Hi Molly and an early Welcome on your trip to Virginia.
The area you want to visit probably has 2 stops (Roanoke & Charlottesville).
A few good solid Providers on here can recommend where to stay and advertise.
As for places to visit and things to see, in Roanoke there's the O. Winston Link Museum, which has lots of great photos of Virginia's steam train history.
Pretty cool place
http://www.linkmuseum.org/
There's also quite a few good restaurants in Roanoke as well, check Yelp or PM me.
From that SW area of the state you can work your way up to Charlottesville and drive along the Skyline Drive to get there or Blue Ridge Parkway. Both are awesome and chock full of scenery and stops to hike and/or camp.
Here's two sites that will assist you with info;
http://www.visitskylinedrive.org/Home.aspx
http://www.nps.gov/shen/planyourvisi...line-drive.htm
This should get you started to help focus on your plans.
Best wishes,
JF
XOXO