Culture

Ma Cong’s Artistic Revolution at the Richmond Ballet

Anticipation hums through the air as the audiences settle into Richmond’s Leslie Cheek Theater at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA), double-checking silenced phones and shifting for the best view of the eminent stage, framed by colossal red curtains. The feeling is unmistakable—a quiet, buzzy awe, knowing something extraordinary is about to unfold. Among […]

by Hope Cartwright

The Genius of Mark Helprin

With an illustrious 50-year writing career that includes books, short story collections, and children’s books, the way Helprin sees it, Virginia has given us the greatest political gifts the world has ever seen.

by John William Van de Kamp

Redd Volkaert Is Going to Die with His Guitar In Hand

The 65-year-old Grammy winner spent most of the past 25 years as the Live Music Capital of the World’s resident guitar king.

by Eric J. Wallace

The American Shakespeare Center in Staunton Brings the Audience into Focus

The second season for its artistic director, Brandon Carter, marks two anniversaries: the 35th of the Center itself, as well as the 400th of Shakespeare’s First Folio.

by Meredith Lindemon

All About the Ghost Crab

If you’ve spent much time at the beach here in Virginia, you’ve almost certainly seen them. As night falls, they emerge, pale under the moonlight. A scuttle of movement, a dash to the water’s edge and away.

by caroline kettlewell

Chrysler Museum

The Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk scored a huge coup when they secured Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-1964: Eyes of the Storm, an exhibition that runs through April 7, 2024.

by Madeline Mayhood

Civil War Graffiti

From carvings by cave dwellers, to sketches by the artist Banksy, graffiti has the power to tell stories. But sadly, the ravages of time can impact these human renderings—from earthquake damage or the simple stroke of a paintbrush.

by Renee Sklarew

All About the Canada Goose

There are actually a number of subspecies that fall under the header “Canada goose,” but the most common of these in the are the giant Canada goose, Branta canadensis maxima.

by caroline kettlewell

All About Richmond’s Cotillion

Cotillion is alive and well in Richmond, and it’s more than just an old-fashioned dance. But, on the exterior, teaching children to waltz and navigate a receiving line could seem like a lost cause.

by Heather Bien

Glass Art in Virginia

“Glass was America’s first export,” says Charlotte Potter Kasic. She’s the executive director of Norfolk’s Barry Art Museum at Old Dominion University and a renowned glassmaker herself.

by Renee Sklarew

Elizabeth Few’s silk botanicals elevate elegance

Far more than being an extravagance, silk is being recommended by aestheticians to use as sheets and pillowcases because it’s a textile that doesn’t absorb moisture. As a result, it won’t dry out your skin. Artist Elizabeth Few makes the pillowcases of your facialist’s fantasies—as well as eye masks and kimonos—in her Richmond studio. “I […]

by Meredith Lindemon

National Botanic Garden

The highest point between the Atlantic Ocean and the Blue Ridge Mountains is a 550-foot, man-made mountain in Chantilly at the National Botanic Garden. Its creator is nature lover, businessman, and co-owner Peter Knop, who spent 30 years creating it.

by Konstantin Rega

Travel to the Alleghany Highlands

Every route in this mountain paradise is scenic. Anchored by the twin towns of  Covington and Clifton Forge, the Alleghany Highlands sit smack in between The Omni Homestead Resort—20 miles to the east—and The  Greenbrier, 20 miles west.

by Staff

Christmas in Middleburg

Middleburg’s pomp, pageantry, and pride make it Virginia’s most charming holiday town.

by Renee Sklarew

Local Flower Farms Bring Blooms to Virginia

Flowers are a blooming business here in Virginia, where local flower farms have proliferated by 80 percent over the past 20 years.

by Staff

Dairy Farms and the New Agritourism

As midsize dairies close, White says, small farmers like the Stanleys “are turning to niche markets like on-farm processing and agritourism.”

by Max Watman

Land Rovers on Virginia’s Backroads

This rain and mud is the kind you want to play in, not shelter from. I’m riding shotgun with today’s trail leader, Ralf Sarek. His job is to run point and radio the back with terrain intel from his 2022 Land Rover Defender 90.

by tesauro jason

Virginia’s Portrait Artists

How Virginia’s finest artists—and their clients—are redefining a beloved Southern tradition. “Excited about college?” In 1980, Fielding Archer and his father were halfway to Hampden-Sydney, driving west on Route 60. The question should have been an easy layup. Archer hadn’t applied anywhere else. Instead, it plucked at a gnawing doubt. “Actually,” […]

by J. Michael Welton

Strange Plants

Five questions for this Virginia artist. (Photo by Ed Pollard) Heather Beardsley is an American visual artist that creates mixed-media projects at the intersection of art, science, and environmental issues. She works primarily with embroidery, cyanotype, and air-dry clay, mixing the aesthetics of scientific illustration with craft and children’s art materials. She received her MFA in fiber […]

by Staff

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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

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Ma Cong’s Artistic Revolution at the Richmond Ballet

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A New Experience at the Virginia Scenic Railway

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Ma Cong’s Artistic Revolution at the Richmond Ballet

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A New Experience at the Virginia Scenic Railway

Mom Hiked the Appalachian Trail with 13 Kids in Tow

Williamsburg Archaeologists Uncover Secret Garden

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