British Visitors Arrive To Help Abingdon, Va., Celebrate Its 230th Birthday

ABINGDON, Va. – After a trip down the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway, a tour bus carrying 46 visitors from Abingdon, England, arrived here Tuesday evening.

“We cannot believe how beautiful it is,” said Stella Carter, chairman of the Abingdon [England] and District Twin Town Society, which organized the trip. “For many people, it’s their very first trip to America, and so I think we had a fabulous introduction.”

Carter and her husband, Howard, are staying with Al and Leslie Bradley; Al Bradley and U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-9th, stayed at the Carters’ bed and breakfast in Abingdon, England, in 2003.

“It’s just a real nice circle, isn’t it?” Al Bradley said. “We like to think we sort of got the ball rolling [on renewing the two towns’ tie of friendship].”

The visitors are here to help their town’s local namesake, Abingdon, Va., celebrate its 230th birthday. Over the next week, they will tour a number of popular destinations in the region, including the Martha Washington Inn, the Barter Theatre, the Tavern and the Museum of the Middle Appalachians.

Stella Carter said she hopes to form lasting friendships here – and see what daily life in the United States is like beyond the television portrayal of New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Washington, D.C.

“It’s very special to come to a town and be welcomed by people,” she said. “Usually, when you come to a town as a tourist, you don’t know anybody … so to come here and turn the corner and see someone waving at you and everyone come out is fabulous.”

She said twinning – or civic friendship between towns in different countries – began after World War II and Abingdon, England, already has relationships with other towns in Europe.

“It was thought that in the future, peace was too important to be left for politicians,” she said.

“If everybody in the world did this, maybe we would find peace,” said Leslie Bradley. “It’s about welcoming the other into your life so you learn what they’re really like as people instead of stereotypes.”

Pat Lonergan, mayor of Abingdon, England, summed up his first impression of Abingdon, Va.: “Nice, beautiful, spacious, lovely buildings.”

Greeted by a reporter from the Bristol Herald Courier, he said. “We have a Bristol.”

He said he looks forward to walking on the Virginia Creeper Trail.

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