6 Days at Breaks Interstate Park (Kentucky & Virginia) - Burkes Garden - Day 6

A cow pasture and the vibrant green land at Burkes Garden, VA

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This is the seventh post in a series for this trip. You can view links to the other posts at the bottom of this one.

Burkes Garden is an unexpected find.

A couple of years ago, Dustin was looking online at a map of our greater region - Southwestern Virginia - and spotted a place on the map that looked geologically interesting. And that is how Burkes Garden came to be on our radar.

As we shared in our earlier post about our trip to Breaks Interstate Park, we saw signs to Burkes Garden en route and upon arriving, realized our route took us pretty darn close. So, on our way home, we decided to make a detour, send our car up a steep mountain climb, and check this spot out.

So, what intrigued us about Burkes Garden in the first place?

how did burkes garden form?

From above, Burkes Garden looks like a verdant spot in the crater of a volcano, not exactly something that we tend to see on maps in Virginia! You can view an aerial image of the spot on the Tazewell County site here. The actual geological cause of this mountaintop valley was the collapse of limestone caves from below. In either case, there is a sunken valley fully surrounded by mountains, which causes it to be both somewhat isolated and utterly gorgeous.

Cows dotting a field in Burkes Garden, VA

driving trip around burkes garden

Burkes Garden is about 8.5 miles long by 4 miles wide and much of it can be visited by driving a loop road that is about 12 miles in length and is made up of several roads: 623, 625, and 666. See the map of this route at the bottom of the page. A main destination within the loop is Mattie’s Place and Bike Rental. Putting that spot into your GPS will get you to the route. The day we visited was overcast and showering us with on-again, off-again rain so we didn’t do much besides drive the cove and stop for pictures along the way. The road was quite undulating throughout so while people bike it, this isn’t exactly a flat grade ride.

who lives in burkes garden?

Originally settled by Germans immigrants in the 17th century, today Burkes Garden is home to about 300 people, about a third of whom are part of the Amish community. Many area homes have been passed down through generations, and so not too many are put up for sale to allow others to move in (we checked).

accommodations in burkes garden

Want to experience living in Burkes Garden for a short stay? While our trip through was short, we did discover one highly rated and very affordable 5-bed, 4-bath historic home offered on VRBO that is right on the main loop road. You can check that home out here.

views of burkes garden

But most of all, the views of this scenic area speak for themselves. Even though we didn’t have a bright blue sky day, the clouds brought out the green tones in the grass and the blues of the Blue Ridge Mountains.