Society maintains it.

The County has two Rosenwald schools, Oak Grove and St. Paul's Chapel, both awarded National Treasure status in 2011. The Brunswick Museum and Historical Society, founded in 1990 in a former library, holds the County's artifacts.

The carved Fort Christanna marker set in a gravel bed, with a split-rail fence and autumn woods behind it — The Fort Christanna marker The 1714 fort site

Water and trail

County Park at Great Creek, on the outskirts of Lawrenceville, sits on the banks of the 212-acre Great Creek Reservoir. It has a boat launching ramp, two fishing piers, one of them accessible, a playground, picnic shelters with grills and tables, a football and baseball field, a volleyball court, and horseshoe pits.

Brunswick Lake, also called County Pond, is a 157-acre impoundment maintained by the Commonwealth, open for canoeing, kayaking, and fishing. Lake Gaston, the Meherrin River, and the Nottoway River all run through the County, and the Tobacco Heritage Trail follows the old rail bed.

Kayakers spread across open water at the Herman Road day use park on Lake Gaston, launching from the accessible aluminium dock in the foreground — Kayakers at the Herman Road day use park Lake Gaston

Stew, and the rest of the table

The Taste of Brunswick Festival is held on the second Saturday in October. Dot's Country Store in Danieltown serves Brunswick Stew year-round and is a stop on the Brunswick Stew Tour. The Kennon House in Gasburg is a fine-dining room in one of Virginia's historic houses, and the Shady Shack Grill and Flop Bar in Bracey is the only waterfront bar and grill on Lake Gaston.

Five people posed around a wide iron stew kettle under a tent, two of them with their hands on a long wooden paddle standing in the pot, several wearing Brunswick Stew Day aprons — Brunswick Stew Day Brunswick County

Planning the rest of the trip

These are run by other organizations. Each one says whose it is before you leave.

Lake Gaston visitor guide Runs on Lake Gaston Chamber of Commerce Regional travel planning Runs on Virginia's Crossroads Statewide travel planning Runs on Virginia is for Lovers