Roanoke, Virginia is located in the Roanoke Metropolitan area and is an independent city of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population of the city is over 95,000 residents making the city the 10th largest in Virginia. The city was established 1852 and was originally named Big Lick. The name was derived from outcropping of salt which caused the surrounding wildlife to come to the shores of the Roanoke River. The city was chartered in 1884 as Roanoke which came from the Algonquian Native American meaning for shell "money" (a form of bartering). Roanoke is situated in the Roanoke Valley of the Blue Ridge Mountains between the states of Tennessee and Maryland. The local listings of businesses can be found in the yellow pages of Virginia.
The city holds many cultural and festival events like the Chili Cook-Off, Henry Street Festival and the Festival in the Park. The city also paid homage on April 22, 2007 to the remembrance of those who suffered the loss of loved ones and individuals involved in the Virginia Tech Massacre by temporarily illuminating the Mill Mountain Star in white, which the star can be seen as far as surrounding cities of Roanoke.
The city is home to the Taubman Museum of Art which is a tribute to American art from the nineteenth and twentieth century. The museum was renamed to its current title because of the contribution The Taubman Family, a charity established by Advance Auto Parts, made of 15.2 million dollars to fund the project. Look through the business directory to find locations of local restaurants and businesses around the museum.