Beer Culture and Local Lore Along the Beerwerks Trail

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Autumn is here, a time to enjoy harvest festivals, colorful foliage, seasonal beers, and Halloween. You don’t even need to put on your costume and knock on doors for candy: we have plenty of treats for you in the form of brewery events and local (possibly spooky) lore! Here’s how to find haunts and Halloween fun along the Beerwerks Trail.

Elkton

In the early 1900s, the building that’s now Elkton Brewing Co. housed the Elkton Milling Company, which processed grain for local farmers. Since then, the space has served several purposes, including tenure as both a warehouse and a church! Now, the building once again houses a grain mill in the brew cellar. Elkton Brewing Co. brews delicious craft beers, provides a hub for the community, and remains committed to honoring the past through preservation of the space and a celebration of local imagery and history. Next time you visit, ask a question about the mural in the taproom or about the backstory of the beer you’re drinking. Its name was inspired by a nearby landmark or local lore in the hopes that it would spark conversation and foster connections between locals and visitors alike.

“Miller Kite” lager is named after the 1827 Miller-Kite house, now a museum and home to the Elkton Historical Society. Just minutes from the brewery, the Miller-Kite house served as the official military headquarters for Confederate General Stonewall Jackson during the Civil War and is reputedly one of the most “actively haunted locations” in the Valley. Local lore serves up ghost stories and numerous accounts of paranormal activity. The house serves as a legendary destination for regional ghost hunters, including the upcoming The Miller-Kite Museum Halloween/ Ghost Investigation Fundraiser (October 17) and Halloween with Lunar Paranormal & The Haunted M.D. (October 23).

Lexington

Heliotrope Brewing is known for its connections to the community, both in the local ingredients it prioritizes in its brews and food as well as for its welcoming taproom, where seating is arranged in family-style community tables to promote conversation and screen-free interaction. And while the modern space is likely ghost-free, its location is ideal for kicking back and discussing what’s haunting the rest of the town: Lexington has more than its share of local lore and ghostly legends!

You do not want to miss taking a Haunting Tales Ghost Tour through historic Lexington. Devised by local legend Mark Cline whose Dinosaur Kingdom II was named Virginia’s Best Roadside Attraction by USA Today, the 90-minute tour combines entertainment with an exploration of Lexington’s dark streets and interesting history. Professional guides (often Cline himself) will guide participants to a dozen of the city’s spookiest locations. You’ll learn about ghostly pets of the past, see one of the most ghost-ridden houses on the East Coast, and wind up at the Oak Grove Cemetery, where Stonewall Jackson is buried. 

Waynesboro

Basic City Beer Co. opened in 2016 as the first occupant of the Virginia Metalcrafters Marketplace, a thoughtful modernization and reimagining of an extensive brick industrial building dating back to the 1890s. The space is on the National Register of Historic Places. It originally housed first the Waynesboro Stove Company and later the Virginia Metalcrafters Company. VM crafted high-quality and nationally recognized brass household items modeled after originals found at Colonial Williamsburg. Basic City brews and serves its beer in sections of the foundry and showroom, and the choice of space draws parallels between historical craftsmanship in metalcrafting and the modern craftsmanship and attention to detail that goes into creating the craft beer made there now. The brewery is named Basic City after the 1890s industrial boomtown area (now part of Waynesboro) that rose up around the railroad junction and collapsed a few years later. 

Basic City is one of Virginia’s “lost towns.” The area’s local lore includes ghost trains and whistles heard on foggy nights. Curious? Hop aboard the Virginia Scenic Railway for an immersive dinner theater experience in partnership with the Wayne Theatre that will combine “ghost stories, folklore, and darker history of the Shenandoah Valley aboard a moving train.” The Last Passenger: Ghost Stories of the Shenandoah Valley connects the stories to the landscapes the vintage train moves through on the 3-hour tour. Passengers can also enjoy dinner and local wine and craft beer on the excursion.

If you’re looking for another spooky adventure near Basic City, try Madam Redrum’s Nine Gates of Doom, a haunted attraction that claims to be one of the most frightening in Virginia. The immersive walk-through experience promises “new and horrible treats around each corner.” 

Harrisonburg

Pale Fire Brewing Co. sits at the ultimate intersection between a building’s history, ghost lore, and craft beer. The taproom has a sleek modern industrial feel, but that’s the result of a 2013 renovation. The building, constructed in 1934 as the Casco Ice House, eventually encompassed 80,000 square feet and sprawled over two acres as it expanded to meet the demand for ice and cold storage to preserve and ship the area’s agricultural bounty. Clear and bag ice were invented here! As technology and refrigeration techniques advanced, the space became obsolete and fell into disuse. Fortunately, the downtown space was ideal for adaptive reuse and has been revived with loft apartments, office space, retail and commercial space, a restaurant, and Pale Fire, which takes advantage of the thick, concrete floors that were once needed to hold industrial ice blocks, and can now support massive fermentation tanks.

The Ice House is a perennial favorite on Harrisonburg’s most haunted places lists. Rumor has it, careful listeners can still hear the footsteps of laborers who worked in the once cold and dangerous structure. And if you’re looking for a straightforward haunted attraction, Harrisonburg’s Fear Forest boasts multiple interactive, haunted spaces promising to terrify even the bravest scare seekers!

Staunton

The Virginia Central Railroad came to Staunton in the 1850s, bringing warehouses, hotels, saloons, distilleries, liveries, brothels, and even a dispensary of a patent medicine that claimed to “cure all ills.” The Wharf District is now home to a number of independently owned businesses and restaurants, many of which exist in historic spaces with interesting histories. Redbeard Brewing Company’s location once operated as the William S. Bryan Coal and Lumber Yard, the largest in the area. The taproom space was a covered, open-air coal yard. Customers drove wagons and trucks into the yard for weighing before and after loading with coal. The yard stored cash payments in the on-site, walk-in vault, which is still there, tucked away in the bathroom hallway!

The Wharf has a wealth of ghostly legends and the best way to tap into them is by taking a Ghosts of Staunton Historic Haunts walking tour, which visits Staunton’s paranormal hotspots. Alternately, join Augusta County Historical Society for a fascinating Shadows, Secrets, and Sin tour of Thornrose Cemetery. You’ll hear Staunton’s historical  “stories of tragedy, violence, and murder.”

Beers and Fears for Halloween

If you’re hoping to mix beer and Halloween festivities, the following Beerwerks breweries are holding spooky events.

  • Restless Moons will host spooky B-Movie Bingo on October 21 and 28.
  • Seven Arrows is having a Halloween-themed trivia (October 28) and a Halloween Party (October 31).

The Beerwerks Trail isn’t just about great beer. It’s also about connecting to the community and tapping into local history and lore!