CrossKeys Vineyards
July 11, 2025. Two crossed keys is an internationally known symbol of hospitality. Going way back, the hamlet of Cross Keys, near Mt. Crawford in Rockingham County, is named after the old Cross Keys Tavern, an important center of antebellum community life and hospitality, which came to be used for the ultimate of caring during the Civil War - a field hospital in the 1862 battle of Cross Keys (or “Crossed Keys”). Since 2001, when Bob and Nikoo Bakhtiar planted their first grapes, CrossKeys Vineyards has occupied the site of that old tavern. The Bakhtiar family came to Virginia from Iran by way of California. The Bakhtiar’s had to take down the many cedar trees that covered the property, and then they had to learn how to grow grapes in the Virginia climate. Being in the real estate business, they were attracted by the close proximity to the Massenutten Resort, only 20 minutes away and the city of Harrisonburg, around 25 minutes away. ...