Take A Road Trip To History Through Bath County

Warm Springs, VA – A new documentary about Bath County premiered last week to a packed house at the Old Dairy in Warm Springs. The documentary is part of a PBS television series called “Road Trip to History” and it gives viewers a taste of the best of Bath. Margo Oxendine wrote the script and helped narrate.

“I was trying to accomplish what I thought might be insurmountable,” says Oxendine. “I was trying to condense more than 200 years of Bath County history, which is rich and varied as you know, into 26 minutes of video tape that would also have to be showing the gorgeous scenery that we have here. So it was a daunting task before I began, but it seemed to go very quickly and it worked wonderfully.”

Oxendine narrated along with Brian LaFountain, John Cowden, Keene Byrd, Teresa Ling and Richard Armstrong.

“I think the finished product is gorgeous,” says Oxendine. “It shows off everything we have. It shows off everything from The Homestead to Fort Lewis Lodge, to a very remote little cave in the woods, to our rivers and Douthat State Park. We were fortunate enough that Cambata Aviation loaned us a helicopter and so we have aerial shots, including the hydro electric facility at Mountain Grove.”

“And we have just a marvelous overview of everything Bath County has to offer. I don’t know how anyone sitting at home anywhere in Virginia would not see this show and then think Oh honey, we have got to go to Bath County for the weekend’.”

Bath County’s Tourism Director, Maggie Anderson, coordinated the production of the film.

“I’m really excited about the possibilities that this documentary provides for tourism and for the County of Bath,” says Anderson. “Alleghany and Highland had great success with the DVDs that they produced in this series. I think once folks have a chance to see this on PBS they’re going to be very excited about coming to Bath.”

” I had just a wonderful collaboration with Margo Oxendine who wrote the script, with our many narrators who contributed not only their time and energy, but their interpretation of the sections that they were given to narrate. I think it’s just a wonderful product. I’m really happy.”

Wilma McClung of Clifton Forge Virginia attended the premiere

“I thought it was wonderful,” says McClung. “I learned a lot about Bath County. I thought it was very well done. Bath County is a beautiful, beautiful county – the springs, the history, all the beautiful resorts and hotels. I loved the beauty of it, the pictures of the mountains and the valleys and the scenery.”

There’s no air date yet, but the “Road Trip to History” segment featuring Bath County will air on PBS in Virginia and also on Direct TV in select markets. And the series has also been sold to the BBC. Copies on DVD are available at the Bath Chamber and from the Tourism office for $15 each.