Once the site of bondage and commerce, Richmond’s Shockoe Bottom is now home to high-end eats and shopping. Turn your back on the shiny high rises and gleaming white Capitol building in downtown Richmond. Head downhill instead, toward the river, toward a section of town with cobblestone streets, where enslaved people once trudged in coffles…

Virginia’s largest city west of Richmond has grown into a destination for food, art and the outdoors. The man bellies up to the dimpled counter at Roanoke’s Texas Tavern, under a sign that reads, “We seat 1,000 people, 10 at a time,” and orders his meal in a code familiar to locals. “I’ll take a…