CITY OF WAYNESBORO
City Offices
503 W Main Street
Waynesboro 540-942-6600
www.waynesboro.va.us
Chamber of Commerce
30 Ladd Road
Fishersville 540-324-1133
www.augustava.com
Strategically located along the Interstate 81 corridor in the Shenandoah Valley, the historic City of Waynesboro combines a proud heritage of manufacturing excellence with growing retail and tourism industries. Maintaining an independent government, the city is surrounded by rural Augusta County, just 26 miles from Charlottesville and the University of Virginia in Albemarle County. Rail service and Interstate 64 also pass through Waynesboro, and the Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport offers commercial airline service approximately 15 from the city in Weyers Cave.
Services
Newcomers to Waynesboro will discover outstanding educational opportunities from preschool through graduate school and professional degrees. Waynesboro Public Schools provide a strong academic foundation for post-secondary study in modern classrooms where the student/teacher ratio is 15:1. Nearby Fishersville is home to the Valley Career and Technical Center and the Shenandoah Valley Governor’s School, which meets the needs of gifted and highly motivated students in the areas of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), Visual Arts with Humanities, and Theatre Arts with Humanities. Options for religiously affiliated and private schools include Fishburne Military School, offering a college-prep curriculum built upon the structure of an Army JROTC program. Blue Ridge Community College and eight public and private institutions of higher education are available within a 45-mile radius of Waynesboro, including Bridgewater and Mary Baldwin colleges and the universities of Eastern Mennonite, James Madison, Southern Virginia University, Washington and Lee, and Shenandoah. The state-supported Virginia Military Institute in Lexington enrolls military cadets exclusively. Just 26 miles from Waynesboro, Charlottesville offers one of the nation’s most respected research institutions, the University of Virginia. With eight schools and three professional programs, UVA offers the highly ranked Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, Curry School of Education, School of Engineering and Applied Science, School of Law, and School of Medicine.
Healthcare services and facilities are no less impressive, anchored by Augusta Health with its flagship campus in nearby Fishersville. This nationally acclaimed institution continues to be recognized for clinical excellence in a number of advanced programs that include a state-of-the-art cancer center. Considered as one of America’s finest community hospitals and ranked by Healthgrades among the 50 Best Hospitals, Augusta Health maintains a 255-bed hospital staffed by 225 full-time physicians. For quick access to vital services or routine care, Waynesboro residents have the convenience of an Augusta Health Urgent Care center as well as a Convenient Care Center. Just 26 minutes from Waynesboro, Charlottesville offers the University of Virginia Health System with a 570-bed Magnet® hospital, Level I Trauma Center, nationally recognized cancer and heart centers, and a Children’s Hospital. UVA Health also maintains primary and specialty clinics throughout Central Virginia, staffed by professionals that have been recognized for clinical excellence in publications like US News & World Report, Best Doctors in America, and America’s Top Doctors.
Lifestyle
Taking for its slogan “where good nature comes naturally,” Waynesboro draws newcomers to picturesque landscapes, a lively arts and music scene, and a charming downtown district graced by grand architecture. The city may be best known as the home of American artist P. Buckley Moss, whose disarming works of art capture the life and culture of the Amish and Mennonite people and the beauty of Shenandoah Valley landscapes. More than 45,000 visitors arrive at the museum that bears her name, although the works of “Patricia Moss” are displayed in more than 200 galleries around the world. Throughout its rich and storied history, Waynesboro has been home to inspired artists, fine craftsmen, and famous inventors. Today, that proud legacy lives on at the historic Wayne Theatre’s Ross Performing Arts Center, the city’s premier live-stage event venue, and the Shenandoah Valley Art Center. The latter is a regional treasure dedicated to raising the visibility of the visual arts through exhibits and educational programs in its galleries, artist studios, and classrooms. Historic preservation can be seen around every corner, crowned by wonderful museums like the circa 1802 Plumb House with its annual reenactment of the Civil War Battle of Waynesboro and the Waynesboro Heritage Museum. The annual calendar is filled with colorful local and regional events that celebrate the arts, history, culture, and seasonal holidays from the Summer Extravaganza to the Christmas Parade.
Just five miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway, Skyline Drive, and the Appalachian Trail, Waynesboro is a hub for regional outdoor adventures that include marathons, cycling events, and the XtremeFest of the Blue Ridge. Camping, hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, fishing, boating, canoeing, kayaking, golfing, tennis, and sports play are all popular pastimes in this area of mild seasons and abundant sunshine. During the winter months, regional resorts in the high country offer skiing, snowboarding, and tubing. The Blue Ridge Parkway also leads to the vast George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, preserving 1.8 million acres of breathtaking beauty. Within the community of Waynesboro, anglers can cast a line for trout in the South River just blocks away from the downtown district and families can usually find a lovely park with picnic facilities and a playground a short walk from home. The 85-acre Ridgeview Park is a local favorite, offering lovely gardens and benches that line the South River banks as well as scenic nature trails and a variety of recreational settings. Newcomers will find a great deal to love about Waynesboro, from a friendly hometown spirit to a wide variety of housing that ranges from historic properties to established neighborhoods and attractive subdivisions.
