The Winery at La Grange in Haymarket, Virginia, features 5.6 acres of vineyards and a three-storey, red-brick, 18th-century manor house with a small garden blooming with pink hydrangeas. With our commonwealth inching toward reopening, a friend and I decided to head out to Prince William County and enjoy the bucolic setting. We decided on the… Read More Reopening Report: Winery at La Grange
Northern Virginia began reopening under Phase One last Friday, and two friends and I made plans to meet for our first restaurant get-together in three months. We settled on Carlyle, an American mainstay located in the Village at Shirlington, an open-air neighborhood retail area featuring boutique shops and midscale restaurants, in the Washington, D.C., suburb… Read More Restaurant Report: Carlyle in Shirlington
Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot stars Jack Lord as John Fry, a fictitious Virginia planter elected to the House of Burgesses in the pre-dawn of the American Revolution. This post contains affiliate links. For more information, click here. The 37-minute orientation film at Colonial Williamsburg traces Fry’s growth from Tory to Patriot through his associations… Read More Colonial Williamsburg — part 8 of the great American road trip
Great Smoky Mountains National Park spans the border between Tennessee and North Carolina. The roughly 40 miles that I drove up and over the range, part of the Blue Ridge, were among the most peaceful of my entire cross-country road trip. In Springtime, the differences stand out between this most visited U.S. national park and… Read More Tennessee to Virginia — part 7 of the great American road trip
There’s no place in the world quite like Colonial Williamsburg. The living history museum recreates Virginia’s second capital city during the time of the American Revolution. Visitors can see the 18th-century buildings, feel the brick pathways underfoot, smell the fires burning in the hearths, taste the hearty food in the taverns, and hear from “interpreters”… Read More 5 Ways to Beat the Crowds at Colonial Williamsburg
“I’m glad we’re in the Jeep,” I told my travel companion as we drove up a long narrow gravel road lined with green trees in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. I joked that maybe there was no opposing traffic because no one ever emerged from the slightly spooky area alive. We reached a narrow wooden bridge. “I… Read More Wines and Walks in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley
Patrick Henry stood in front of Virginia’s capitol building and read aloud the Declaration of Independence, reminding the gathered crowd of the litany of abuses committed by George III as catalogued by fellow Virginian Thomas Jefferson: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent… Read More Two Days in Williamsburg (and a Night in Jamestown)
Say “Fredericksburg” and most people think of Civil War history. That’s understandable. The Virginia town was home to one of that conflict’s bloody battles. And the Confederates’ victory probably lengthened the War. But first settled in 1607, Fredericksburg’s history goes far further back. After the Battle of Yorktown, George Washington held a “great reception” at his brother Charles’… Read More Fredericksburg: From Revolution to Civil War
