Two top Virginia inns in MC

National travel magazines are making it a point to let tourists know about Madison County. Multiple local hotels, restaurants and shops are spotlighted in two separate publications this month.

National Geographic Traveler’s 2009 list of “hotels we love” highlights just three hotels in Virginia – two of which are located in Madison County. The April issue includes “shout outs” to Graves Mountain Lodge in Syria and Big Meadows Lodge in the Madison County portion of Shenandoah National Park.

The Syria resort is described as a “rustic mountain retreat on a working/educational farm in Blue Ridge foothills. Tin roofs, rocking chairs on porches, family-style meals,” according to a copy of the magazine Graves Mountain Lodge employees lent to The Eagle.

“I was very flattered. Honestly, I think it’s quite an honor,” Co-owner Rachel Graves said of making the magazine’s “Stay List,” which includes a total of 129 hotels in the U.S., Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean-region.

The hotels were chosen based on whether they “engage with the local community,” “subscribe to sustainable practices that respect the region” and if they “truly capture the spirit of its setting,” according to the article.

Travel and Leisure magazine also recently highlighted the town of Madison in its April issue’s “Virginia Wine Country Insider’s Guide.”

“On a stroll through Madison, on rural Route 231, you’ll find an old wooden church converted into a quilt shop (That Little Quilt Shop), a diner where high school teams gather postgame to wolf down fried cheesecake (the Mountaineer Café) and front porches meant for lingering,” reads the story’s introduction.

Among the five recommended places to eat in the area, the magazine noted its meal at Pig ’N Steak restaurant on Washington Street in downtown Madison, whose “juicy pulled-pork platter draws ‘cue fans from across the state. Sides of sugary baked beans and heaps of crispy fries don’t hurt either,” according to the article.