My Wife's youngest sibling just started college at Liberty.  He's already having a great time and making friends, but hasn't had time to explore the town or area.  We are looking at going to visit him in either early November or next Spring.

Any must sees or do's in the area?  

Any suggestions for things to see and do in general?

Looks like a nice town, but anything to avoid?

It is a nice town, but a lot of City Council infighting, and gangs/crime...... it's bipolar.   The trails, river and downtown are nice.  There's certain places you don't want to be day or night. Overall good people incapable of dealing with a few bad ones.

Overall it's a pretty safe city, with not a lot to do, however, that is changing year over year.
Stay away from Campbell and Florida Ave. 5th street looks like a run down shithole, but the city has been trying for over a decade to revitalize down town and they have done a pretty good job.
Downtown is a good place if you are in your 20's to hang out, eat, drink, so forth.
Other than those and a few other certain area's, such as the downtown side of Rivermont Ave, the city is pretty safe. LU allows student carry I believe.

Lynchburg has a ton of wealth for some reason, lots of old money being over taken by LU money.

City council just turned red, I believe for the first time in my life. I don't expect that to last long. Most of the blue city councils have been trying to turn Lynchburg into a mini shithole Roanoke.

Traffic sucks thanks to LU, Lynchburg College, and poor planning throughout the 20th century. Wards road really fucking blows.

Although I'm not a fan of LU, they do have a ton of stuff to do for students and city residents. We take our kids to a lot of LU hockey and basketball games.
Lots of trails to walk or ride bikes.

Centra Health is the big Hospital here, and while I personally think the quality of the healthcare has taken a shit since COVID, I believe it still ranks pretty high within the state.

River Ridge mall kinda sucks now since a lot of the anchor stores left or like Sears, went under. Really good Mexican restaurant there though.

Most people over the last 2-3 decades have moved out to Forest, making 221 kinda shitty in regards to traffic.

LU has a shooting range but it's only for LU students. Unfortunately, the only other range here burned down a few months ago, a really nice one closed down in March I think.

I've lived here my whole life, and sometimes I still don't see the draw and sometimes I do, but a lot of LU students end up staying.

Hope he enjoys his stay.

Edit: I don't associate with the areas of the city that would most likely have gang issues, but I have never understood the draw of Jerry Fallwell land for gangs. Then again, I'm not a gangbaning asshole.

Nailed it.

Damn. That’s a lot of good info. Thanks!

^All of this is correct.