Catawba is an
unincorporated community in the northern section of
Roanoke County
Roanoke County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 96,929. Its county seat is Salem, but the county administrative offices are located in the unincorporated Cave ...
,
Virginia, United States. Catawba occupies the
Catawba Valley bound on the south by the north slope of
Catawba Mountain and on the north by several mountains which form the border between Roanoke County and
Craig County. The primary road through Catawba is
State Route 311
The following highways are numbered Route 311:
Canada
* Manitoba Provincial Road 311
* Nova Scotia Route 311
* Prince Edward Island Route 311
* Quebec Route 311
China
* China National Highway 311
Costa Rica
* National Route 311
Japan
* Jap ...
. Catawba has a post office with the
zip code of 24070.
Catawba is known as a rural enclave of the Roanoke Valley with its farms, bed and breakfasts, and the Homeplace Restaurant. The Catawba Hospital, a mental health facility operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia, is near Route 311 and traces its history back to a resort established in 1857 to take advantage of the believed healing properties of a sulfur and limestone spring. Route 311 intersects State Route 785, which connects to
Blacksburg, and State Route 779, which connects to
Daleville, in Catawba.

The
Appalachian Trail passes through the Catawba area and provides access to three notable trail landmarks, Dragon's Tooth,
McAfee Knob, and Tinker Cliffs. These three landmarks are referred to as the Triple Crown of hiking in Virginia, and experienced hikers can climb to all three overlooks in a 32 mile loop. The Homeplace Restaurant was a popular eatery for through hikers on the trail before it closed in 2020.
Audie Murphy was killed in a
plane crash near Catawba in 1971; a monument has since been erected at the crash site.
The
Anderson-Doosing Farm and
Johnsville Meetinghouse are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places.
References
External links
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Unincorporated communities in Roanoke County, Virginia
Unincorporated communities in Virginia