How People Live in Virginia's Smallest County | Highland County, "Virginia's Switzerland"

Highland County, Virginia has fewer people today than it had in 1850. Its cattle outnumber its people about five to one, and in 2006 only nine babies were born in the whole county. Yet every March, tens of thousands of visitors pour into these mountains for one thing: maple syrup. So how do people really live in Virginia's smallest county, and why do they stay? In this video we explore Highland County, often called "Virginia's Switzerland": the five mountain valleys and the headwaters of the James and Potomac, the founding of Monterey, the 1862 Battle of McDowell, The Recorder newspaper and the old Hotel Monterey, the Highland Maple Festival and its sugar camps, life in a county of about 2,300 people, the fights over a wind farm and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, the new Hayfields State Park, the National Radio Quiet Zone, dark skies, and the 2025 National Christmas Tree. 00:00 Intro 00:28 This is Highland County 01:41 Five valleys, two great rivers 03:09 Settlers, a turnpike and a new county 04:17 The Battle of McDowell 05:17 The Recorder and the Hotel Monterey 06:37 A shrinking county, a lot of cattle 07:22 Maple country 08:06 The Highland Maple Festival 09:14 Everyday life: school, health, an aging county 10:41 Wind farm, pipeline and a new state park 12:16 Radio quiet and dark skies 13:02 Why they stay Have you been to Highland County or the Maple Festival? Tell us in the comments. Subscribe to Timeless Virginia for more stories of Virginia's history, one place at a time. SOURCES U.S. Census Bureau, USDA 2022 Census of Agriculture, Virginia Department of Historic Resources, National Park Service, Encyclopedia Virginia, American Battlefield Trust, Virginia DCR, Virginia DWR, Virginia Tech, Weldon Cooper Center (UVA), Highland County, The Recorder, Cardinal News, WMRA, WVTF, Allegheny Mountain Radio, NPR, Co-op Living, SAH Archipedia, Virginia Tourism Corporation, Green Bank Observatory. CREDITS Photos via Wikimedia Commons (public domain: Library of Congress, NARA, USGS, NPS and others; and CC BY / CC BY-SA / CC0): Famartin, NRAO/AUI/NSF, Gnuish, Jarek Tuszyński, Chris Light, elPadawan, Rocky, Nyttend, Dave Pape, Coastal Elite, WaldoJ at English Wikipedia, CV1958 (Colin Viney), rachealvoorhees, Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States, Aesopposea, Henderson, G. F. R. (George Francis Robert), 1854-, Hotchkiss, Jedediah, Brian M. Powell (user Bitmapped on en.wikipedia), BestNorman2016, SneakinDeacon, Jomegat, Jim Sorbie, Rudi Riet from Washington, DC, United States, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Bill McChesney, Valerius Tygart, thombo2, Z22, Joemama46, InflightAIS, vastateparksstaff, Mathew Benjamin Brady, Civil War Glass Negatives, Office of the First Lady, ForestWander, John Brighenti from Rockville, MD, United States, Michel Rathwell from Cornwall, Canada, Suzi Duke, Derek Ramsey, CSIRO, Waldo Jaquith from Charlottesville, VA, United States, Samuel H. Austin, USGS, Crozet, Claudius, Maffeth.opiana, CharmaineZoe's Marvelous Melange from England, The Cosmonaut, Quintin Soloviev. Music: "Singularity" and "Laniakea" by The Grey Room / Density & Time (YouTube Audio Library). Thumbnail image is AI-generated. #Virginia #HighlandCounty #MapleSyrup