Patsy Cline Birthplace — Winchester, Virginia

Patsy Cline — Virginia Patterson Hensley — was born on September 8, 1932, at 619 South Kent Street in Winchester, Virginia, and grew up in the Shenandoah Valley, where she began performing in local venues as a teenager. Her voice — a warm, powerful contralto capable of enormous emotional projection — was apparent from early childhood. She won Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts television show in 1957 with 'Walkin' After Midnight' and became one of the first country artists to cross over successfully to the pop mainstream, a transition engineered by producer Owen Bradley's lush, orchestrated 'Nashville Sound' arrangements.

'I Fall to Pieces,' 'Crazy' (written by Willie Nelson), 'She's Got You,' and 'Sweet Dreams' are among her most enduring recordings, each showing a vocal authority and emotional depth that transcended country music's commercial constraints. She was killed on March 5, 1963, along with Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas, and her manager Randy Hughes when their small plane crashed near Camden, Tennessee, returning from a benefit concert in Kansas City. She was 30 years old.

Winchester has honoured Cline with a museum — the Patsy Cline Historic House at 608 South Kent Street — and an extensive heritage trail. Her grave at Shenandoah Memorial Park in Winchester is one of the most visited country music pilgrimage sites in America. The Shenandoah Valley setting — apple orchards, Blue Ridge views, small-town Virginia — is the landscape of her origins and worth visiting for its own beauty.