There is a special satisfaction in ending a summer ride at an old inn on a real main street. Not a franchise exit, not a concrete box beside a truck stop, but a place with a porch, tall windows and the quiet confidence of a building that has already seen a hundred summers come and go. The Inn at Wise has been doing exactly that since 1910, and by the time I rolled Rose to the curb and shut off the ignition, it seemed less like I had found a hotel than that I had reached the proper ending to the day.
On a warm afternoon in Wise, Virginia, the Springfield’s V-twin settled into silence with a few last metallic ticks from the cylinders, and the smell of warm paint, hot oil and traveled rubber drifted up around me. Rose always feels happiest after a good day on mountain pavement. So do I. The roads around here suit a big, steady motorcycle, and I kept to the paved connectors between Wise, Norton and Big Stone Gap, staying away from the tempting gravel forest spurs.
Wise itself has more history than it first admits. The inn is a Colonial Revival landmark, and just up the road UVA Wise began in 1954 on the old county poor farm with 109 full-time students, many of them Korean War veterans. Not far away, Big Stone Gap still carries the memory of that late-19th-century boom era when railroad men and mining investors imagined a mountain Pittsburgh. And through all of it runs the old musical bloodstream of Southwest Virginia. This is Crooked Road country, where bluegrass and old-time music never feel imported, only overheard.
That makes a fine afternoon ride almost embarrassingly easy. Drift over to Flag Rock above Norton for a long look across the folds of the mountains, then back into town for supper. Or wander Big Stone Gap, where the Southwest Virginia Museum tells the region’s railroad and coal story in Rufus Ayers’ old mansion. By evening, Main Street in Wise feels made for a slow walk, a decent meal and one last look at the bike cooling under the streetlights.
That is what I liked best about the Inn at Wise. It makes the ride feel as though it belongs exactly where it ended. I park Rose, step inside, hear the old floor answer softly under my boots, and think that maybe the purpose of a summer motorcycle trip is not merely motion after all. Maybe it is arrival.
Motorcycle-Friendly Hotels
- The Inn at Wise, 110 E. Main St., Wise.
- Best Western of Wise, 124 Woodland Dr. SW, Wise.
- Quality Inn & Suites Big Stone Gap, 4609 Aerial Way, Big Stone Gap.
Restaurants
- Moon Dog Brick Oven, 302 W. Main St., Wise.
- Reno’s Restaurant, 132 Woodland Dr. SW, Wise.
- Woodbooger Grill, 921 Park Ave. NW, Norton.
- Country Kitchen of Big Stone Gap, 311 Wood Ave. E, Big Stone Gap.
