Monica Hesse

The golden years are about living your best life in ways you prioritize—be it weather, cost of living, or access to amenities like restaurants, golf courses, fitness facilities, and healthcare.  With proximity to the mountains and coastline, Virginia is a nature lover’s mecca. And it’s one of the few states that counts Washington, D.C., as […]

People call Secretariat Virginia’s greatest athlete for good reason. The thoroughbred racehorse, foaled near Ashland at Meadow Stables, not only won the American Triple Crown in 1973 but set and still holds the record in all three of its races. Yet, until recently, all monuments dedicated to Big Red were found outside his home state. […]

For fans of star chef Ian Boden and his famed, hole-in-the-wall, Staunton fine dinery The Shack, a visit to the newly launched Maude & the Bear culinary inn begins with a series of delightful shocks. A thoughtfully landscaped parking area gives way to the arched porch of a 2,500-square-foot, English-style Montgomery Ward kit-home-turned-restaurant that dates […]