We’d seen an advertisement for an alpaca farm that gave tours, located about twenty miles south of Roanoke near the Smith Mountain Lake Reservoir. Per its website, Pacabella was open till 4pm – our plan was to tour the farm, play with those cute fuzzy alpacas and then find a restaurant on the reservoir for dinner. Sounded like a reasonable plan…except for COVID. We drove the half hour to Wirtz, originally missing the small Pacabella Farm sign. Retracing our steps we pulled in the driveway, just as its owner, Robin, was about to get into her car. She explained that there were no tours today as she had to drive her husband to and from a medical procedure; in fact, she was going to pick him up now. We shared our story, how we were friends from Michigan and Tennessee that were visiting Roanoke and were hoping to see and learn about alpacas as well as visit her boutique. She relented and told us to come back in 45 mins once she’d retrieved her husband, giving us some recommendations on where to stop for ice cream and views of the lake.
First stop, Homestead Creamery for homemade ice cream – I had a double of key lime pie and cherry vanilla that was amazing! We headed to a marina hoping to find shops and restaurants near the lake but the shops were shuttered and the marina was no more than a network of slips and docks, albeit an excellent perch to see the lake. A large 32 square mile reservoir with long tendrils, Smith Mountain Lake is man made, created by damming the Roanoke River. Popular with house boaters, it’s an idyllic place surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains.
We returned to Pacabella. Robin was back, had settled her husband and was ready to introduce us to her alpacas. Walking to the barn at the back of the property, we were greeted by one of the two goats living on the farm. The goats had their own pens and grazing area, cordoned off from the other livestock, as these feisty animals can intimidate the more docile alpacas.
Robin and her husband breed and board alpacas on their 14 acre farm in the Blue Ridge foothills. Passionate about animal husbandry, they left their city professions several years ago, bought land and a few alpacas (yes, there was one male!) and began researching alpaca breeding and care. Brought to the US in mid 80’s, alpaca farming has grown in popularity; there are an estimated 53,000 alpacas across the continental US and Alaska with largest number of farms in Ohio, Washington, Oregon, Colorado and California.
Tourism and education are an important part of Pacabella’s business and Robin enthusiastically schooled us on everything from alpaca fleece to mating habits to social hierarchies. Native to South America, alpacas have been domesticated for thousands of years and are primarily bred for their wool. She raises huacaya alpacas – currently there are nineteen on the farm, including two are boarders. Fluffy like sheep’s wool, huacaya fleece is warm, not prickly and naturally water-repellant and fire resistant! It does not contain lanolin, either, which makes it hypoallergenic. It’s an excellent material for clothing and blankets.
Unlike sheep’s wool which is oily and matted, alpaca fleece is surprisingly soft and springy to the touch. We learned that alpacas have two layers of hair; the underlayer prevents matting and will get damaged if the animal is brushed.
Robin brought four young males out of the pen for us to interact with. She instructed us to slowly approach an animal from the front, and extend our hand to pet it. We fed them and petted them; they appeared to enjoy interacting with us as we caressed their fluffy heads and backs. The youngsters had been shorn about three months prior and already thick new hair growth had sprouted from the tops of their head, neck and backs.
Alpacas are social herd animals that live in family groups, with one male, several females, and their young ones. At Pacabella, the two mature males were penned and pastured separately from each other to avoid fights and from the females to avoid pregnancies. Alpacas can breed any time of year, although the most common seasons for breeding are autumn and late spring. Gestation period is typically 11.5 months and females give birth to one baby, called a cria weighing between 15 and 19 pounds. The baby is standing on wobbly legs within 90 minutes of birth and nurses for 6-9 months. As soon as baby is weaned, mom becomes receptive to breeding again within two weeks. For this reason, it’s important for breeders to keep males and females separate so as not to overbreed and harm the health of the female.
Alpacas live between 15–20 years. Each animal provides between 5-10 lbs of fleece annually, a yield that can typically create four sweaters. So over the animals lifetime, tens of sweaters, capes, socks, scarves, hats and other goods can be woven. Pacabella has a small boutique that offers all these goods and more as well as all natural body soaps and lotions. One of its signature products is organic soap felted in alpaca fiber that acts as an exfoliating loofah.
Pacabella has only one llama, cleverly named Dolly Llama. Dolly is larger than her sister alpacas with a more elongated face and longer ears. Llamas are more frequently used as work animals than raised for their wool. Too enthralled by the cute faces, big eyes and curly lashes of the alpacas, we never got Dolly’s story from Robin or learned why she was the lone llama on the farm.
After leaving Pacabella with some felted soap and a sweater, we drove around Smith Lake looking for a place to eat. We had visions of finding a restaurant with an outdoor patio overlooking the lake, but we could not find an open restaurant let alone one with a patio view. So we headed back to downtown Roanoke, had a light meal at Social 202 eating at one of the communal tables set up in the city market square. Our final stop for the night was to drive up Mill Mountain after dark to see the city lights and the Roanoke Star.
By the time we reached the top of Mill Mountain, a large regional park with hiking trails and the Roanoke Zoo, the sky was dark and the temperature had dropped. At just over 1700 feet, we gazed out over the lights of the city and surrounding valley.
Perched atop the mountain, is the iconic Roanoke Star, the welcoming beacon of the city. It is billed as the largest free standing man made star in the world and is actually three nested stars formed by over 2000 feet of neon tubing. Originally constructed as a Christmas decoration in 1949, it has became a popular and well loved ornament of the region and has been illuminated every night since (except for a few days of maintenance and repair work).
The star is visible from various locations around the city. Once down the mountain, we stopped for a final look at the star shining down on Roanoke. To Virginians the Roanoke Star is like the Hollywood sign is to Californians – an iconic symbol of its heritage and legacy. Chilled but satisfied with our day’s adventures, we headed back to Roanoke Hotel for our final night in the city. Tomorrow we head to Poplar Forest and sightseeing on the Blue Ridge Parkway before turning west towards Knoxville.
