Burke's Garden Virginia: Home of Appalachia Backcountry Amish & John Wayne 

What about Burke's Garden?! Love hearing from y'all in the comments- where should we go next?

What a beautiful area! I live in the middle of Michigan. Until recently, we did not live in the country, but always wanted to. We now have an Amish community near us, and this fall, a young Amish family bought the field behind our house from a nearby farmer. It's been fascinating to watch them building a house with attached barn. The man came to our house and introduced himself, and just before Christmas, he and his family delivered a present to us. His wife and baby were in the wagon in the drive, and his other two young children were with him on the back porch. We are looking forward to getting to know them. 😊 Beautiful video!

Growing up in this area Burkes Garden has long been a popular site to visit camp or just spend the day hiking. One of the most beautiful places I’ve ever had the pleasure to enjoy.

We have been there several times and it is a beautiful place especially in the Fall. You mentioned the cattle there, one of our trips was to buy a bull for our farm. His name is “Burkie”. It’s worth the trip.

I'm originally from Ohio near Old Order Amish. A friend had a farm in Amish country and we spent tons of time with them. My daughter was able to make many Amish friends and was allowed to see their church and school. You do such good work with this series, and now that I live in VA, I will go their and soak up memories you have stirred up. Thanks!!!

Young man, you were brought to this earth to provide such a rewarding experience to others!! You have found your calling to humankind and are doing a wonderful job to all that follow you. Blessings and kindness are with you and forever! Thanks so much...

I live in NC but when I was a kid my aunt and uncle were the live in caretakers of Burkes garden. I got to spend a week there every summer. I always loved this place.

I was born in Tazewell, but my family moved away when I was three years old. I'd heard of Burke's Garden all my life, and apparently went there once, when I was so young I scarcely remember the harrowing drive over the mountain! Then, in the summer of 2022, my cousin Jim Harman -- a long-time resident of Burke's Garden -- died, and I drove to his Celebration of Life service at the elementary school. The area was beautiful in real life, but I swear your video brought such incredible depth to my own experience! I appreciate the time and effort that you put into making this visual record -- thank you so much! I've gained an even fuller understanding of why Jim so loved living there. 😺💕🐾

What lucky people to live in such a Beautiful place!!

I attended a “Blessing of the Bikes” at Burke’s Garden a few years ago…..Beautiful country.

I was watching this video and asking myself why I never knew this place existed. You found a treasure tucked away for us to see. What a beautiful place. It seems almost cut off from the rest of the world, peaceful, and innocently protected from the ways of the world. It's like a place of rest for the weary that soothes the soul and lets you regain what's important that the world stole somehow. Thank you so much for taking us with you. Awesome!!

SIR: words can NOT express my deepest, greatest, sincere thanks for Your, knowledge, wisdom, & insight, of America's most MIS-understood ; culture , heritage,& traditional geography/ people. May The Lord , Thy God keep, & bless You.

Thanks for this .....drove through Burkes Garden some years after seeing the valley ringed all around by mountains from the ridge above in 1995 on a 2000 plus mile hike on the Appalachain Trail....beautiful place 👍

Awesome video! I'm from a couple counties over but I've worked in Burke's garden a lot over the last couple years. On a humid day the bowl of the mountains is wide enough that the opposite ridge from you is always blue. That's how massive this bowl is. I subscribe more so to the theory it was once a mountain that collapsed in on itself. Thinking along those lines and comparing the footprint of the ring as well as the shear slope of it on all sides and then comparing that to other massive mountains nearby like Whitetop mountain or Mount Rogers it seems it could've easily been the biggest mountain in the entire Appalachian range. Not only that, I wonder if it could've held a candle to the Rocky Mountains, or even the Himalayas. For sure, when visiting this place your heart just sort of slows down a couple paces, your senses perk up and you take it all in differently than anywhere else. My first time visiting I knew nothing of the place. But I could feel immediately how special it was. It's unmistakable. From the geology, to the history, to the culture, it just demands a feeling of awe when you arrive for the first time. Another interesting thing I've learned because of how the land lays is that Burke's garden is in an entirely different watershed from most of the land outside the ridge. On the inside the rain sheds to the New river, on most of the outside, the rain sheds to the Holston river. Burke's Garden is near the line I've drawn on the map vertically through Rural Retreat that I've personally dubbed "the great divide of Virginia", as all the water to the east (more locally the New river watershed)eventually finds the ocean, all the water to the west (mostly Holston river watershed) eventually finds the Mississippi and thus the Gulf of Mexico. Burke's garden is one of my favorite places to visit in my slice of the planet. For any locals that haven't visited, you just have to. It's a popular place for bikers and you can also rent bicycles at Mattie's place. Put it on your short list of places to visit, you won't regret it.

This is one of the prettiest places I've every been!

Maddies place is great always like to get a burger and some farmers cheese when I go. Fall festival is nice too, the Amish bring out their homemade ice cream maker along with other baked and canned goods.

So, after almost 65 years on the planet, I finally have an adequate visual representation of the adjective "bucolic". What a lovely and pastoral setting!

I am a geologist trained, among other areas, in Appalachian structural geology. I am also a fifth generation Virginian/West Virginian descendant of early settlers so regional history is important. A five times great uncle served in the Virginia assembly before the Revolution and his father was the first High Sheriff of Ohio County at Black’s Cabin, now West Liberty. Most of my career has played out in West Virginia having among other work created some of the latest bedrock maps of the New River Gorge. Ever since the first satellite images of the region Burke’s Garden stands out like the proverbial sore thumb. I have puzzled over it more than once and even traced the route in, but have never been there. This is an excellent introduction to both history and geology. The carbonate bedrock and the breached anticlinal dome structure would have been my initial working hypothesis if I had made it to Burke’s Garden in the past. Great video!

Thanks for showcasing this beautiful area. I always wanted to explore this area, now more than ever.

The Draper story is chronicled in a book called Follow The River by James Alexander Thom. The Thomas Ingles ordeal is chronicled in a book called That Dark and Bloody River by Allan W. Eckert.

James Burke (1698-1783) was my 7th Great Grandfather!! I'm really hoping to visit all the way from Kansas and thank you for sharing your journey!

Love the Drone shots, place sure brings back old memories! God Bless you! (Glen). SW.WV.

👍 thanks again

I was born there. My daddy was Bill Lambert. Marvin Meek married his cousin Ella. I love this place so much but rarely get to come to it. My name is Sally Lambert Turner. All my relatives are in the Lutheran Cemetery. This was an excellent video. When was it made?

This place looks like Heaven to me. His bank Mike & I live in Brevard NC near Asheville. Planning to come up sometime this month and look around. Thanks. Will look at your series.

Beautiful country-

This was absolutely your finest. Hollywood needs to watch your work. I don't know but this seems so perfect. Absolutely love it. You got fans waiting for the next one. What better than waiting for a bigfoot sighting. Waiting for Josh in his next Appalachia mountain series. Thank you GEORGE NETROE CHURCH VIEW VA

love the videos thanks, my paw paw and granny were born and raised in burkes garden it is a beautiful place

Wonderful episode on Burke's Garden, VA

My parents lived in Burkes Garden. We would visit 1-2 times every year. It is a beautiful place.

I've watched a number of your videos and enjoy them quite a bit. This one is especially good. This is one place I need to visit. Something about it really struck me. Anyway keep them coming. I'm looking forward to seeing some more. Thanks!

I Guess because I grew up in Tazewell and to me Burkes Garden is common place, but your video I think does justice very well. It really is a great country setting, and I've met many tourists who were fascinated with it. To bad the Inn is closed down.

I absolutely loved this video. The way you present your videos makes me feel like I am right there along side you. Burke's Garden is such a beautiful place. It looks so clean, rich and fertile. Thanks for sharing such amazing history on this beautiful place. You do such a great job in your presentations of your work. Keep them coming.

Interesting video. I live in east TN. There are some Burkes here that are related to the namesake of this valley. They spoke of visiting it periodically.

My Girl Jamie Fugate was born and raised in Tazewell, Va.

This video was so so good!!! You have such a talent, from the story telling to the visuals. I just get more impressed with you with each video you drop! I always look forward to your next video🤎

My grandfather used to love to fish there and took me fishing there my first time

God's Thumb Print And a mystery how it was made. GOOGLE..Arial Pictures..Wow!

Absolutely great video Josh! I never tire of the beauty of Burke's Garden. I was born in the wrong century for sure. I feel the connection to old Appalachia to my very soul! 20,000 subscribers. You are on your way! Thanks for another gem.

Very interesting as I too have Amish and Native A.

I just came upon your videos today. I really enjoyed it! I will definitely look forward to seeing more! I'm live in Ironton, Ohio.

Hi Josh I'm from Johannesburg, South Africa . Never subscribed to any channel except yours which I came upon yesterday. Really world class series, wish that you go from strength to strength. Lots of blessings my friend

Burke's Garden is beautiful I always heard it of God's thumb print

I'm from Mindev, WV. Coal mines poisoned the whole town. They've been fighting 30 years for the poison to be removed. Almost everyone in the town has cancer.

What a Utopia, a beautiful serene and natural landscape. I've watched videos of this place before and even walked the roads via Google Earth, but your journey and narration through Burkes Garden topped them all.

John Wayne is from Winterset, Iowa. He just happened to have an invested interest in that area, just as he did in Texas too. Enjoyed the backwoods hollow tour.

Beautiful❤️

West Virginia looks so similar to where I live in Tasmania, Australia.

I grew up in Richlands, VA about 30 miles from Burkes Garden. Many people don’t know that there is a private airport in the valley VA07. My understanding is that it was originally built by the Hanes family when they owned a significant amount of land in the valley. Great video!

Absolutely beautiful.

Two things I remember about the Garden, that you didn’t cover, are the Hanes house and it’s history, and (perhaps a bit more obscure) the haunted stone house… great place.

Just there! The prettiest place. I've ever been in my life! I'd love to live there, but you can't buy property. ❤

Love the wood thrush in the opening overhead scene! My favorite birdsong.

Great episode

Fascinating series

Very good video Thanks

Great video. Excellent work

Very interesting,thanks for sharing

Beautiful,just beautiful! Safe travels and God bless!

The bird you heard at the beginning of the video is a Wood Thrush. My favorite of all birds.

Lovely! Thank you.

Loved it. My friend and I may visit soon!

I am constantly amazed by the beauty you capture in these videos.

I have Fox ancestors who lived in Burke's Garden and are buried in the Lutheran cemetery there.

I always heard growing up Burke's garden called God's thumbprint! in sw va not far from there, beautiful area!!

Amazing nature ❤

Loved the tour especially the aerial views

Thank you!

What a great video, unbelievable history

This place looks amazing. Great video!

Beautiful and educational video. Thank you. 👍👍👍👍👍

All your videos are very good

What a beautiful area so rich with history! Thanks for sharing Josh. 🙏🏻 Ps- kind of glad you ended it before we got to see probably some great food!😉

Beautiful land, I watched and have the movie about Mary Ingles, of course the movie is different then what u said about it, but I love history.

Excellent ! Very watchable.

I love heading to burke's garden. Haven't been for a few years. Just subscribed to your channel and noticed you're in Newcastle. I'm in Pearisburg. Small world. Keep up the good work. I enjoy watching your videos.

Wow, the Ingles family could not catch a break. Our everyday problems are nothing compared to living in the past. My problem yesterday was my Amazon package was delayed. //The drone segments make this video far better than if it was just at ground level.

This was wonderful. Burke's Garden is beautiful. with a fascinating history.

Absolutely wonderful! Such a beautiful place that only God himself could create. More wonderful memories watching this. Thank you so much for the videos. God bless🙏 you and your family. Safe travels.❤️

You should consider visiting western maryland as it's one of the nicest places on earth i've ever lived or been as its also overlooked by most but is extremely beautiful

Aww, I wanted to see the food/restaurant

Wow, this place is beautiful. I can’t believe I’ve never been there and it’s not far at all from me! Definitely going to check it out in person now after watching this!

Epic

Excellent info and imagery!

👍👍 great job. I. Live here in tazewell Virginia.

Great videos. Keepem comin. My Hillbilly friend.

Thanks!

Great video! Im surprised you didn't include Sue Carr's ostriches or the camel farm and get a picture or two with Gus the camel haha

❤

Your soundtrack reminds me of Ken Burn' Civil war.

Hi - Love this channel. Can you do a visit to Chilhowie, VA & Marion, VA. Take hwy 16 south from Tazewell to I-81. My mother was born & raised in Chilhowie, descended from German Immigrants (Copenhaver) who settled there in 1632. My grandfather, John Mason, created Hungry Mother State Park. I would love for you to find more info about that for me. Also, can you do a presentation of the theatre in Marion that hosts local bluegrass bands & airs the concerts on TV? Your presentations make me want to move there. I currently live south of Ashville, N.C. Thanks.

I'm fairly certain that we are cousins somewhere down the line. I had Harman ancestors who lived there in the 1700s.

Nice countries biutyfull lifestyle

I grew up in Bluefield and I remember several years ago hearing (even in the newspaper) that the Amish families had left Burke's Garden. Did they not really leave? Did a new group move in?

I was looking for a German type farm wagon but did not see one.

Man! I'd love to live there. Sell my home and move my horses to BG VA. Wow. Just beautiful and so simple. Just what I like!

👍 👍

Gods country!

Grüße aus dem badischen