Roanoke

Belmont languished for more than 50 years after a manufacturing plant employing thousands shut down and residents left for Roanoke’s suburbs. But there’s more to this Southeast Roanoke neighborhood than dilapidated homes. It has19th-century architecture, access to the Roanoke Riverfront and proximity to downtown. Since the ‘60s, nonprofit Presbyterian Community Center has served Belmont and the rest of Southeast Roanoke with a food pantry, after-school programs and other resources. Fifty years later, Belmont and the rest of the southeast still face the issues of poverty and vacant homes, says Nicole Jennings, the center’s executive director. “I call us the stepchild. I have students who go to school, and they’re like ‘Oh, you’re from the southeast,’ and they write these kids off.” However, more assistance is on the way. The city of Roanoke in 2019 targeted Belmont as one of two neighborhoods where it would invest roughly $1.7 million in annual aid. Between 2019 and 2025, that money will fund new houses, home rehabilitation and sidewalk repairs. Plus, Belmont was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2019. That makes some federal and state incentives available to homeowners who fix up historic properties. Belmont still has a long way to go, but Jennings says there is value to be unlocked if the neighborhood is spruced up. “It’s in a great location in the city,” she says. “It has easy access to the town of Vinton, and it’s semi-walkable.” Belmont Park is a nearby green space with kept-up amenities; the city updated its tennis courts, baseball diamond and playground in 2023. A path winding through the park provides a spot for walks and runs, while the Belmont Branch Library is next door. Just across the Roanoke River, pedestrians and cyclists travel the Roanoke River Greenway. Jennings says Southeast Roanoke’s segment of the 14-mile trail is her favorite section. “At the 13th Street entrance, there are several beautiful murals painted under the bridge by local artists,” she says. “Part of it feels like you’re not in the city because of some overgrowth, and you’re beside the river.” Presbyterian Community Center broke ground on a new building in 2024 that’s expected to be finished in 2025. The center will have a playground and indoor gym, two features Jennings says will help the organization better serve the community. “We’ll be able to expand our programs and hopefully bring some stability to people in the southeast.” Community organization I Heart SE is a driving force for events in Belmont and other Southeast Roanoke neighborhoods, Jennings says. “They’ve really rallied together to show Southeast Roanoke is more than the reputation it’s gotten.” The group organizes May’s Belmont Spring Festival at the local library and an October Trunk or Treat Block Party at Belmont Park. Meanwhile, Belmont Branch Library hosts multiple weekly events, including Zumba classes, movie showings and even pop-up escape rooms. Library events are free and open to the public. Belmont was developed as a grid, with sidewalks and compact rows of homes on both sides of the streets. Houses were generally built between the 1890s and 1940s, but many American Foursquare, Victorian and bungalow homes have deteriorated in the past 50 years. Some are boarded up and vacant. Other homes are kept up, with gardens blooming on their small lots. Dilapidated homes sell for as low as $14,000, while move-in-read houses start around $100,000. Recently updated homes cost up to $250,000. Roanoke City Public Schools oversees the three schools where most Belmont students are zoned to attend. Fallon Park Elementary School and John P. Fishwick Middle School are within a mile of the neighborhood and get a Niche grade of C-plus. William Fleming High School, which also gets a C-plus, is 6 miles away. In addition to 17 sports, Fleming High offers extracurriculars focused on business, gaming and dance. Less than a mile from Belmont, A-rated Community High School provides a private high school curriculum. Shopping and dining are limited in Belmont. Emilio’s Famous Pizza & Subs offers carryout and delivery, while the other restaurants are fast food chains such as Arby’s and Hardee’s. People can pick up items from CVS and Dollar General and get groceries from Walmart Neighborhood Market a mile east of Belmont. “I still feel it’s a food desert to a large degree,” Jennings says. Downtown Roanoke borders Belmont to the west, with dozens of locally owned restaurants and boutiques. Churches are prominent, with eight packed into the neighborhood. Train tracks cover the area north of Campbell Avenue, where Genesis Rail Services operates shops formerly used by Norfolk Southern. Rail traffic can be moderately noisy, according to Department of Transportation data. Belmont sits alongside Interstate 581, which runs north to south through Roanoke, and Campbell Avenue, which connects to downtown. It’s a 2-mile drive to the town of Vinton, which has a selection of stores and restaurants. However, Jennings says not every resident can use these roadways. “We still have many people in the area who don’t have transportation and are on foot or rely on the bus system.” The city bus stops in the neighborhood heading to and from downtown. However, the bus only comes by once an hour.

Bordering Salem, Cherry Hill is an established neighborhood on the far west side of Roanoke without a large commercial presence, an area where single-story properties sit on lots large enough to toss a ball around. The neighborhood was annexed from Roanoke County in 1976, which caused a reaction from some who did not want to become city residents or send their children to city schools, which were thought to be inferior to those in the county. The result was a mass exodus, as many residents sold their homes and moved to Roanoke County or Salem neighborhoods. But those who stayed have been in their houses for a long time. Most homes in Cherry Hill sit on hilly streets lacking curbs or sidewalks and run in the $160,000 to $290,000 range, with ranch-style houses, Cape Cods and split-levels being the dominant styles. Some ranch-style homes include a full basement or a covered carport. Scott Avis, Realtor with MKB Realtors and a Roanoke local, notes that this is a place where people put down roots. “You’ll have four generations of people who attended the same elementary school," he says. "A lot of people stay in Roanoke or come back to Roanoke.” Students in Cherry Hill are zoned for Roanoke City Public Schools. They can attend Fairview Elementary School and Woodrow Wilson Middle School, which both receive C-plus scores from Niche. Patrick Henry High School, which earns a B from Niche, offers dual-enrollment classes with Virginia Western Community College. The neighborhood’s closest green space, Strauss Park, is just north in Wilmont. Peter’s Creek runs through the park and flows into Cherry Hill. Here, locals can play on the tennis courts, watch a Little League game at the baseball diamond or take their kids to run around the playground. The city is also making an effort to celebrate its natural beauty by extending the Roanoke River Greenway and putting trailheads throughout the area. The closest trailhead to Cherry Hill is about 2 miles west, leading residents along the Mason Creek Greenway. “The area is really pretty with the valley and the mountains,” Avis says. “There are walking and biking trails along the Roanoke River, and a lot of trails are right off the Blue Ridge Parkway.” Aside from a few markets and auto parts shops along Shenandoah Avenue, Cherry Hill doesn’t have a large commercial presence. But just outside the neighborhood, there’s a Food Lion for groceries. Downtown Roanoke, with its shops, restaurants, festivals and farmers market, is about 4 miles east of the neighborhood, while the core of Salem is about 4 miles northwest. Residents head to downtown Roanoke for various festivities throughout the year. Popular events include the Local Colors Festival, a multicultural event celebrating the city’s diversity; GO Outside Festival, which encourages health, wellness and outdoor recreation; and the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The neighborhood has a large industrial presence and rail lines on its southern border; however, residential streets are mostly separated from them. Cherry Hill also pushes against Salem to the west. Carilion Hospital is Roanoke’s largest employer, and Cherry Hill is just a mile and a half east of the Salem VA Medical Center. Locals can reach downtown Roanoke in about 4 miles by traveling Shenandoah Avenue.

Originally developed upon the completion of the Shenandoah Valley Railroad in the late 1800s, Downtown Roanoke combines historic prestige and modern metropolitan conveniences. Former automobile factories have become condo complexes, while swanky steakhouses and longstanding dive bars reside in Italianate-style storefronts. Local farmers sell produce outside the City Market, an open-air market and food hall since 1882. Grass terrace seating surrounds the amphitheater at Elmwood Park, known for hosting numerous concerts and festivals. “This is a true city center,” says Steve Eller, a Realtor with Lichtenstein Rowan Realtors who has sold several properties in the area. “You’ve got museums, nightlife and walkability, all with a view of the Blue Ridge Mountains.” Though its original railroad is no longer operating, Downtown Roanoke’s Amtrak station on Norfolk Avenue allows residents to reach other East Coast cities. Vendors sell seasonal produce, fresh flowers and artisan baked goods under Roanoke City Market’s outdoor awning every day of the week, no matter the season. “The City Market is busiest on Saturday morning during the summer. People will grab breakfast inside, then walk around and shop outside,” says Eller. A mosaic-tiled floor welcomes patrons inside, where they’ll find candy stores, clothing boutiques and craft cocktail bars also open year-round. A more comprehensive selection of groceries is available at The Fresh Market just 2 miles away on Colonial Avenue. Downtown Roanoke is home to numerous restaurants, from early-morning eateries to late-night locales. Two-seat bistro tables fill Bread Craft, a coffee shop and a pastry café with French and German roots. Frankie Rowland’s Steakhouse has a candle-lit, all-wood interior, 70 signature martinis and a 26-ounce ribeye. “It’s basically a Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse if it was locally owned,” says Eller. “You go there to celebrate something.” Locals can walk across the street to grab after-dinner drinks at Corned Beef & Co., where the rooftop bar has hosted regular live music nights since 1985. The Roanoke Pinball Museum is another weekend hot spot, offering over 70 machines, some dating back to the 1930s. Multi-family properties in renovated early 1900s buildings line Downtown Roanoke’s red-brick sidewalks. Located in an old automobile factory, The Fulton Motor Lofts has one-bedroom condos costing around $200,000. Three-bedroom units can sell for around $1 million in complexes like the 12-story Colonial Arms Building, a former bank known as one of Virgina’s first skyscrapers. Renters will find one-bedroom apartments atop in mix-use buildings starting at $900 per month, while new-build options with two bedrooms may go for $1,500. Spanning 200 acres along Williamson Road, Elmwood Park is an epicenter of activity in Roanoke. Kids run around the fountain spray park in front of the amphitheater. A pirate ship-themed playground sits behind the public library, where weekly events include toddler story times and adult craft workshops. Ice skaters glide across the rink placed here from November through January. Bronze statues, silver sculptures and magnolia trees line the Roanoke Art Walk, which regularly rotates pieces created by local artists. The Mill Mountain Greenway also runs through the park, offering a paved 3-mile route ending at the neon red, white and blue Mill Mountain Star. “Elmwood Park is basically a concert venue and festival grounds,” says Eller. “Something is happening here every weekend the second the weather is nice.” Country artists like Lee Brice and Brett Young have performed at the park’s amphitheater for the Budweiser Summer Concert Series. Dubbed “America’s slowest marathon” because of its 7,000-foot elevation, the Blue Ridge Marathon’s Finish Festival is celebrated here every April with free beer and an award ceremony. The race closes 10 downtown blocks to car traffic from 5 a.m. until the last runner is done. K-pop performers, Puerto Rican food trucks and Kenyan jewelry makers dot the green space for Local Colors, a multi-cultural festival held in May. Besides Elmwood Park, Downtown Roanoke has several other community hubs. For instance, over 2,000 pieces ranging from contemporary local work to ancient Egyptian ceramics fill the Taubman Museum of Art, located in an avant-garde metal and glass structure. Jazz musicians and comedians perform every weekend at the Jefferson Center, which opened as a high school in the 1920s before becoming a performing arts center in the ‘80s. Next door, The Kirk Family YMCA has a fitness center, an indoor pool and four racquetball courts. A three-story bell tower sits atop St. John’s Episcopal Church, a 600-seat Gothic Revival-style building here since 1892. Children here can attend Highland Park Elementary, which has a B grade from Niche, and then continue to B-minus-rated James Madison Middle. Lastly, students may go to C-plus-graded William Fleming High, where clubs include Air Force Junior ROTC and the Future Business Leaders of America. Though Downtown Roanoke is walkable, it’s also convenient for several other types of travel. The Roanoke Amtrak Station follows the Northeast Regional Route, offering stops in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston. Numerous Valley Metro bus stops are also in the area. The Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital is on South Jefferson Street, and the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport is 5 miles north. Interstate 581 spans the area’s eastern region, making Blacksburg a 40-mile drive south.

Eastgate sits alongside Orange Avenue, which gets extensive use by people driving between Roanoke and Vinton. The stretch of roadway on Roanoke’s eastern edge has attracted many types of businesses over the years, with the neighborhood transitioning from homes to industrial businesses to strip malls the farther it gets from the center of town. It’s an aged neighborhood where houses tend to look the same as when they were built in the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s. The homeowners often look the same, too. Many “have been there since the houses were built,” says Bob Chandler, a real estate agent with MKB Realtors in Roanoke since 2017. Below-average home prices and proximity to stores along Orange Avenue are among the factors that attract residents to Eastgate and keep them there. There are shopping centers along Orange Avenue, frequented by folks traveling between Roanoke and the town of Vinton. Roanoke Antique Mall and Creative Cat Consignment have eclectic mixes of vintage and secondhand items to sort through, while Dollar Tree and Dollar General sell basic groceries, snacks and household items. There are nearly 10 eateries, with cuisine ranging from Vietnamese at Pho Saigon to Mexican food at El Rodeo. Eastgate’s two shopping centers are separated by a cluster of warehouses, manufacturers and other industrial businesses. Most of Eastgate’s homes are more than half a mile from this industrial district. Less than 2 miles north of the neighborhood are Kroger, Walmart and Lowe's. The neighborhood's East Gate Church of the Nazarene operates a food pantry in partnership with Kroger and the nonprofit Feeding Southwest Virginia. Roanoke undertook a series of park upgrades in 2022 and 2023, including renovating the playground at Eastgate Park. Next door is Mason Mill Park, named for the grist mill that opened there in the 1800s. The mill’s water wheel still turns thanks to Tinker Creek, where anglers cast their hooks from the grassy bank of the park. Just south of Eastgate, locals can take their pets to the dog park at Thrasher Park. Parkgoers can also play basketball, tennis and futsal, a version of soccer played on a hardcourt instead of grass. Golfers can play rounds of 18 holes directly to the north at a pair of courses: Ole Monterey Golf Club and Blue Hills Golf Club. Both courses are open to the public, but Blue Hills also sells memberships. Eastgate is within the Roanoke City Public Schools district, and children typically start at Fallon Park Elementary School, graded a C-plus by Niche. Students can then progress to C-rated Lucy Addison Middle School; recent renovations turned a space shuttle simulator at the school that was formerly used for an aerospace program into new classrooms. These six new rooms will host career and technical education classes for the entire district. Teens can go to William Fleming High School, graded a C-plus. On the other side of Orange Avenue, King’s Christian Academy provides private schooling for kindergartners through 12th graders. The neighborhood became more suburban after being absorbed into the city limits in the 1970s. Minimal traditional houses and ranch-style homes stand on snug lots that are typically less than a fifth of an acre. There are remnants of the area’s rural past on the north side, where some properties span an acre or more. Though Eastgate is suburban, it’s not a manicured subdivision. There are no sidewalks, some driveways are gravel and home styles and lot sizes aren’t uniform. A buyer can expect to pay between $115,000 and $230,000 for a house, meaning that home prices here are generally less than the average in the city of Roanoke, which is $250,000. Star City Compost opened in 2024, bringing large-scale composting to Eastgate. Whether they’re farmers or gardeners, people across the Roanoke Valley can drop off food scraps and decayed flowers to be turned into compost that the organization will sell. Locals experience the initiative up close when they volunteer for weekend workdays, typically held Saturday mornings. Orange Avenue is a four-lane highway that travels west into the center of Roanoke, reaching downtown from Eastgate in 2 miles. Gus Nicks Boulevard runs from Orange Avenue to downtown Vinton, home to a handful of local restaurants and a farmers market. Most people drive, but the city’s Valley Metro bus system is another option. The bus stops at Orange Plaza Shopping Center once an hour on its route between Blue Hills Golf Club and downtown.

Some addresses in Edgewood-Summit Hills say “Salem,” but the neighborhood is actually on the western edge of the city of Roanoke. It’s about as far west as someone can live in Roanoke before they cross the city limits into Salem, and that’s what residents like, says Alex Taylor, a Realtor with Mac Westland Group who sells real estate across Roanoke. Buyers can live within 2 miles of downtown Salem’s restaurants and breweries and spend less than $250,000 on a house, while homes in Salem sell for a median price of nearly $300,000. The advantages of the residential community’s location extend beyond food and drinks. It’s within 3 miles of two hospitals, LewisGate Medical Center and Salem VA Medical Center, and Roanoke College. As a result, professors, recent college graduates and health care workers are among the homebuyers who head to the area, Taylor says. Residents only need to cross Electric Road to reach Lakeside Plaza, a shopping center with a Kroger and a half-dozen eateries that include fast food chains and local joints such as Hibachi Express and Mamma’s Pizza. Businesses also line Melrose Avenue on the neighborhood’s north side; they include Due South, serving pit-cooked barbecue in the community since 2007. Taylor adds that another benefit of the area is the proximity to Salem’s two craft breweries. Olde Salem Brewing Co. and Parkway Brewing Co. are each 2 miles or less from the neighborhood. It’s about the same distance to downtown Salem, where more than a dozen locally run restaurants, bars and cafes line Main Street. A pair of parks are just south of Edgewood-Summit Hills. Ridgewood Park hosts a playground, while parkgoers can play baseball and tennis alongside Peters Creek at Strauss Park. Across Electric Road, locals practice their swings at Lakeside Golf Center, a driving range. Between April and September, people can head 2 miles west to Salem Memorial Field and watch the Salem Sox, a Single-A minor league baseball team. It’s 10 miles to Mill Mountain Park, home to the 89-foot-tall Roanoke Star, an icon of the city. A snow leopard, bald eagle and 28 other animals are on display at the Mill Mountain Zoo, and hikers and bikers have 10 miles of trails to explore on the mountain. Longwood Park, located less than 2 miles away, hosts two of Salem’s premier annual music events. Quartets and big bands play at the park for more than six hours during Jazz in July. The next month, bands showcase the local bluegrass scene during Pickin’ in the Park. Both festivals are free, and food trucks sell barbecue and ice cream. The neighborhood is built on a hill, with houses around the edges standing along inclined streets. The terrain peaks around the center, where the Blue Ridge Mountains are visible through the gaps in the thick tree canopy. The most common houses are midcentury minimal traditional homes and ranch homes, though Dutch Colonial Revival and Craftsman architecture exist as well. Homes tend to be small, averaging about 1,300 square feet. Garages aren’t common, but most houses have driveways cutting across their compact lawns. Homes are mature and small, but that means they tend to be cheaper than in neighborhoods to the south or west, Tayor says. Prices usually vary from the mid-$100,000s to the high $200,000s. The neighborhood is on Roanoke’s western edge, but it’s still within the Roanoke City Public Schools district. Nearby Fairview Elementary School hosts a 21st Century Community Learning Center, a state program for after-school workshops focused on cooking, dance, health and more. Older students can attend Woodrow Wilson Middle School and William Fleming High School, each about 4 miles away. All three schools get a C-plus from Niche. The closest private education option is Salem Montessori School; it works with children as young as six weeks, teaching students as old as sixth grade. Edgewood-Summit Hills is a car-dependent neighborhood a short distance from key roadways. U.S. Route 460 runs along the north side, drivers using it to make the 2-mile trip to downtown Salem or the 5-mile trek to downtown Roanoke. The neighborhood borders Electric Road, which extends 2 miles to Interstate 81. The city bus stops once an hour in the neighborhood on Melrose Avenue during its route between downtown Roanoke and downtown Salem.

Fallon and the rest of Southeast Roanoke struggled to recover after American Viscose, a rayon manufacturing plant that employed thousands, shut down in the 1950s. Many homeowners left this side of the city after the company shut down, and those who stayed struggled to find solid employment, says Nicole Jennings, executive director of nonprofit Presbyterian Community Center. “It was suddenly in a situation of poverty. It became generational because nothing came in to replace the plant.” Presbyterian Community Center opened in the middle of the Fallon and Belmont neighborhoods in the 1960s, providing a food pantry, after-school programs and emergency financial aid. In 2019, the city of Roanoke selected Fallon and Belmont as the two neighborhoods where it would concentrate its community development efforts between 2019 and 2025, and it invests $1.7 million in annual funding to build new homes, fix up existing houses and improve sidewalks. Habitat for Humanity in the Roanoke Valley is on track to build more than a dozen homes in Belmont and Fallon by the end of 2024, boosting the area’s deteriorating housing stock for existing and future residents. But despite its struggles, Fallon has natural beauty. Fallon Park, one of the biggest in Roanoke, covers half the neighborhood, and Tinker Creek is surrounded by a greenway on Fallon’s eastern edge. Fallon Park features the state’s only permanent course for cyclocross, a type of cycling where competitors race along a track but occasionally dismount to haul their bikes over obstacles or up staircases. Locals can splash into the Olympic-sized pool between June and August or play on one of six pickleball courts anytime. There’s also an ADA-accessible playground and a trailhead for the Tinker Creek Greenway. Users can walk, bike and blade the mile-long creekside trail, which ends south of the Roanoke River. Cyclists head to Fallon Park in September for Virginia’s Blue Ridge Go Cross Cyclocross Race. During the two-day event, children and adults pedal through dust, mud and sand while spectators cheer and occasionally ring cowbells. Besides the bike races, attendees compete in beer relays and grab bites from various food trucks. Many locals use the programs at Presbyterian Community Center, including the Pathways for Youth after-school program and Bridges Out of Poverty workshops. In 2025, the nonprofit will open a new center a block from Fallon to expand its offerings with amenities like an indoor gym. Jennings says she hopes the organization will add youth sports camps to its programming. Folk Victorian homes built in the late 1800s were some of the first built on Fallon’s gridded streets. American Foursquare houses, bungalows and Tudor Revivals followed in the early 20th century, but new construction basically stalled after the 1940s. Appearances vary from boarded-up, abandoned homes to historical houses with picket fences around tidy lawns. Some porches offer clear views of the Roanoke Star, an 89-foot-tall neon sign that glows atop Mill Mountain. The view makes the real estate valuable — if the homes are in good condition, Jennings says. “From the view of the star alone, the prices of those houses would increase tremendously.” Prices start around $100,000 for turnkey homes, climbing to the low $200,000s for recently renovated houses. The neighborhood is home to Fallon Park Elementary School, graded a C-plus by Niche. LIFT Center, a health clinic, operates from Fallon Park Elementary. In addition to pediatric care, the clinic provides mental health counseling and English classes to students and their families. Older students can attend John P. Fishwick Middle School and William Fleming High School, which also get C-plus grades. Shops and restaurants are scarce in Fallon and across Southeast Roanoke. Dollar General is the only neighborhood store, though locals can get groceries less than a mile away at Walmart Neighborhood Market. Residents can have pizza delivered from Emilio’s in the Belmont neighborhood or grab a burger at Bob’s Restaurant on the other side of Tinker Creek. Big Lots, Kroger and locally run downtown restaurants are about 2 miles away in the town of Vinton. Four Protestant churches dot the neighborhood. Fallon is approximately equidistant from Downtown Roanoke and the town of Vinton, both about a mile away. Drivers can take Dale Avenue to both places, and the city’s Valley Metro bus stops along Wise Avenue on its route between downtown and Vinton. The bus only stops once an hour. It’s about a mile to Interstate 581, which runs north to south through Roanoke.