Biohazard and Pathogen Disinfection in Damascus, VA

Damascus is a small town in Washington County, Virginia, in the Blue Ridge Highlands of the state's southwest corner, and it is part of the Kingsport-Bristol metropolitan area.

As of the 2020 census, Damascus had a population of 788.

Damascus is known as 'Trail Town USA' and nicknamed 'The Friendliest Town on the Trail' because five scenic trails converge in the town: the Appalachian Trail, U.S. Bicycle Route 76, the Iron Mountain Trail, the Virginia Creeper Trail, and the Mid-Atlantic Backcountry Discovery Route motorcycle trail.

The town also lies on the route of the Daniel Boone Heritage Trail and the Crooked Road Music Heritage Trail.

The Appalachian Trail runs directly through Damascus, passing through the town park and along the sidewalk of its main street, so thru-hikers walk straight through the middle of town.

Damascus hosts the annual Trail Days festival each May, first held in 1987, which draws an estimated 20,000 visitors to celebrate Appalachian Trail and thru-hiker culture in a town of fewer than 800 people.

The 34-mile Virginia Creeper Trail, a rail trail converted from an old railroad line, runs from Whitetop Station through Damascus to Abingdon and is the economic lifeblood of the town's outfitters, bike shops, inns, and restaurants.

Damascus began as Mock's Mill, where Henry Mock and his family built a grist mill where Laurel Creek and Beaverdam Creek converge, on a route blazed by Daniel Boone toward Kentucky.

In 1886 former Confederate general John D. Imboden bought much of the Mock family's land and founded the modern town, renaming it Damascus after the Syrian city.

Damascus boomed as a lumber town in the early 20th century, when Washington County was one of the largest lumber-producing counties in the country, before reinventing itself through outdoor recreation tourism in the 1990s.