I got the chance this week to say goodbye by spending two evenings at one of Richmond’s most iconic cultural locations. I’m glad to have it as my last impression of this unique city, which I believe everyone should try out.

Many Virginia towns still have their historic theater standing. Richmond stands out amongst the crowd because their historic theater, the Byrd, is actively thriving.

The theater was founded in December 1928. The first film shown there was a silent with sound added over it. The building originally cost the modern equivalent of $13 million to construct, which is easy to believe given the extravagant interior. It’s timeless and beloved.

Today, the Byrd hosts a broad expanse of programming. There are typical movie showings, tours, film festivals and even church services. This was Studio Ghibli week.

One timeless element of the Byrd is its Mighty WurliTzer Organ, a traditional theatre organ. There are few left in operational condition. Every movie opens with a performance on the organ, played by house organist Bob Gulledge.

The most significant factor in the enduring success of the Byrd might be location — the theatre is located in Richmond’s popular Carytown walking district. The intense foot-and-car traffic in Carytown ensures that plenty of people see it, whether they’re planning at the time to visit it or not. It’s certainly a worthwhile addition to your plans.

The Byrd will celebrate its hundredth anniversary in 2029. To attend showings and other events, visit byrdtheatre.org.

Bellevue has beautiful historic homes, sensible businesses and a delightful walking district along MacArthur Avenue. MacArthur has restaurants and shops covering intergenerational interests and a variety of cuisines.

Shopping

Bellevue offers shopping opportunities for food and drink, accessories and activities. There are also practical options, like Decatur’s Garage for auto repair.

Nutall’s Market and Once Upon a Vine are right across the street from one another, each providing some groceries. There’s a jewelry store and a boutique as well, as well as a couple other small services.

Dining

Despite its teensy footprint, a visitor could eat for two days in Bellevue and never dine at the same establishment twice.

Stir Crazy Cafe is an easy pick for coffee, breakfast and lunch. Their coffee is roasted in North Carolina, keeping it close to home.

Dot’s Back Inn is a diner in the shape of a bar serving up lunch and dinner daily and brunch on weekends. One of their speciality desserts is a warmed jumbo blueberry muffin ice cream sandwich.

Other dining options include Demi’s Mediterranean Kitchen, Mi Jalisco Family Mexican Restaurant, Mila’s Shawarma and Mila. There’s also a juice bar at the corner of Bellevue Ave and MacArthur.

That said – don’t sleep on Richmond’s north side, and you won’t regret it.

Cape Charles is a quaint town in Northampton County on the Chesapeake Bay side of Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Northampton covers the southern terminus of the peninsula. It’s paradise for a birdwatcher looking for an interesting weekend, an angler itching to fish from different shores and for the non-outdoorsy person in your life who would rather go shopping.

Recreation

Kiptopeke State Park is the immediate destination for many folks looking to engage in outdoor recreation in near Cape Charles. Visitors can walk on beaches, explore sandy walking trails and picnic with a view. A highlight for birders is the shipwrecks visible from the fishing pier, which are likely to be covered with birds at any given time.

There are a number of other nature preserves around town, including the Cape Charles Coastal Habitat Natural Area Preserve, the William B. Trower Bayshore Natural Area Preserve, the Magothy Bay State Natural Area Preserve and the Edward S. Brinkley Nature Preserve. Other notable areas are the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge and the Mockhorn Island Wildlife Management Area.

The beach right in Cape Charles is small but enjoyable, and an easy walk from the busier part of town. Whether you want to bird, watch the sunset, wade or fly a kite, you can do any of it here.

Shopping

While the shopping district of Cape Charles is small, it covers most of your bases. Almost all of the businesses are along Mason Ave, with some scattered on side streets or on Randolph Ave.

Peach Street Books and a handful of galleries will appeal to those who appreciate the arts. Sporting stores like K-Coast Surf Shop and Bailey’s Bait & Tackle can add that productive element to a downtown wandering, gathering any equipment you might want for your time in the area. There are boutiques available for the closet shopper.

Like many beach towns, most stores have gifts ranging from tourist keepsakes to carefully curated selections. Gull Hummock Gourmet Market, for example, has in the past had small, delicate, thematic ceramics for your kitchen. In other shops you can find the essential quirky socks, aquatic stuffed animals and magnets.

Dining

Coffee-lovers can fear not, for even teensy Cape Charles boasts multiple cafes. Peach Street Books, the Almeta and Cape Charles Coffee House are all clustered within two blocks.

Other restaurants in town offer more hearty fare. For a more upscale meal, check out Ambrogia Caffé & Enoteca or E&O Pub. More venues like AJ’s and Deadrise are great for families looking for a more casual meal. The town also has plentiful opportunities for ice cream, as is coastal custom, with Brown Dog, Cowlick’s and Chase’s.

My favorite spot to eat in Northampton is the Exmore Diner, just south of the Accomack County line. It’s a tiny joint done in the classic train car style. The cakes come chilled, the fish changes based on what they catch and the sides are distinctly southern. The cheap price point goes a long way, too.

Whether you come for an afternoon or stay for a weekend, Cape Charles shows that you can keep busy in a small town if you know where to look and are willing to get outside.

All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico maintain individual databases that lists state champion trees and the national champion trees within that state. Volunteers, landowners and foresters at the local, university and state level contribute to the measurement and documentation process.

The rules are specific and the competition can be fierce. Each tree needs three measurements — circumference, height from tallest point, and the average diameter of the crown. There is even a handbook with equipment and equations. The measurements combine to become total points per tree. It’s the points, not any one measurement, that declares a champion. There are photographic requirements and an optional health assessment as well.

Virginia is home to 93 champion trees. A day trip can knock out any number of them. The area around the state’s historic three capitals of Jamestown, Williamsburg and Richmond holds nearly a dozen.

The recent ice storm made some trees inaccessible, as sections of parks like Maymont in Richmond and Yorktown Battlefield at Colonial National Historical Park remain shut down. We were able to find six.

Many trees are on private property. Some are visible from the road; others are not. Luckily, the national champion American beech in New Kent is visible. The national champion sugarberry in Ruther Glen is also visible from the street, next to a beautiful 1800s farmhouse. The Carolina laurelcherry in Richmond is also visible from an alleyway.

Others are on publicly accessible land, like the co-champion river birch in Grove and the tough bumelia and Florida anisetree at Colonial Williamsburg.

Even in the cold, you can find ways to get outdoors and see the undervalued wonders of American ecology. They may even be in your backyard.

If you have a tree that you want to be considered for championship status, visit the “Nominate A Tree” page on the program’s website.

Virginia’s Capitol is surrounded with an abundance of historical elements. In addition to markers, parks and various buildings, the museum culture in the city is excellent. Richmond is day trip-able from most of the Commonwealth, so hop on your highway of choice and check it out.

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Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

The VMFA is a state-run museum in the city’s historic Museum District. The museum’s main draw is its vast, globe-spanning collection of over 50,000 art pieces.

Entry is always free, though some exhibits within the museum required paid tickets. The VMFA also has events like jazz concerts at the Best Café, art classes, line dancing and more.

Science Museum of Virginia

The SMV is as immersive an experience as you’re willing to make it. Tests of human strength and speed, wind simulators, musical instruments, memory games – the Science Museum is as much, if not more, a playground than a museum. It also has a zoological component with its bees and terrariums.

The Forge, a makerspace, is a huge selling point of the museum. There are classes, competitions and free creativity hours. SMV is not free; prices vary based on experience.

American Civil War Museum

The American Civil War Museum is one of many museums in the country dedicated to educating the public on one of the most notable periods in American history. What sets ACWM apart from the crowd is its geographical situation just a couple of miles from one of the Confederacy’s three capitals.

ACWM’s main museum is at the site of Tredegar Iron Works. The White House of the Confederacy in Richmond and ACWM – Appomattox are also run by the same organization.

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Poe Museum

The Poe Museum is dedicated to preserving the memory of Edgar Allen Poe. The museum has a garden, a shrine and the oldest residential building in Richmond, which hosts the Poe exhibit. It comes complete with black cats, named for Edgar and his own childhood cat, Tib.

Chimborazo Medical Museum

Chimborazo Park is a beloved Richmond spot in Church Hill, looking out over the city. A building in the park plays host to the Chimborazo Medical Museum, and doubles as the headquarters for the Richmond National Battlefield Park (a NPS site).

Museum Galleries at Virginia Union University

Those travelers who prefer surface roads to the interstate will have inevitably driven past VUU’s campus or heard their marching band practicing on fall evenings. What they may not know is that the university maintains its own museum-art gallery.

If you have been to all the museums in Richmond, D.C. is the natural next move. The collection of museums in the nation’s Capitol is among the best in the country and beyond. Whether Richmond’s own collection is commendable due to or despite proximity to D.C. is another question.

Where will you start?

The closure was announced via Facebook, pictured above. Those who visit in person on or before December 24 will also find the notice taped to the front door. For now, homestyle country cooking and limited pies are still available, at decent prices.

Current owner Michael DiGrassie is 79 years old. He attributes the restaurant’s shuttering to his impending retirement, telling WHSV that he needs “look ahead into the next phase of (his) life.”

According to Southern Living Magazine, the restaurant is named for Mildred Rowe. Rowe passed in 2003 – the restaurant has since been maintained by her children and grandchildren. DiGrassie is Rowe’s son from her first marriage. DiGrassie’s son, Aaron, is the baker.

The restaurant was originally in the care of her spouse, Willard Rowe, and was named Rowe’s Seafood and Steakhouse and subsequently Rowe’s Family Restaurant. Taste of the South Magazine wrote that she took over his responsibilities in the 1950s and the “Mrs.” was added to the name in 1995.

Many beloved businesses in and around Virginia’s Blue Ridge have announced closures in recent months. Zeppoli’s in Blacksburg and Parkway Grille and Geraldi’s in Floyd are just a few other examples of restaurants. The Family Drive-In Theatre just outside of Stephens City closed the weekend following Thanksgiving, seven months shy of 70 years in business.

This epidemic of small business closures spells trouble for economic diversity in a region known for fighting corporate homogeneity through the championing of small businesses and classic Main Street-style shopping areas. Supporting small businesses is a cultural expectation in the region of its constituents. These businesses are not closing on account of chains being better or even necessarily cheaper. Low wages and high consumer prices are most people’s biggest barricade to shopping small, and these independent businesses lack the safety net of national or even regional chains.

Closures, whether for economic or personal reasons, are coming more and more often as a gain to land developers who can afford to purchase and raze the properties. Data centers are pushing to move into the region, and housing construction is already a hungry industry.

While dining at Mrs. Rowe’s on two weeks ago on a day trip to the Peaks of Otter, a staff member shared with me that multiple parties are already interested in purchasing the property. At least one of them is exploring the idea of keeping it as-is, and continuing to run the restaurant. No further details have been made available.

Mrs. Rowe’s Family Restaurant is famous for its pies. A cookbook, titled “Mrs. Rowe’s Little Book of Southern Pies,” is available at some independent stores and on Amazon. It was compiled by Mollie Cox Bryan in 2009. Unless we are all very lucky, you will now need to bake your own.

Outdoor recreation

Machicomoco State Park is nearly 650 acres of public land open for birding, camping, hiking and paddling. There are paddling tours hosted by the park that follow historic native waterways.

Beaverdam Park is another large recreation site, roughly equal in size to Machicomoco. The 635-acre lake is desirable for boaters who want to stay inland.

Guinea Marsh is a Wildlife Management Area on the Gloucester side of the Mobjack Bay. The WMA is a great spot for recreationists of all sorts, including hunters and saltwater anglers. Small game and waterfowl are both options for hunters here.

For folks who prefer a beach to a marsh, Gloucester Point Beach is an option for birdwatching and general non-sporting recreation. It can be used as a launch for paddling. The beach features an interpretive hike.

Historic sites

Human history in Gloucester County is a relatively well documented.

One example is Werowocomoco, capital of the Powhatan Confederacy. Werowocomoco is estimated to have been settled in the county between the 11th and 12th centuries. It’s currently an archeological site being assessed by the National Park Service and local tribal partners, with the aim of eventually being open to the public.

Machicomoco State Park is another example of Gloucester history. This state park is the first in the state to be dedicated to native heritage and history. It features multiple permanent interpretive exhibits.

Some colonial era buildings are still standing and in use in Gloucester Courthouse, one of the county’s two sizable communities. Those troops not in Yorktown under General Cornwallis’s command were in Gloucester Point, the other community, at the time of British surrender in the Revolutionary War.

Shopping and dining

Downtown Gloucester Courthouse is well-worth a visit on the way to do any historical or eco-tourism. It features charming small businesses like The Nook, a bookstore that opened this April, and Sweet Tooth Cafe, which I heard frequent visitors chattering excitedly about. There are restaurants, shops, a museum and even the local newspaper office along Main Street (US 17).

Gloucester Point is much more sprawling than Gloucester Courthouse. This is right across the York River from Yorktown. Gloucester Point has some chain businesses, restaurants and an abundance of suburbs — as well as the iconic Virginia business Whitley’s Peanuts.

If you want to learn more about what to do in Gloucester County, visit gloucesterva.gov or visit the Visitor Center in the Colonial Courthouse in Gloucester Courthouse.

Less than an hour and a half from the bustle of Richmond and its sprawling suburbs, there is room to roam in sparsely populated Mathews County. This serene waterfront county has fewer than a hundred inhabitants per square mile and no incorporated communities. Its greatest draw is the abundance of waterfront access along the Chesapeake. For visitors willing to stop, there’s plenty to see on the way to the bay.

Outdoor recreation

Mathews County is bordered not only by the Chesapeake Bay but also by the Piankatank River, the North River and Mobjack Bay. This provides prime recreation opportunities for beachgoers, anglers, paddlers, birders and more.

Bethel Beach Natural Area Preserve is a good spot to see gulls, small shorebirds and to hear the incredibly shy clapper rail. It’s the most specious hotspot in the county, according to eBird. There are a number of other hotspots along the coast. Inland, Mathews Park and Put In Creek Park are also good for a brief bird.

The county government has a helpful guide to public water access, which can be accessed at this link. Paddlers and anglers can use this to plan fishing trips and watersports routes.

Historic sites

Mathews County has a long history relative to the United States. It was sectioned out of Gloucester County in 1791. The county seat is Mathews, which is also known as Mathews Courthouse. There are a number of designated sites on the National Register of Historic Places in the county, including the Mathews County Courthouse Square.

The square covers a block in Mathews and consists of several historic brick buildings. It’s across the street from Put In Creek.

Another historic site in Mathews County is the New Point Comfort Light. This lighthouse in the Chesapeake is the tenth-oldest surviving lighthouse in the country.

Shopping and dining

Mathews is the only real shopping district in the county. There are a couple of individual restaurants and convenience stores scattered throughout the county, but for those who want to shop, Mathews is where to go. It even has a coffee bar inside a vintage shop. Main and Church Streets are the go-to.

If you want to learn more about where to go in Mathews, stop by the Mathews County Visitor & Information Center in Mathews on Main Street. It’s housed in the historic Sibley’s General Store.

RTW 2025 started on Saturday, Nov. 1, and concludes on Saturday, Nov. 8. This is the sixth year. The education subjects touched on include urban forests, climate change and general ecology.

The biggest selling point of their advertising leading up to RTW 2025 is the 30 tree giveaways that happened this week. The week opened with a community tree planting event at Byrd Park, sponsored by Capital Trees, and will close with a celebration at Richbrau Brewing Brewing. The final day of the week opens with a tree planting ceremony attended by the Mayor, who will plant a ceremonial tree in Chimborazo.

There are author talks, child-focused storytimes, composting, educational walks and other delightful programming including the Virginia State Tree Hugging Contest.

Reforest Richmond is a local campaign whose goal is to increase Richmond’s canopy coverage to 60% by 2037. There are numerous benefits to this goal; some of the most significant are related to equity.

Inner-city populations across the commonwealth, notably also in Roanoke, lack of urban tree canopy contributes to urban heat islands. UHIs disproportionately are areas with lower-income populations. There are fewer parks, outdated or absent air-conditioning systems and further access to nature outside of the city. By increasing the tree canopy in this areas, communities are able to reduce temperatures, improve air quality and create better opportunities for mentally beneficial outdoor reaction while increasing curb appeal.

Image from Reforest Richmond on Facebook.

Many people overlook West Virginia on account of decades of stereotyping, resource abuse, substance abuse and more. Tourist towns like Fayetteville do the hard work of changing people’s opinions. The last weekend of September was bustling — parallel parking spots chock full, patrons crowded into the few dining establishments in the historic downtown.

Fayetteville was named by Budget Travel in 2006 as one of the “Coolest Small Towns in America.” They still bear the title on a sign on Route 19 on the way into town. Fayetteville has restaurants and watering holes, some quirky shops and access to New River George National Park. This epic destination was added to the National Park roster in 2021.

The New River Gorge Bridge separates Fayetteville and the primary visitor center for the park, Canyon Rim. The bridge is the longest steel span bridge in the United States, as well as the third highest bridge in the country. The overlook below the Canyon Rim Visitor Center looks up at the bridge and down at the New River.

Underneath the bridge is where my group ended our weekend, after two days rafting on the whitewater of the Lower Gauley and Lower New.

We checked in Friday evening to the Outpost at New River Gorge, a private campground less than a mile from the bridge. This hopping spot was once the base camp site of a rafting operation called Rivers Whitewater. The accommodations range from your typical tent site to new luxury cabins.

Last year, we tented at the “primitive” second campground. This year, we tried out a tent platform on the ridge. It was significantly louder and brighter, though much more convenient to the bathhouses! Popular jam band Eggy played late into the night from the Outpost’s concert field and stage.

Saturday morning, we hit Tudor’s Biscuit World and then hit the water. Gauley Season is a federally scheduled whitewater rafting season that depends on the controlled release of water from the Summersville Dam over the course of several weekends in the late summer and early fall.

Our trip took place in the middle of Gauley Season. The excitement hadn’t yet worn off from locals or tourists, and the put-in was crowded with both commercial and private tours. We rafted eleven miles over six hours, including a leisurely lunch. I got the pleasure of both trying and flipping a duckie (or, inflatable kayak).

After getting off the water Saturday evening, we had time to take a short trip to the Canyon Rim Visitor Center before the sun went down. While the center itself was closed, the lookout to the bridge was open and busy.

After the Gorge, we took a short walk around Fayetteville to get ice cream and check out some of the historical buildings.

On Sunday we rose earlier for a shorter rafting trip and the drives back to our crew’s various parts of Virginia and North Carolina. We elected to run the Lower New on this second day — more mild mannered than either section of the Gauley. This shorter trip had more classic tourist views, going through the Gorge itself.

A special highlight of the Lower New was running down the river past the old Kaymoor Mine site, where just a couple of structures were visible from the river. Park visitors can hike down into the site from the Fayetteville side of the river.

If you’re interested in whitewater rafting, West Virginia is a great place to start. Check out West Virginia Tourism for more information.

An exhibit that resided in the Gumenick Family Gallery at the Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen worked for two months to change this lack of awareness. The exhibit, titled “Environment at Risk,” opened on July 17. Appalachian Voices, the exhibit’s sponsor, says that the exhibit is displayed biennially.

The MVP is a natural gas pipeline stretching over 300 miles from northwestern West Virginia and southwestern Virginia. There is a proposed extension of an additional 75 miles that would run into North Carolina. The MVP has been an incredibly divisive project — many laud the jobs and energy that it has the potential to bring to the table and many have strong objections that it will cause more harm than good. The chief concerns of the latter relate to disenfranchised communities, historical areas and delicate ecosystems and their resident species.

There are no fewer than 26 works of art on display at the exhibit, including mixed media. Most of the works were done of various types of paint. There were also wooden carvings, tapestries, collages and more. Appalachian Voices describes the exhibit as communicating the “various environmental harms occurring within Virginia and the region, and the impacts to people and ecosystems.”

Some of the works are more obviously related to the MVP than others. The most plainly related item is this unlabeled tapestry, which unlike most of the other pieces, is not for sale. Other works are more abstract — a caricature of a woman representing world-ending consumerism, for example. Still others are just generally environmental — a painting of a cicada, a photograph of a live oak.

Almost of the works are for sale at the gallery. You can view most of them online. The online store is a great way to look at the exhibit if you don’t have time to get out to the Center before the 14th. Whether the MVP is a dearly-felt issue to you or something completely new, we all have something to learn from the unique perspectives offered in these intensely personal and passionate works.

September 14 is the final day to see the gallery for another two years. To visit the Gumenick Family Gallery and other galleries, visit the Cultural Arts Center. The Center is open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. most days, at 2880 Mountain Road.

Our first stop was Johnson City itself, where we found free public parking near Founders Park. The park was established in 2014 as a part of a stormwater retention project. When we visited there was an animal themed junk-metal sculpture exhibit lining the sidewalks through the park.

After the park, we walked through downtown. On East Main Street we found a variety of cute shops and restaurants. Piere’s Marketplace, a grocer, is a humble shoebox with produce, baked goods, funky juices, a sitting area and a small gallery featuring the work of local artists. We took home a piece for my sister.

Down and across the street from Piere’s is Dos Gatos Coffee Bar. This trippy café had movie-theater style 3D glasses at the counter to borrow and look at more local art with. All the pieces here were geometric and just about jumped out of the walls with the glasses on.

Every store we visited revolved around local, local, local. The definition of local varied — Johnson City, northwestern Tennessee, the middle Appalachians — but consistently, the proprietors catered to and cared about dispensing authentic culture. The Generalist expressed this especially well; this self-described “retail collective” has dozens of vendors at a time featured in their store. Their emphasis is on creative makers from around the region.

After Johnson City, we headed to Elizabethton to check out a consignment outdoors outfitter. While we didn’t spend much time in town, this historic city dates formally back to 1799. Prior to that, a government called the Watauga Association was experimented with and eventually influenced the formation of the state of Tennessee.

The second leg of our day consisted of exploring Bays Mountain Park above Kingsport. The park, which is 3,650 acres, includes a planetarium, zoological and aquarium habitats, camping, hiking, museums, a man-made lake and the ruins of a filter plant below the dam.

While the planetarium show was passionately put on and well crafted, the ruins were far and above the best part of the trip. Having lived the last four years in Appalachia, historical remnants of the industries that precluded and were contemporary to the settling of these areas fascinate me. This history is often overlooked and, in turn, leads to the further socioeconomic neglect of the region.

After a long afternoon of scrambling around the ruins and streams, we headed north back to Blacksburg.

As a reminder to any current Virginia Tech student who thinks that VT is in the middle of nowhere… you couldn’t be more wrong. Hit the highway and see what happens. Have a great first week of classes!