Lynchburg: Historic Downtown

Like most American cities, Lynchburg's downtown suffered near collapse as malls came to town and the population spread to the suburbs. But they've done a really fine job of restoring the area over the past decade or so, with new businesses opening in old warehouses and factories—maintaining much of the facade of the 1800s—while breathing new life into a once uninhabitable region. Some of the old haunts like Schewels Furniture and L. Oppleman music store, in fact, have never closed.