Features

The New VMFA , by Mary Miley Theobald

With it’s $150 million renovation and expansion now complete, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is poised to become a world-class institution.

Busy Bees , by Aynsley Miller Fisher

Honeybees play a vital role in our world, and so, increasingly, do beekeeprs. We profile two, plus a researcher who works to protect the health of bee colonies.

Full Bloom , by Christine Ennulat

Mount Sharon, in Orange County, is a magnificent garden with French, Italian and English touches, but the strongest presence of all is the countryside beyond.

In Every Issue

Letters | Contributors | Natives | Reviews | Style | Bellwether | About Town | Odd Dominion | Departures

Upfront

Local Color , by Jason Watkins

Angela Fox is transforming Crustal City froma  concrete jungle into a place that’s active, artful and green.

Hero or Villain? by Christine Ennulat

Good or bad, sassafras is powerful stuff.

Incredible, Edible–Exaggerated? by Bland Crowder

Tall tales of chickens and eggs.

The Urban Underbelly , by Bill Glose

Cynical cops hunting hard-luck losers–and, always, bloody crimes: it’s a colectio of noir.

Commercial Instincts , by Richard Ernsberger Jr.

Landscape painter Tina Palmer is a sales–and success–oriented artist.

Departments

Virginiana | A Beautiful Spy , by Eileen Metheny Carlton

Durng the Civil War, an alluring Fairfax resident named Laura Ratcliffe provided Confederate officers with clandestine aid. Fate turned against Ratcliffe’s cause, of course–and now the owners of her former house, Merrybrook, are working to save the historic structure from its own demise.

Dining | Fresh Bread and Warm Places , by Christina Ball

The Taubman Museum is transforming Roanoke’s cultural landscape and attracting a new kind of tourist to the city. As you may find, the downtown eateries are striving to keep up.

Good Life | Hide and Speak , by Jodi Broadwater

Unmarked doors, passwords, exclusive elegance: The speakeasy is back, serving up carefully crafted cocktails with Jazz Age ambience.

Food | Spring Fling , by Christine Ennulat

Now is time to stalk the many possibilities of asparagus.

Travel | Amsterdam, by Dseign , Peggy Sijswerda

The Dutch skillfully fuse practical function with avant-garde design, and the marriage of the two is nowhere more apparent than on the streets of Amsterdam. In this well-preserved European capital, a rich collection of Baroque, neoclassical and early 20th-century expressionist structures coexists almost organically with a new crop of contemporary buildings, creating what one designer calls “a good friction.”

Towns | A True Redoubt , by Mac Carey

Clifton is a picket-fence place that looks much as it did 100 years ago. Formerly a railroad depot and, early in the 20th century, the larest and most progressive town in Fairfax County, it’s now a “back-in-time” community thanks to the town’s strategic location and its commitment to preservation.