Into the woods: 15 favorite Charlottesville-area hikes, from easy to “ease up!”
If you think that the end of summer means it’s time to put away the hiking boots, think again. Fall and winter in Virginia are fantastic seasons to walk in the woods—for 15 minutes or a whole day. It’s easier to see the mountains we live among when the trees aren’t fully in leaf, and […]
A life in leaves: Charlottesville artist rocks the botanical world
When Lara Call Gastinger posts a page from her natural journal on Instagram, it routinely garners a few thousand likes. “Lush life!” comments one follower on a recent post. “How wonderful your talent,” says another. “Gorgeous.” “Wonderful work.” In the photo, a drawing pen—the printing worn off its shaft by Gastinger’s hand—lies in the center […]
Keep the garden going: Stretching the seasons with fall and winter veggies
As I write this, it’s mid-August, and my vegetable garden has the crazy look it always does this time of year—overflowing its boundaries here, bare and shorn there, roiling with weeds in more places than not. We’re getting food out of it (zucchini, peppers, hey-need-some-basil?) but it’s not that pretty to look at, and it’s […]
Into the cavern: At Luray, there are so many reasons to stay
Tourist trap: It’s such an ugly term. Of course there’s reason to beware of over-hyped destinations. But—especially with kids in tow—there’s also a certain enjoyment in surrendering, now and then, to the spectacle. I don’t know of anyplace in Virginia where that’s a truer statement than at Luray Caverns. The Caverns, as our guide on […]
Guideposts: The Scout Guide’s founders reflect on their rapid rise
When Susie Matheson and Christy Ford launched the 10th edition of The Scout Guide Charlottesville this July, they did so as the leaders of a company that’s grown, in about a decade, from a simple blog to a small publishing empire with 23 local employees and 60 franchisees around the country. The Scout Guide is […]
Food for thought: What should you know when you buy or sell a restaurant?
In a town with 400 restaurants, one might be forgiven the occasional restaurant-ownership fantasy. And some of us actually take the plunge, becoming the lucky owners of diners, Chinese takeout joints or high-end date spots. But what do you actually get when you buy a restaurant? That depends. Primarily, says business broker Stu Rifkin, “You’re […]
Passing the test: Educational company bets on tech, wins big
How do you get kids to learn math and science? It’s a question that has vexed many a teacher, but Charlottesville-based ExploreLearning has some pretty good answers. Founded in 1999 by UVA math Ph.D. David Shuster, the company develops online learning tools that are now used around the country. The key, says EL’s Tammy Weisman, […]
The producers: Meet the locals who are taking the plunge into farming
Why did the farmer win an award? Because she was outstanding in her field. Well—all jesting aside—probably not. If she was anything like the real farmers of Albemarle and neighboring counties, she was just as likely to be found working a job in town as spending time on her land. And when she was in […]
Graveyard to zipline: In Lynchburg, a varied menu of things to do
Lynchburg isn’t that far away, but a visit there really does feel like travel, given how different it is than Charlottesville. A river town intimately connected with the James, a Southern town that many people associate with conservatism rather than its opposite, a college town whose colleges exist at its fringes rather than its heart, […]
Above the bend: California meets Virginia at a riverside getaway
Barbara Stettner grew up in the wine country of northern California, but she’d been in Virginia for 15 years before she found her weekend place in Sperryville. “It’s sort of like the coastal mountains [in California],” she says, looking toward the layered Blue Ridge views. In 2011, when she and her husband, Michael Ewen, bought […]
Change is a good thing: An Albemarle family grows with their house
Over about a dozen years of living in their home on an Albemarle byway, the couple saw many changes. Their twin sons grew from age 5 to nearly 18, and the family’s use of spaces in the house changed along with the boys. More houses were built along their stretch of rural byway. And the […]
Lucky find: A vintage house brings two DIY-ers to Orange
Tonda and Mark Morriss had renovated several houses before, and they swore they were done with all that. They also thought they would downsize when they moved from Texas five years ago to be near their daughter and her family—they dreamed of a one-level house with less property to care for. “We did the opposite,” […]
Adding structure: The garden at Waterperry gains a house of glass
Katherine Kane had always imagined a greenhouse in a certain spot at her magnificent garden at Waterperry Farm in western Albemarle. And not just for sheltering plants. “There are two kinds of greenhouses,” says architect Jeff Bushman, who customized the kit that Kane bought from the English company Alitex. “There are purely service buildings, and […]
Someone to watch over you: Head off trouble with a day-of coordinator
We know, we know: You are a master of organization, and you have this wedding-planning thing totally under wraps. You are hiring your own vendors, crushing every target on your planning timeline and tracking the process in elaborate color-coded spreadsheets. Good for you! But have you considered what will happen when it’s your actual wedding […]
Growing trend: In and out of pots, plants green up your wedding
If you’re looking to add some greenery to your wedding venue, congratulations on your good taste—every space can benefit from some leafy décor. Plants and trees can refresh the eye and add texture and scale, helping you customize your site to the size and feel of your event. Not only that, greenery can be a […]
Uncommon venue: Common House is a downtown wedding spot with flair
If you’d like your rehearsal dinner or reception to have a vibe that leans more “sophisticated” than just plain “pretty,” consider one of the newer kids on the block—Common House, located just off the Downtown Mall. Common House is a three-story social club—members join in order to have access to food and drink, talks, co-work […]
Day trip: A day with kids in the museums of Richmond
We’re lucky to have Richmond. As a mid-size city, it can offer certain things that Charlottesville doesn’t, but it’s small enough that it’s simple to navigate. And when I took my kids there recently, I was surprised—as I often am—at how easy it is to get there. That’s not even counting I-64, which might be […]
Cool drinks: This summer, we’re looking through rosé-colored glasses (and then some!)
Summer is a lighthearted time. While in colder months we may enjoy ruminating on deep thoughts while swirling something weighty in our glass—like port, or a full-bodied Sangiovese—summer calls for beverages that are pure fun, just like our pastimes. But is it as simple as just switching from red to white when sunny days arrive? […]
Griddle me this: Venezuelan arepas come to Charlottesville
Looking for a quick, tasty meal? Here’s an option that might not be on your radar—arepas from the Latin grocery La Guadalupana. What’s an arepa, you ask? It’s somewhere between a sandwich and a taco, it’s a staple of Venezuelan cooking and it’s delicious. The Carlton Road business has been around for almost two decades, […]
Up on the Hill: Picturesque gardens feed a winery kitchen
Diane Burns’ journey has taken her to some pretty interesting places—but it’s a good bet that her current place of work, Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards, is one of the most beautiful. Burns is the on-site horticulturist, and she tends neat garden beds that hug the perimeter of the tasting room and spill down the […]
Day trip: The Frontier Culture Museum brings history home
Just like America, the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton is big, complicated and beautiful. It’s one of my favorite places to take my two girls—a museum where almost anything can be touched and very little is written down. Creative writing professors often exhort students to “show, don’t tell,” and this museum nails that concept, presenting […]
The Quarry Gardens at Schuyler are living proof that something old can be made new again
There’s a sardine can in Schuyler that holds decades of history. Imagine, sometime in the mid-20th century, a worker sitting down to eat lunch on the ground. He unrolls the top from a can of sardines and eats the fish, then maybe stretches out for a brief nap in the sun. When it’s time to […]
Day trip: Adventuring with kids in our nation’s capital
Before I tell you all about taking your kids on a day trip to Washington, D.C.—one of the best destinations there is—I’ll admit right upfront that such a trip is exhausting. But here’s my secret for making it exhilarating too: Leave your car outside the city and ride the Metro in. It’ll break up the […]
Addition and subtraction: Edited collections furnish a city house
The first time she saw her house, no one lived there and the doors were not even locked. For years, its previous owner had held onto it, not yet ready to sell. But in a stroke of good timing, just when the current owner got interested, the house became available—something of a rarity in this […]
Kitchen, in color: Light and palette enhance a room redo
The house that Stacey Evans and John Grant share has been his home for 35 years; hers, for 10. It’s a pleasant, unpretentious place with a private backyard where the couple enjoys growing flowers and watching birds. For a long time they’d been living with a small, traditional kitchen that, while it overlooked the gardens, […]
The plants of our place: Native gardens are a boon to the environment
There are as many ways to garden as there are ways to cook. Some folks plant neat rows of vegetables; others create geometric arrangements of herbs. Traditional ornamental gardens in our part of the world might feature forsythia, crepe myrtle and daffodils—plants that originate in Asia, Europe and other faraway places. But for gardeners sensitive […]
Framing a view: A county house blends with the land
When your property overlooks the Moorman’s River, miles of verdant fields and finally the Blue Ridge Mountains, it seems obvious that the view is a primary attraction. Yet when one couple bought a Western Albemarle house in 2000, its siting and design didn’t do as much as they could have to connect occupants to the […]