About
Advertising
Where To Find Virginia Living
Careers
Editorial Submissions
Current Issue
April 2025
Subscribe Now
Subscribe

August 2009 Issue

Read this issue

Summer means heat, cookouts with friends, maybe sinking a line in a quiet lake. The August issue of Virginia Living brings you all that and more. We’ve got the penultimate bass fishing experience as editor Richard Ernsberger joins the pros at a Bassmaster Elite Series tournament on Smith Mountain Lake. We also travel to Mount Air Farm, in Crozet, for an outdoor feast featuring artisan meats sustainably raised right there on the farm. Romance writer Leanne Banks tells us about the most popular genre of fiction today, and we learn about Edgar Cayce and his extraordinary theories. Also: Jefferson’s Poplar Forest, the Williamsburg Colonial nursery, porch life and more.

Back to Nature

Rivergate, on a bluff overlooking the James River near Lynchburg, is a Prairie-style home that echoes many of the principles espoused by Frank Lloyd Wright—natural materials, an open floor plan, integration with nature. It’s also a peaceful “escape.” (photos by Philip Beaurline) What is remarkable about the very private, cross-shaped residence of […]
by stark-rankins amanda
Current Issue
Subscribe to the Magazine
April 19, 2025

Easter Weekend

Frontier Culture Museum
April 19, 2025

Bunny Breakfast Buffet at Stratford Hall

Stratford Hall
April 19, 2025

Easter Egg Hunt at Crossroads Art Center

Crossroads Art Center
Most Popular

A New Experience at the Virginia Scenic Railway

Virginia Scenic Railway Adds Dome Car for Spectacular Valley Views The popular Virginia Scenic Railway just upped its game with a vintage dome car offering breathtaking 360° views of the Shenandoah Valley. The “Shenandoah”—built in 1948 as the “Silver Palace” for the California Zephyr—now gives passengers an unmatched vantage point on three-hour excursions from Staunton. […]
by Gabriela de Camargo Gonçalves

Mom Hiked the Appalachian Trail with 13 Kids in Tow

Nikki Bettis stood on the jagged summit outcrop of Shenandoah National Park’s 4,011-foot Stony Man, awed by westward panoramic views. Her heart swelled with emotion as she turned to watch her 13 kids shoulder their loaded backpacks and fall into a clamorous single-file line heading back to the Appalachian Trail (AT).  “We were in an […]
by Eric J. Wallace

Williamsburg Archaeologists Uncover Secret Garden

In Colonial America, a grand garden was the ultimate status symbol—the 18th century equivalent of a Lamborghini. So when archaeologists at Colonial Williamsburg uncovered John Custis IV’s property, they struck horticultural gold: the remains of a football field-sized garden alongside his Jacobean manor house. Custis, a tobacco magnate and Martha Washington’s first father-in-law, went all […]
by Madeline Mayhood