Virginia Living - February 2023

Every company sets a standard. Our standard is excellence. We are a Virginia-based company with a national presence. Learn more about how we can partner with you.

At The Omni Homestead Resort, we believe that a day unlike any other should happen at a place unlike any other. Our stunning, new pavilion, debuting Holiday 2023, offers breathtaking views to create the perfect setting for your special day.

OmniHotels.com/TheHomestead 800-838-1766

Treasure Memories in Corolla.

Ready To Explore Corolla, NC

Land of Legendary Wild Horses

Just North of where paved roads come to an end on the Outer Banks is where the official state horse of North Carolina roam. The legendary Corolla wild horses have been calling our beaches home for over 400 years.

Currituck Beach Lighthouse

A beacon helping guide travelers for well over a century, the Currituck Beach Lighthouse towers over the Outer Banks landscape. For a small fee, visitors can climb the winding staircase for a wide-open view of the Currituck Sound and the Atlantic Ocean.

Whalehead in Historic Corolla

In the heart of Historic Corolla Park you will find the Whalehead Museum, a restored 1920s era Art Nouveau architectural masterpiece with a storied history. Whalehead is host to several seasonal events, and offers tours Monday through Friday.

The Currituck Maritime Museum

Located just across the park from Whalehead, the new Currituck Maritime Museum tells the integral story of the history of wooden boats on the northern Outer Banks and their craftsmen through exhibits and artifacts. Open Monday through Friday.

With folks reserving 2023 accommodations earlier than ever, there’s never been a better time to find the perfect place for your family’s spring or summer getaway. It is nice to know that awe-inspiring remote beaches, legendary wild horses and iconic historical sites are here for you to treasure on the Corolla Outer Banks.

Find shopping, dining and entertainment with the new Corolla OBX Mobile App, available on the App Store and Google Play.

877.287.7488 CorollaNC.com

BETROTHED IN BRISTOL

Tie the knot with surrounding views of the Appalachians and afterwards, celebrate the start of your new life together in the King Ballroom.

With 40+ wineries located along the Monticello Wine Trail, the Charlottesville area is the perfect place for your next vineyard getaway. Plan your winter stay today.

Visit our website to schedule private tours or RSVP for an Open House.

Reflections of the

Eldridge Bagley – 50 Years of Painting

by Alex Grabiec and Jay Williams

Willow Valley Communities o ers residents almost limitless opportunities to pursue their passions. Professional dog show competitor and resident Bets Keen trains her two golden retriever therapy dogs regularly and keeps them healthy and happy.

Miles of rolling trails satisfy Pride’s urge to cruise, while the community’s social dog parks indulge Ribbon’s love for playtime and connect Bets with like-minded friends. “There’s so much for the three of us to explore and learn together,” she said. “We are all living life forward!”

Find your Life Lived Forward. Explore Willow Valley Communities today.

THE

Brittany Tyler and Jonathan Cho celebrate their wedding

Pippin Hill. Photo by Chris Isham Photography.

photo by

STARTERS Pickle & Ash, Stuckey’s revival, and Hubs peanut news.

SWEETS Ted Lasso’s biscuit recipe, Virginia’s own Mardi Gras King Cakes, and caffeinated treats.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT How the Lynnhaven launched our obsession with oysters.

DINING OUT La Piazza: the latest in David Everett’s culinary empire is winning fans in Williamsburg.

58 FOOD CULTURE Junior League Cookbooks: Why we (still) love their kitchen wisdom.

HEALTH & WELLNESS

WHAT’S NEXT Circadian Medicine: the scientists making inroads in a futuristic field.

NUTRITION Healthy food, delivered; Sara McGlothlin expands Gratisfied line; and an exciting new sugar substitute.

HEALTH NEWS Nerve Tape, phone injuries, and malls meet medicine.

RESTORE Eupepsia Wellness Resort offers an integrated path to well-being.

LIVING WELL Could Virginia become the world’s sixth Blue Zone?

WEDDINGS

TRENDS Elegant invitations, clever cakes, charming traditions, and more.

VIRGINIA WEDDINGS These 10 couples say “I do” in style and share their favorite ideas. 128 DEPARTURE A Valentine for Henry Kissinger: a small gesture from a big heart.

Top Wedding

list

VirginiaLiving.com

SANCTUARY COSMETIC CENTER Soheila Rostami, MD, FAAO, FAACS

Sanctuary Cosmetic Center is a state-of-the-art body and face aesthetic center with locations in McLean, Reston, and Dulles. Led by Dr. Rostami, Sanctuary Cosmetic Center offers all the services clients desire in a warm, welcoming environment. Patients can receive both surgical and nonsurgical procedures at Sanctuary Cosmetic Center, including oculofacial cosmetic eyelid and facial surgery, CoolSculpting, DiamondGlow, chemical peels, dermal fillers, and Botox and Dysport injections. Other offerings include skin tightening and resurfacing, liquid face-lifts, liposuction, laser hair removal, liquid butt-lifts, and much more. Recently, the practice also began offering Morpheus8, Opus, and Renuva Treatments. Morpheus8 combines the best of microneedling, and radiofrequency and Opus uses RF tech-

nology to tighten and lift skin, as well as reduce scars and wrinkles, while Renuva is an alternative to autologous fat transfer, used to restore volume in the face, hands, and body. Expert in facial plastic surgery, Dr. Rostami has performed over 20,000 eyelid procedures, giving clients eye rejuvenation and a refreshed appearance. Besides offering her patients top-of-the-line care, Dr. Rostami is a fellowship director for the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery, where she mentors a new fellow for one year at Sanctuary Cosmetic Center to help them grow their skill set as a facial plastic surgeon. She is also on the American Board of Cosmetic Surgery. She also recently served as the president of the Medical Society of Northern Virginia for two years to support health care workers’ rights in 2020 and 2021.

PUBLISHED BY Cape Fear Publishing Company

109 East Cary Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219 804-343-7539, VirginiaLiving.com

PUBLISHER

John-Lawrence Smith

EDITORIAL STAFF

EDITOR Constance Costas

ART DIRECTOR Ryan Rich

ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR Cecilia Fellinger

MANAGING EDITOR Madeline Mayhood

ASSOCIATE EDITOR, SPECIAL PROJECTS Vayda Parrish

DIGITAL EDITOR Konstantin Rega

EDITORIAL RESEARCH ANALYST Chapin Mathews

CONTRIBUTING FOOD EDITOR Patrick Evans-Hylton

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Sherrie Page Guyer, Caroline Kettlewell, Leslie Laurence, Meredith Lindemon, Frank Morgan, Taylor Pilkington, Sarah Sargent, John Van de Kamp

COPY EDITOR Ashley Hunter

MEDIA CAMPAIGN CONSULTANTS

SALES MANAGER Matthew Marjenhoff 804-622-2602, MatthewMarjenhoff@CapeFear.com Warren Rhodes 804-622-2603, WarrenRhodes@CapeFear.com Clay Thomas 804-622-2609, ClayThomas@CapeFear.com

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CIRCULATION MANAGER AND E-STORE MANAGER Angela Shapiro 804-622-2612, AngelaShapiro@CapeFear.com

The 400-Year Commute: Meet five historic interpreters who bring history to life at Virginia’s best-known historic sites.

20 Years Later: Celebrate our 20th anniversary with a profile of Ryan Croxton, who covered oysters for our first issue. He and his cousin, Travis, then went on to establish Rappahannock Oyster Co.

Redefining Retirement: Read about three extraordinary seniors who are redefining life after career. And discover the joys of smart travel with Road Scholar.

Blue Rock: This next-generation inn brings unpretentious fine dining and casual luxury to the picturesque foothills of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains.

The Vinyl Revolution: Spinning records is back—and Virginia’s two vinyl pressing companies are working overtime to keep pace with demand. We discover what audiophiles love best.

One

POSTMASTER

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Online Exclusives: For pros to help on your Big Day, check out our 2023 Top Wedding Vendors— from planners, photographers, and more—all custom-curated by our editorial staff.

Made in Virginia Awards: Don’t miss our 2022 winners, all 30 of them in four categories—the best of Virginia’s makers and creators.

Find our handmade Tumbaga belts and buckles at VirginiaLivingStore.com

Contact John-Lawrence Smith, Publisher, at 804-343-7539 or JLSmith@CapeFear.com

Contributors

Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, and Pinterest to see all of the latest news and stories from Virginia Living, plus exciting giveaways and exclusive content. Have news to share? Tag us @VirginiaLiving

GEORGE TISDALE brings you a rollicking read with our “Famous Firsts of Virginia” feature. This Richmond-based writer and artist enjoys mountain hikes, trying to fly fish, and petting other people's dogs.

Instagram: @GeorgeTisdale

SERA PETRAS is a Virginia-based photographer. She captured every colorful corner of the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and contributed to our article on wedding invitation suites.

Instagram: @SeraPetras

LEGALISMS Virginia Living is a registered trademark of Cape Fear

HEATHER BIEN is a writer based in Washington, D.C., who contributed to our Weddings section. Her work has appeared in Apartment Therapy, Martha Stewart Weddings, and more. HeatherBien.com

JAMES ALBON is an illustrator and author based in Edinburgh, Scotland. You’ve seen his work in our recent essays on grits, holiday kitchen disasters, and this month, the Lynnhaven oyster. JamesAlbon.com

Inc. Copyright 2023,

CLAIRE SULLIVAN is senior beauty & lifestyle commerce editor for Women's Wear Daily. Formerly with Martha Stewart Living and MS Weddings, she lent her expertise to our Weddings coverage. ClairePSullivan.com

FRED TURKO + ELLIOTT

SHAFFNER met in Los Angeles in 2011 and quickly joined forces. They are the dynamic food stylist and photographer duo behind Frank Morgan’s La Piazza dining review. FredAndElliottPhoto.com

Publishing Company,

all rights reserved. Reproduction without written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited.

photo by kyle laferriere

Kody Grant as Cherokee war chief, Oconostota, at Colonial Williamsburg.

SMALL UNMANNED PILOT CERTIFICATION PROGRAM

SOUTHAMPTON COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Southampton County Public Schools recognizes the rapidly demanding field of drone technology. The Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems program allows students to use their commercial license to enter the following fields: agriculture, construction, public safety, cinematography, real estate, zoology, and more. With a drone license, students will have the opportunity to get a jump-start on their careers before graduating high school.

All students enrolled in the program can sit for the Part 107 Small Unmanned Aircraft Certification System exam to attain a drone license.

Southampton County Public Schools is now hiring. For a full list of available positions, please visit our website www.applitrack.com/southampton/onlineapp

Southampton County Public Schools 21308 Plank Road, Courtland, VA 23837 757-653-2692 | www.southampton.k12.va.us

Marjenhoff.

Dr. MeChelle Blunt, Southampton High School Principal Mr. Chad Brock, Career & Technical Education Supervisor Ms. Rachel Boag, STEM Curriculum Specialist Mrs. Cormanica Crutchfield, Unmanned Aircraft Systems Instructor Gwendolyn P. Shannon, Ph.D., Superintendent

Happy 2023!

Ringing in the New Year with wedding bells and love letters.

WE’RE KICKING OFF the first issue of our 21st year with a raucous romp through the remarkable inventions, foods, milestones, and discoveries that started right here in Virginia. Our “Famous Firsts” feature began with a few interesting finds and quickly snowballed. I hope you’ll have as much fun reading it as writer George Tisdale and I had researching it. Here’s one of many: The coffee percolator. A patent filed in Warrenton in 1899 proves it’s among Virginia’s many contributions to global happiness. Who knew?

We’ll also take you to Welbourne, the Middleburg estate where a secret letter-writing romance between a New York literary luminary and a hunt country belle endured for 25 years. It’s a tender and bittersweet story that, naturally, involves history, Hemingway, horses, and dogs.

Speaking of romance, it’s our Weddings issue and, I’ll add, our best yet. You’ll find trends, inspiration, and 10 real-life Virginia couples who said “I do” in style. And if wedding planning is in your future, look for our curated list of wedding vendors and resources around the state at VirginiaLiving.com

Then we’ll whisk you to the nationally renowned Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA). For more than 40 years, this artists’

Letters to the Editor

POLENTA SCHMOLENTA

We are the New England cousins referenced in “Grits by Any Other Name,” (Oct. ’22) by Madeline Mayhood. We have just one comment: Polenta schmolenta. We knew they were grits all along.

Mariann Mahoney, Mansfield, MA; Pam Tomkinson, Scarborough, ME; Ellen Ylitalo, Annapolis, MD

retreat near Amherst has nurtured talents like the celebrated painter Cy Twombly and authors Cheryl Strayed and Beth Macy. In our feature story you’ll find out how the VCCA began and how it continues to thrive today.

We’ll also spend a “chill” weekend in Virginia Beach. There’s more than sun and sand in this bustling oceanfront city—Virginia’s largest metro area. In Staunton, you’ll meet Statler Brother, Don Reid, who tells us how a chance encounter with Johnny Cash launched the popular group’s rise to the top of the charts. And we’ll chat with Stephanie Stuckey as she revives the iconic roadside brand her grandfather founded. You’ll find one of the five original Stuckey’s still operating in the Eastern Shore town of Mappsville.

And don’t miss our charming Valentine’s Day essay by Patrick Evans-Hylton about, who else? Henry Kissinger. If you recall the Summer of Love and Walter Cronkite’s nightly news, you’ll get a kick out of this one. We did.

Thanks for joining us.

Costas, Editor ConstanceCostas@CapeFear.com

KINDRED SPIRITS

I was pleased to see Navy legend Raye Montague mentioned in your essay “The Last Word” (Oct. ’22). While writing Raye’s biography, Overnight Code, with her son, David, we discovered several folders of obits she’d written for family and friends. Raye wasn’t just a trailblazing battleship and submarine engineer, she was an obit czar too! Thank you for sharing this remarkable woman with your readers. Raye was a true American original.

Paige Bowers, Atlanta, GA

A HOMECOMING

Last week a friend passed along your Aug. ’22 issue with its cover story on Elisha Barnes, a small acreage farmer shocking peanuts to yield a new, but old, taste experience.

The theme of higher purpose in unconventional work continued in articles on New Ravenna mosaics, the Schooner Alliance, and Champion Ice House, and in profiles of Leland Melvin, Emily Wade, and the code-breakers of Vint Hill Farms.

Even the ads enlightened me to new discoveries. Two years ago, I dropped my subscription. Now I’m back. For as long as Virginia Living brings me stories that broaden my thinking, I will thank you for “coming about.”

Dick Cross, Gloucester

CORRECTION

Our article on Mike Mason, who drove a school bus after retiring from the FBI and Verizon (Dec. ’22, page 85), misstated the length of his tenure at Verizon. Mason was a senior executive there for 13 years before retiring in 2020.

Drop Us a Line

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

We love hearing from our readers. Send your comments by email to editors@capefear.com or write us a letter and mail it to Letters to the Editor, 109 E. Cary St., Richmond, VA 23219. Please include your name and city of residence. Letters may be edited for length or clarity.

PARTNER WITH US

Would you like to sell copies of Virginia Living in your shop, tasting room, or office? Send an email to our favorite circulation manager, Angela Shapiro at angela.shapiro@capefear.com and she’ll be happy to share the details.

images (from top): courtesy of the hunt room, courtesy of paige bowers, by james albon

Constance

We say cheers with a Smoked Old Fashioned from the Hunt Room at the Cavalier Hotel in Virginia Beach, featured on page 46.

Raye Montague

TAKE NOTE

BRICK BY BRICK

By Vayda Parrish

Like a seventh wonder of the toymaking world, the Denmark-based LEGO Group has broken ground on a new $1 billion factory. The company chose Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam for their sixth location. The seventh? It’s coming to Chesterfield County.

“We looked at more than 40 U.S. states, but the Chesterfield site delivered on three key criteria,” says Timothy Ahrensbach, head of workplace experience at the LEGO Group. “It’s close to highways, seaports, and our major markets; Virginia is supportive of LEGO’s ambitions to build a carbon-neutral factory with access to renewable energy; and here we have access to skilled, high-quality manufacturing talent.”

Already, LEGO has secured partnerships with the Children’s Museum of

Richmond (CMoR) and the Science Museum of Virginia, “to support their play and outreach programs,” says Ahrensbach. Both museums are part of the LEGO Playful Learning Museum Network that focuses on “learnthrough-play experiences,” according to CMoR’s Sarah Moseley.

LEGO’s Chesterfield site will include a 1.7-million-square-foot facility and begin brick production by 2025, creating more than 1,760 jobs over the next 10 years. Factory tours will be offered, and dedicated employee play spaces—stocked with vats of LEGO bricks, of course, along with a Campfire Room with a crackling LEGO campfire for informal chats, green courtyards, and foosball and ping-pong tables—will create a joyful, playful workplace. LEGO.com

The LEGO Group is coming to Virginia.

Artists’ illustration of future arrival experience at LEGO Manufacturing Richmond.

TA KE NOTE  E VENTS  A BOUT TOWN

Throughout the years, Hollywood Cemetery has served as a place to remember, to mourn, and to celebrate the lives of those who have passed on. While it is a historical site, the initial purpose of Hollywood Cemetery’s founders continues on. Multiple burial options are available throughout the cemetery’s 135 acres, including lots, niches, and a scattering garden.

Making arrangements in advance is a wonderful way to give you and your family peace of mind both now and in the future. Unlike the common grid-like layout of modern cemeteries, Hollywood Cemetery offers a picturesque garden setting amongst rolling hills, valleys, and stately trees. By pre-planning, you can protect your loved ones from the emotional and financial burden of making arrangements for you.

Contact our cemetery office for more details on burial options in Hollywood Cemetery.

Photo by Bill Draper Photography

photos (clockwise from top): courtesy of cindy andrews, by sarah eager / cornell lab of ornithology, by zhukovvlad, by kyle laferriere

FLAVORS OF THE LAND

WHEN JOSH CHAPMAN, OWNER OF Chincoteague’s Black Narrows Brewing, heard about The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) work to save the longleaf pine, he got an idea: “I know this is going to sound crazy,” he told Bobby Clontz, who manages TNC’s Piney Grove Preserve in Sussex County, “but I really want to make a beer using this crazy longleaf pine.”

Known as “America’s Founding Forest,” the pines covered an estimated million-plus acres in 1607 when the English settlers landed; its wood built the houses and ships that launched our nation. But by 2005, only about 200 trees remained. Today, Clontz is among those working to preserve this species. With its “grapefruity notes,” Chapman says his Piney Grove IPA “turned out even better than I could have hoped.” Brewed from the longleaf’s green needles, bark, branches, and cones, it’s inspired three more Virginia beers in TNC’s OktoberForest Collection, each with their own original can art and distinct, regional flavors:

ȕ

Fine Creek Brewing Co.’s Allegheny Highlands Farmhouse Ale, with chanterelle mushrooms from Warm Springs Mountain Preserve. (Powhatan)

ȕ Väsen Brewing Company’s Barrier Islands Gose, made with eelgrass from the Volgenau Virginia Coast Reserve. (Richmond)

ȕ Crooked Run Fermentation’s Clinch Valley Saison, made with red spruce tips. (Sterling)

Nature.org —by K.R.

INDY ANDREWS HAS DOCUMENTED BUMBLEBEES , counted dragonfly larvae, and built nest boxes for the small falcons known as kestrels. “We had a successful brood of two baby kestrels. It was magic,” she notes. A certified Virginia Master Naturalist, Andrews says it’s all about “getting your hands dirty.”

The 40-hour training program covers fossil digs, native plants, wildlife mapping, “and so much more,” says Andrews, a Master Gardener who wanted to dig deeper into issues such as the critical role native plants play in environmental health.

Statewide, 30 local Master Naturalist chapters offer certification courses. Andrews completed hers through the Riverine Chapter in Hanover. Graduates complete 40 hours of volunteer service and eight additional hours of education each year to maintain the credential.

For the Virginia Oyster Shell Recycling Program, Andrews helped plant “spat-on-shell” oysters in the Piankatank River to rebuild oyster reefs. (“Spats” are oyster larvae that attach themselves to a surface, oftentimes a shell.) Managed by VCU’s Rice Rivers Center, the program uses shells from restaurants, seafood retailers, and from anyone with oyster shells who drop them off at the Route 5 complex. Andrews now serves as the program’s part-time coordinator. Whether she’s counting butterflies or staffing an information booth, Andrews cites another benefit to certification: “Probably the best thing are the friends I’ve made—people who share my passions and interests.”

VirginiaMasterNaturalist.org —by Konstantin Rega

LOOK TO THE SKY

The eBird app lets you join The Great Backyard Bird Count.

STEP OUTSIDE TO COUNT backyard birds Feb. 17-20 and you’ll be joining global research on nature’s feathered aviators. “This count is so fun because anyone can take part—whether you are an expert, novice, or feeder watcher,” says Chad Wilsey, the National Audubon Society’s vice president and chief scientist.

The Great Backyard Bird Count was launched in 1998 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, in partnership with Audubon, to track local birds and their migration patterns. In 2013, the count went worldwide on eBird, Cornell’s online bird database. Last year, 300,000 people in 192 countries counted more than a million birds, documenting 7,000 of the world’s 11,000 species.

Among the states, Virginia ranked seventh in participation. This year’s backyard birders can use the Merlin Bird ID or eBird apps to report counts. BirdCount.org —by K.R.

—Chad Wilsey, vice president and chief scientist, National Audubon Society

Firewood Wisdom:

Local logs protect Virginia’s forests.

Stocking up for winter? Insist on locally cut wood from a trusted purveyor. A statewide quarantine bans moving logs between regions to protect Virginia’s forests from invasive pests, according to the Virginia Department of Agriculture Check for cracks at log ends, a sign that wood is seasoned. Oak takes a year. Cut pine takes six months, but its high sap content means it’s best used outside. How much wood do you get in a cord? When stacked, a cord measures the equivalent of four by four feet and runs eight feet long. VDACS.Virginia.gov —by K.R.

Cindy Andrews dumps spaton-shell oysters at a sanctuary reef in the Piankatank River.

“Anyone can take part— whether you are an expert, novice, or feeder watcher.”

STAMP OF APPROVAL

WHETHER YOU’RE BOOKING an estate or a cabin, a new vetting system, The 100 Collection™, guides discerning travelers to high-caliber vacation rentals. Co-founders Travis Wilburn and Rebecca Lombardo of Charlottesville developed the thirdparty validation system to demystify the rental process by awarding the Collection’s stamp of approval to select properties that offer concierge-level service from proprietors with insider

knowledge of local destinations.

Guided by a trusted collective of leading owners and property managers known as doyennes, The 100 Collection™ ensures a rental property meets specific criteria for superior quality, cleanliness, and safety standards; offers timely guest communications; and ensures the professionals caring for these properties are well respected within their communities. TheOneHundredCollection.com —by Constance Costas

SALAMANDER

IN THE CITY

LOOK FOR A NEW “CAPITAL AND COUNTRY” package at Salamander Resort & Spa in Middleburg now that the Forbes five-star luxury resort has purchased the former Mandarin Oriental in Washington, D.C., located on the capital’s vibrant southwest waterfront.

Through March 1, guests who book a three-night Salamander stay can experience both properties. The package includes a $200 resort credit (to split between the Middleburg and D.C. locations), along with a signature s’mores kit. “Salamander Washington, D.C., is already a grand luxury hotel, and we’ve introduced the warm and inviting feeling that guests enjoy at other Salamander properties,” says founder Sheila Johnson, who was just named CEO of the Year by Washington Business Journal

The 373 guest rooms at Salamander Washington, D.C., will be refurbished—including the three-bedroom Presidential Suite—along with the hotel’s signature restaurant and lobby bar. A renovated club lounge will reopen as the Monument Club, and the Salamander Spa will add treatment rooms and a street-level entrance.

Purchased in a partnership with London-based Henderson Park, the new property joins Johnson’s resorts in Middleburg, Aspen, Charleston, Anguilla, Tampa Bay, and Jamaica. SalamanderHotels.com —by C.C

BAY BUBBLES

BOOK ONE OF THE TIDES INN’S TWO “Chesapeake Bay Bubbles” this winter and throw a cozy stargazing dinner party with up to six guests. The Inn’s elegant Chesapeake Restaurant will handle the menu. The heated dining domes, presented in partnership with Champagne house Moët & Chandon, are elegantly appointed with Moët’s signature pillows and blankets and come with a complimentary glass of Moët for each guest—perfect for celebrating a special occasion. Each bubble booking is $250. Dinner, drinks, and gratuity are separate. TheTidesInn.com —by C.C.

photos (from top) courtesy of: the one hundred collection, the tides inn, salamander hotels & resorts

The Tides Inn partners with Moët & Chandon.

A better way to vet vacation rentals.

Guests enjoying the Chesapeake Bay Bubbles at The Tides Inn.

The Salamander Washington, D.C., overlooks the Potomac River.

Here and left: Waterperry Farm near Charlottesville is among the vacation rental properties listed in The 100 Collection™.

Virginia Living ’s Top Ten

Our favorite events and happenings, coming soon.

1  NOV. 17– MARCH 5

TOYLAND: ARTIFACTS OF YOUTH

Abingdon: Explore childhood nostalgia with this exhibit featuring miniatures, toys, gifts, and traditions of Southwest Virginia. 276-628-5005, WilliamKingMuseum.org

4  JAN. 21

KRONOS QUARTET, AT WAR WITH OURSELVES 400 YEARS OF YOU

Richmond: The two-time Grammywinning quartet performs a new work by soundtrack composer Michael Abels (Get Out and Us). 804-289-8980, Modlin.Richmond.edu

5  JAN. 24

ANNIE: THE MUSICAL Roanoke: Annie’s classic rags-to-riches story won seven Tony Awards and has delighted audiences since 1977. 540-853-2510, BerglundCenter.live

6  JAN. 25 & 27

GEORGE WINSTON

Vienna: The pianist and composer of This is America Charlie Brown will be tickling the ivories on his new album tour. 703-255-1868, WolfTrap.org

2  DEC. 10 – APRIL 6

ELDRIDGE BAGLEY EXHIBITION: REFLECTIONS OF THE HEART

Farmville: Tobacco farmer turned folk painter, Bagley’s 50 years of work is on display at the Longwood Center for the Visual Arts. 434-395-2206, LCVA.Longwood.edu

3  JAN. 19

JIM GAFFIGAN: DARK PALE TOUR

Norfolk: The master of “clean comedy” brings his Grammy-nominated material to Hampton Roads. 757-664-6464, SevenVenues.com

7  JAN. 26 – 29

CIRQUE DU SOLEIL CORTEO

Norfolk: This award-winning circus troupe performs the story of Corteo, a clown who imagines a procession filled with acrobats, comedy, and daring stunts. 757-664-6464, SevenVenues.com

8  FEB. 3 – 5

PAW PATROL LIVE! HEROES UNITE

Fairfax: The TV pups, beloved by kids, come alive onstage. How will the six puppy heroes save the day this time? PawPatrolLive.com

FEB. 17–18, BLACKSBURG

NO STRINGS ATTACHED

A master puppeteer brings author Akutagawa’s story to the stage.

BLACKSBURG’S MOSS ARTS CENTER will host a next-gen spin on a 170-year-old form of Japanese puppetry with Akutagawa. Using advanced video projection and original live music, the show brings master puppeteer Koryū Nishikawa V and puppet artist Tom Lee together to animate the show’s oversized Japanese bunraku puppets, which take two to three people to manipulate.

“It’s a gem of a performance,” says Margaret Lawrence, the center’s director of programming. The show explores the creative process of one of Japan’s bestknown 20th-century writers. “I wanted to bring his story to the Moss Arts Center to celebrate great writing and great theatre, and to invite audiences on a journey that will resonate long after it’s over,” Lawrence says.

A fifth-generation puppeteer, Nishikawa learned this folk art from his father, starting at age three. Through puppetry and classic storytelling, he brings the celebrated writer’s complicated life to the stage, transforming the unfamiliar into a captivating multi-media experience. ArtsCenter.VT.edu —by Konstantin Rega

9  FEB. 11–12

COASTAL VIRGINIA WINE FEST

Virginia Beach: Stomp some grapes, taste regional wines, and shop craft vendors all weekend at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. 757-422-8979, CoastalVirginiaWineFest.com

10  FEB. 11–12

VALENTINE’S DAY TRIFECTA

Washington: The Trifecta Choco-Vino Challenge at Little Washington Winery, Skyline Brewing, and Wine Loves Chocolate where each tasting room pairs gourmet chocolate and wine. 540-987-8330, LittleWashingtonWinery.com

MAKING RESERVATIONS

Restaurant Week comes to four Virginia cities.

Pulled pork tacos with chipotle aioli from Warriors Taphouse in Virginia Beach, a 2023 Restaurant Week participant.

FOUNDED IN NEW YORK IN 1992 , Restaurant Week was the brainchild of Tim Zagat, co-founder of Zagat Survey, and Joe Baum, the legendary restaurateur behind the The Four Seasons and the Rainbow Room. The week of speciallypriced, multi-course tasting menus sparked a movement that caught on across the country. Now, it’s a muchanticipated highlight for foodies. Look

for Restaurant Week in these Virginia cities in January and February:

Fredericksburg (Jan. 13-22)

Virginia Beach (Jan. 16-22) ȕ Portsmouth (Jan. 21-28) ȕ Smithfield (Jan. 27-Feb. 4)

And to find out when your city is participating, check out FindRestaurantWeeks.com —by K.R.

photos (from top) courtesy of hachioji kuruma ningyo, william king museum of art / by lorin zehr, warriors taphouse

Master puppeteer Koryū Nishikawa V

Rocking Horse, late 19th century, Cultural Heritage Permanent Collection.



VIENNA

Wolf Trap In Bloom

Filene Center

Wolf Trap Ball Co-Chairs, Alka and Sudhakar Kesavan and Kevin and Kate Robbins, welcomed more than 750 guests to celebrate the conclusion of Wolf Trap’s latest season. Best dressed guests and décor filled the space with vibrant colors and flowers in bloom. The annual event was held onstage at the Filene Center and raised $1.8 million in

90th Anniversary Gala

Grandin Theatre

Roanoke’s oldest arts organization, Grandin Theatre, celebrated nearly a century of film and cinematic arts outreach and education with a formal evening of red-carpet photo ops, cocktails, live music by Richmond’s Erin and the Wildfire, and delicious fare from Blue Ridge Catering.

Virginia Delegate Sam Rasoul issued a proclamation, making the House of Delegates’ admiration for the theatre and its contributions to the Commonwealth official.

CHARLOTTESVILLE

Anchors Aweigh

The Center at Belvedere

Nearly 300 guests gathered at The Center at Belvedere, raising more than $98,000 to support healthy aging programming and scholarships. The dress code was strictly vacation-wear only for the cruise ship party featuring six themed “ports ‘o call,” each with distinct cocktails, cuisine, and live music—plus a speakeasy for late-night sipping.

support of Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts’ education programs.

Nathan Thomas, Heidi Moon, Amanda Lin, and Robert Matsukawa

Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts President & CEO Arvind Manocha and Gideon Malone flanking Wolf Trap Ball Co-Chairs Sudhakar and Alka Kesavan and Kate and Kevin Robbins

Andy and Polly Andrews

Enid Krieger, Paul Stams, and Greg Menke

Pianist Christopher Cano and Wolf Trap Opera alumna and soprano Ann Toomey.

Lori Strauss

Ken and Stacy Samet, Wolf Trap Foundation Board member Hillary Baltimore and Tom Baltimore

Bryan and Maggie Lytton, Capital One

Delegate Sam Rasoul and Ian Fortier, Executive Director, Grandin Theatre Foundation

Erin Lunsford from Erin and the Wildfire

Nathan and Anna Schnetzler, Anneli Luuk, and Chris Foley SPREAD THE WORD Tell us about your charitable event, and we might share it here!

Carol Weber, Kakie Brooks, George Beller, and Peter Thompson

Diane and Dick Brownlee and Andy Andrews

photos (clockwise from top left): courtesy of tony powell, by ronnie lee bailey, courtesy of the center at belvedere

HOMEgrown

SPOTLIGHT MUSIC AND LAUGHTER

By

Don Reid says the moment that changed everything for him came one day at the 1963 Roanoke Fair. His group, The Statler Brothers, had played around their hometown of Staunton for years, asking $10 per show—but often paying $10, for the privilege of playing.

Meanwhile, Johnny Cash was burning up the music charts that summer. The title track on his album, Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash, had been written by his future wife, June Carter, with Nashville

On

Songwriters Hall of Famer Merle Kilgore. The song had flopped when Carter’s sister released it. But when Cash recorded the song, adding Mexican trumpets, it took off for number one.

tour to promote his sixteenth album, Cash, too, had landed at the Roanoke Fair that day. When he heard the Statlers play at the Salem Fairgrounds, he hired them on a handshake. The following March, they would play their first show together in Canton, Ohio.

 S POTLIGHT  V IRGINIANA  N ATIVES  D ESTINATIONS

“With music, you want to connect with people and create a community, and that has proved lasting for us.”

—Don Reid

For Don Reid and The Statler Brothers, it all started at a county fair.

Konstantin Rega  | Photo by Mike Miriello

‘‘J

ohn was a walkin’, talkin’, singin’ musical encyclopedia,” says Reid. For the next eight years, the Statlers toured and recorded with The Man in Black. The Cash connection paved the way to their first record deal in 1965 with Columbia Records. The label, which dates to 1889, has a star-studded catalog of artists ranging from Cash, to Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra, and Bob Dylan.

Their first album, Flowers on the Wall (1966), featured familiar gospel and country tunes, along with their own compositions and launched them to stardom. The title track soared up the Hot 100, hitting number two on Billboard ’s Hot Country Songs.

They took home two Grammys that year, for Best New Country & Western Artist and Best Pop Performance by a Group—beating out The Beatles’ “Help!” and The Supremes’ “Stop, in the Name of Love.”

Cash remained an inspiring mentor and friend. “Being with him for those years was our education in the music business. We learned what to do, what not to do,” says Reid, “and we left on the best of terms.”

A Box of Tissues

Don Reid was 14 when he joined his older brother Harold’s music group, The Kingsmen, in 1959. With Phil Balsley singing baritone and Lew DeWitt singing tenor and on guitar, the weekend quartet infused their country sound with gospel harmonies.

When another group named The Kingsmen hit big with “Louie Louie” in 1963, the four Staunton boys cast about for a new name. They were on tour, in a hotel room, when Reid’s eyes lit on a box of Statler brand tissues. The name stuck. In another era, he says, “we could have been the Kleenex Brothers.”

Twenty years after the group’s last concert, Reid says, “we still have a fan base out there. With music, you want to connect with people and create a community, and that has proved lasting for us.” Their music lives on through his son, Langdon. “My inspiration, knowledge, and passion for playing and writing came directly from my dad,” he says.

With his cousin, Wil Reid, the two formed Grandstaff in the ’90s, rebranding as Wilson Fairchild in 2012. Their 2016 album, Songs Our Dads Wrote, spotlights the songs the Reid brothers wrote together. “I was very blessed to have him show me all he could to pursue my own dreams with music,” says Langdon.

Throughout their 43-year career, The Statler Brothers garnered three Grammy and nine Country Music Association Awards. Four times, they hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and, in 2007 and 2008, the group was inducted into the Gospel Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame.

A Touch of Humor

But The Statler Brothers’ appeal went beyond music. On tour with Cash, Lew DeWitt came up with a Minnie Pearl impersonation, with her trademark straw hat and a “Howdeeee! ” while Harold played Tex Ritter, singing the High Noon theme song. Audiences ate it up and, throughout the ’70s and ’80s, “comedy was a big part of who we were,” says Reid. “We would host award shows and write our own scripts and comedy sketches.”

“Harold was fearless when it came to comedy,” Reid says of his brother, who died in 2020. From his vocal trumpeting on “Ring of Fire” to the impromptu birthday speech he delivered for President Jimmy Carter (“The Chief”), the Statlers built a devoted fan base with their folksy sense of humor.

When the opportunity to develop a television show came along, “we knew what we wanted,” says Don. “A variety show. People said it was old hat, but it was a big hit.” In fact, The Statler Brothers Show—which took inspiration from Johnny Carson—was the top-rated program on The Nashville Network from 1991-1998, its entire seven-year run.

The Next Creative Adventure

“I’d always wanted to write and never had the time,” says Reid. “I was working on songs all the time and traveling for 40 years.” That all changed when the band quit touring in 2002. Since then, Don has written 11 books, from The Music of The Statler Brothers: An Anthology (2020) to his most recent novel, Piano Days (2022). A story of smalltown boys, the book reads like his lyrics: downto-earth, redolent of a particular time and place, and infused with the nostalgia of childhood. And though Reid looks back on his career with a smile and a chuckle, the only singing he does now, he says, “is in church on Sunday.”

Konstantin Rega is the digital editor of Virginia Living . He’s been published by the Richmond Times-Dispatch , The Claremont Review, Southern Review of Books , and contributes to Publishers Weekly and Treblezine .

photos (from top): © jim marshall photography llc, courtesy of globe photos inc, courtesy of the statler brothers

When Cash heard the Statlers play at the Salem Fairgrounds, he hired them on a handshake.

The Statler Brothers’ original lineup, from left: Harold Reid, Phil Balsley, Lew DeWitt, and Don Reid.

Johnny Cash onstage with drummer W.S. Holland, guitarist Bobby Wootton, and The Statler Brothers at San Quentin State Prison on February 24, 1969.

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Secret Love Letters

For 25 years, Scribner’s editor Maxwell Perkins sent them to Welbourne, a Middleburg estate.

By JOHN W. VAN DE KAMP | Illustrations by NADIA RADIC

AT THE EPICENTER of hunt country, Welbourne holds stories of horses, royals, and a secret literary romance. Built in 1750, the Middleburg estate became the home to Colonel Richard Henry Dulany, who fought in the Battle of Gettysburg. A passionate horseman, Dulany founded the country’s oldest hunt club, The Piedmont Fox Hounds, in 1840.

Even today, the hounds form a swirl of black, brown, and white on the lawn of the estate before the master of the hunt sounds the call. Horses and hounds then race through the fields, over fences, and across dirt roads, as they did when the Colonel’s ancestor, Daniel Dulany, Jr., hunted with George Washington.

The Colonel also founded the Upperville Colt & Horse Show in 1853. “Before the first Upperville Horse Show, he traveled to Manhattan to consult with Louis Comfort Tiffany about a suitable trophy,” says Dulany’s great-great-great granddaughter, Rebecca Dulany Morison Schaefer, who is the innkeeper at Welbourne. “Tiffany saw that this kind of sporting event could be a lucrative market for his business, and donated the cost of his craftsmanship for the silver cup.”

One hundred and seventy years later, Upperville’s horse show is the oldest and perhaps most prestigious in the country, with over 2,000 combi-

nations of horses and riders competing in events based on international standards.

The Belle of Hunt Country

As proprietor of Welbourne, a bed and breakfast since the 1930s, Rebecca Schaefer keeps eight generations of her family’s stories alive. She recalls her great aunt, Elizabeth Lemmon, who kindly indulged young visitors, whipping up milkshakes for her as a child. A Baltimore debutante, Lemmon took up residence on the estate in 1915, after the death of her father, and lived on the property at Church House until three years before her death in 1994 at age 100.

The “belle of the hunt country,” Lemmon taught singing and dancing at Foxcroft School and raised champion boxer dogs. “My dogs are raised like you wish your children were,” her letterhead read. A fan of both opera and baseball, she managed Upperville’s semi-pro baseball team and refused to answer the phone during the Metropolitan Opera’s Sunday afternoon radio broadcasts. Both forward-thinking and traditional, she read astrological charts and loved to knit.

Lemmon was 28 in 1922 when she met Maxwell Perkins in Plainfield, New Jersey, when she was visiting her aunt. The esteemed editor, 38 at the time, was nurturing the talents of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas Wolfe,

and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, among others. He and his wife, Louise Saunders, a friend of Lemmon’s, had five daughters, but their relationship was often strained. Lemmon paid a visit to Louise in Plainfield and, from the moment he saw her, Max Perkins was captivated. Even Louise felt the electricity between them.

A Passionate Affair By Mail

Not long after, Perkins wrote his first letter to Lemmon from his office at Charles Scribner’s in New York. “I always greatly liked the phrase dea incessant patuit, [and the goddess was revealed by her step],” he told her. “But I never really knew its meaning until I saw you coming through our hall the other night.”

“Their worlds could not have been farther apart,” Rodger Tarr writes in the introduction to his book, As Ever Yours: The Letters of Max Perkins and Elizabeth Lemmon, (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003), “yet they quickly became friends.”

Lemmon wrote back, launching an intimate correspondence that would endure over the next 25 years, ending only with Perkins’ death, at 62, in 1947. In Lemmon’s 1994 obituary, a grandniece describes the relationship as “a passionate affair by mail.”

“You will surely come over sometime,” Perkins wrote two years into their correspondence, on Oct. 7, 1924. “Won’t you tell me when you do? At least if you will let me see you. Not otherwise. You know it is only of such will as I have that I got out of Virginia without seeing you.”

In his letters, Tarr observes in his book, Perkins describes the burdens of his rising star status at Scribner’s, which came with an ever-increasing workload. “His genius,” Tarr adds, “was finding genius and cultivating it.” Perkins chafed at the role of public figure. But his own fame was increasing almost as rapidly as that of his authors.

Visiting Authors

In letters published in As Ever Yours, Perkins describes fishing in Key West with Ernest Hemingway. “I hold the world’s record for the Giant King fish,” he tells Lemmon. “If you’d seen me with a grizzled beard looking as tough as a pirate you could imagine me doing nothing else unless it was murder.”

Of Thomas Wolfe, who responded to the editor’s cuts with even more pages, he confided to Lemmon, “God knows what the result will be, but I suspect it will be the death of me.” He also wrote intimately of family life. Whatever the topic, Tarr notes, Perkins often added, “I am telling this only to you.”

It’s not clear when, but Perkins did visit Welbourne once, and in 1934, asked Lemmon to host both F. Scott Fitzgerald and Thomas Wolfe on separate occasions. Both authors wrote thinly veiled stories based on Welbourne, which Fitzgerald placed in the fictitious town of “Warrenberg.”

Wolfe described Welbourne as, “one of the most beautiful plantation houses you ever saw. The house in its general design is not unlike Mount Vernon,” he wrote in a letter to his mother, “yet surpasses it in its warmth and naturalness.”

Fitzgerald, Lemmon would later complain, was often drunk and “showing off.” When his story appeared in a November 1934 edition of The Saturday Evening Post, Tarr notes, she took offense that he had based his main character on her.

Ours Was a Secret Love

Long after Perkins’ death, when biographer A. Scott Berg interviewed Lemmon for his book Max Perkins: Editor of Genius, in 1978, she produced a shoebox filled with letters. “These are Max’s letters to me,” she told him. “I was Max’s confidante. Ours was a secret love.”

Secret, perhaps, but Perkins’ wife, Louise, knew of the ongoing friendship, and once asked Lemmon to look after her husband if something should happen to her. But the letters came as a surprise to Perkins’ oldest daughter, Bertha Saunders Perkins Frothingham, who remarked, “I’m so glad Daddy had someone to talk to.”

How many times did they meet in person? “No one knows,” Tarr says. But it’s clear they did meet, perhaps for several dinners, over the course

of their 25-year friendship. Still, Lemmon insisted the relationship was platonic. “I never slept with Max!” she told Berg. “I never kissed him.”

By the late 1930s, a besotted Perkins confessed to Lemmon. “I wish I could talk to you, but .… I’m so happy to be with you that I can’t say anything.”

But by 1940, he had fallen into despair, telling her, “I don’t think I shall ever see you again. But I remember everything about every time I ever did see you & there was mighty little in life to compare any of it to. I’ve always thought of you & all the time.”

They met for the last time at the Ritz Bar in New York in 1943. There, Tarr writes, Perkins reportedly attempted to profess his love in person. Instead, all he could manage was, “Oh Elizabeth .… it’s hopeless.” Later, Berg would describe the relationship as “a great 19th-century romance, and a totally platonic affair.” Lemmon never married.

If Welbourne’s walls could talk, they’d have more stories to tell. It remains a comfortable inn and is also a sanctuary for retired horses. With its gracious host, Rebecca Dulany Morison Schaefer, this historic estate welcomes guests into an engaging step back in time. WelbourneInn.com

John William Van de Kamp is a retired Air Force Colonel and former Annapolis Capital Gazette columnist. He served in the Strategic Air Command, and the Pentagon and State Department in national security strategy.

WELBOURNE’S EQUINE RETIREMENT COMMUNITY

SINCE THE LATE 1970S, Welbourne has been a home for nearly 100 permanently retired horses, each with plenty of grass to graze on the property’s hundreds of acres and free-range pastures, with plenty of creeks, streams, and troughs, plus two large barns and lots of run-ins for shade. The horses live unimpeded, forming their own groups.

The retirement farm gives owners peace of mind, allowing them to remain in contact with their horses, rather than selling them. To see their old friends, they

can visit Welbourne for a day or three. The inn’s guests can visit with them, too.

The equine retirement business—founded by Nat Morison and now managed by his son Josh and his wife, Amanda—is now Welbourne’s financial backbone, enabling the family to hold onto the property over the last half century. The Morisons know each horse by name. They check on them daily and provide access to veterinary care. They are also proud stewards of this historic land. WelbourneFarm.com

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A Cosmopolitan Traveler

The American robin gets around.

By CAROLINE KETTLEWELL | Illustration by AMBER DAY

WHEN YOU TAKE A CLOSER LOOK, sometimes the most familiar things turn out to be full of surprises.

Consider, for example, the American robin. A common habitué of residential yards, the robin is so easily recognizable by its rust-red breast that, even if you don’t know a towhee from a titmouse, you can almost certainly identify a robin when you see one.

The iconic worm-hunter, it’s a bird you’ve probably seen yet not really noticed countless times, because the American robin is kind of just … there But Emily Williams, a Ph.D. student at Georgetown University, is among a team of researchers who are taking notice—actively studying the American robin to yield new insights particular to the bird’s migratory habits.

And it turns out, says Williams, that robins are cosmopolitan travelers who “exhibit an amaz-

ing diversity of migration.” In 2017, Williams was working for the National Park Service in Alaska’s Denali National Park, when she first got involved with the robin project. Robins captured there, as well as in Massachusetts and the Washington, D.C., area, were fitted with tiny GPS tracking devices. A year later, the team managed to recapture seven of the birds, and what the GPS data showed was a remarkable variety of ranges.

The birds from Alaska had migrated south—one as far as Texas—before returning. One robin from Massachusetts had made like a New England retiree and wintered in South Carolina. And yet the D.C. birds proved veritable homebodies, never ranging further than six kilometers from where they were initially tagged.

As the project continues—now, thankfully with trackers that don’t require recapturing the birds— the researchers have further learned that even an

individual bird might vary its habits from year to year, staying put one year and migrating another. Some species of birds are predictable migrators. In Virginia, for example, the prothonotary warbler takes flight every fall for southern wintering grounds from the Gulf of Mexico to South America. Robins, however, may reflect a versatility more common than realized, Williams suggests. There’s so much we don’t know about the familiar wild things that live among us; it was only when the robin project started that the variety of an individual bird’s migratory habits was revealed.

“I tell people all the time that, depending on what time of year it is, and especially in the spring and fall migratory periods, if you see a robin in the D.C. region, you don’t know if it is a robin that may have been here year-round, a robin that has just arrived to spend the winter here, or a robin that is moving through on its migration,” Williams says. “In D.C., Maryland, and Virginia we definitely get all of the above.”

This variability, she says, makes robins “the perfect species for asking questions about what drives migration.” Why do some birds migrate while others don’t, for instance? And why, even within a species, can birds exhibit a variety of migratory behaviors?

Understanding those behaviors may prove helpful in broader areas of research, such as the effects of habitat loss and climate change, or the movement of diseases that can infect both animals and humans. Robins, as it turns out, can be the unfortunate carriers of Lyme disease. The discovery raises concerns that they could be contributing to its spread, so the research team checks captured robins, sending any birds found carrying ticks for further testing.

Whether they migrate or not, though, robins’ behaviors do reflect the seasons. In the winter, the birds join up in large, nomadic flocks and gather in wooded areas that provide protection from predators and the elements. But whether they travel far or barely leave the neighborhood, the “first robin of spring” isn’t a misnomer. In our region, robins may begin nesting during the first week of April, making them among the early bird harbingers of the season.

If you’d like to make your own yard a yearround robin-friendly habitat, minimize use of fertilizers and pesticides on your lawn, where robins like to hunt for earthworms in warm months. In winter, when robins look to dine on fruits and berries, consider planting native fruiting shrubs like winterberry holly or dogwood, which provide abundant berries for the birds.

And when you next see that familiar, mundane robin, pause to wonder where it might be going— and where it might have been.

Caroline Kettlewell is an insatiably curious writer who has a particular interest in stories about science, health, and the natural world.

CarolineKettlewell.com

A robin might stay put one year— then make like a New England retiree and winter in South Carolina.

A Chill Winter Weekend

Long after summer, Virginia Beach beckons.

By TAYLOR PILKINGTON

I‘m at the Virginia Beach Art Center, walking around a giant silver hand making the chef’s kiss gesture. The sculpture, titled Hand, stands near a box of magnifying glasses. They’re for reading the tiny text on a technicolor paper mosaic of a giant eye. The exhibition showcases area artists, and like a midwinter trip to “The Beach,” it’s full of surprises. Long after summer renters have folded up beach chairs and left for home, the city’s museums, restaurants, shops, and outdoor adventures await. As the weekend unfolds, it dawns on me: At Virginia Beach, there is no off-season.

Get Wild Winter, in fact, is the only season for whale watching. “Even lots of locals don’t know we have large whales here,” says Mike Mizell, who’s led twice-daily expeditions from the Virginia Aquarium—from mid-December to early March—for the past 23 years.

Winter prompts humpback whales to migrate from northern waters to the Caribbean to mate and birth calves. Along the way, they make lengthy stops in the mid-Atlantic to feed off the plentiful menhaden and bay anchovies. Whale spotters stand a good chance of seeing humpback, minke, and fin whales, “and if you’re very lucky you may spot a right whale,” says Mizell. “They’re endangered, and I’ve never seen one, but I want to.”

Bring your own binoculars to scan for a tail fluke soaring skyward from the water, Mizell notes. And dress more warmly than you think you’ll need to. Although the boat’s cabin is heated, air temperatures on the water are cooler.

If, instead, you fancy yourself the captain of your own ship, the Mid-Atlantic Sports & Boat Show at the Virginia Beach Convention Center is on tap Feb. 4–6. From kayaks to jet skis, pontoon boats, and custom fishing boats, the latest water toys will be on display.

Prefer dry land? The Virginia Aquarium is home to about 12,000 animals in more than 800,000 gallons worth of tanks. Further afield, the Cape Henry Lighthouse offers tours yearround. Or check out Beachside Social on Atlantic Avenue for a game of shuffleboard or bocce. You’ll feel like you’re on a classic cruise ship.

A game of shuffleboard at Beachside Social. Left: Dolphins spotted on a trip with Rudee Tours.

A soak in the whirlpool at SeaHill Spa at the Cavalier Hotel.

For nature lovers, a wander through Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge’s nearly 10,000 seaside acres offers a soul-satisfying escape. And with more than 300 avian species, it’s a birders’ paradise. Tram tours run on select winter weekend afternoons, too.

If you prefer your nature indoors, head to Plant House for a workshop in Succulents and Sangria, Boozy Bonsai, or Tipsy Terrariums, or learn to make a moss wall. Beer, wine, and mimosas are available for purchase. Plant House also offers a top-notch selection of house plants with complimentary potting service—from their stylish selection of pots.

For theater and music aficionados, Yo-Yo Ma is coming to Chrysler Hall in nearby Norfolk on Feb. 23, and the Sandler Center for Performing Arts features Animals at the Symphony on Feb. 10 and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s School of Rock from Feb. 24–26.

Culture-seekers will enjoy the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), which showcases regional and national talent in a range of contemporary works. Visit in February to catch the juried Made in VA exhibition, celebrating statewide artists.

An Artsy ViBe

Along with MOCA, Virginia Beach is also a bona fide arts destination, and the ViBe Creative District is its first dedicated hub. A few blocks inland from the Boardwalk, it’s anchored to the east by the Virginia Convention Center, and to the north by MOCA, which also offers master classes.

Launched a decade ago with a push from Andrew Fine, president of The Runnymede Cor-

poration, and Laura Wood Habr, co-owner of Croc’s 19th Street Bistro, the ViBe Creative District is all about public art—more than 300 pieces. Sculpture abounds, along with 60 murals. Each year, artists come to town for Mural Fest, painting 10 new ones in 10 days. Take a one-mile walking tour with a ViBe guide and you’ll hit most of them.

“The idea is, you should be able to stand anywhere

photos (from left) by echard wheeler, courtesy of rudee tours, courtesy of beachside social, courtesy of rudee tours, by kyle laferriere

“Even lots of locals don’t know we have large whales here.”

—Mike Mizell, boat coordinator, Virginia Aquarium

A humpback whale breaches for a Rudee Tours whale watching group.

Mike Mizell on the dock at the Virginia Aquarium.

in the ViBe, turn around in a circle, and see art all around you,” says Kate Pittman, the district’s executive director. She’s right. Even the parking meters are painted. Color is everywhere, too, from the berry purple Virginia Arts Center, to the vibrant yellow 17th St. Gallery, to the funky neighborhood restaurant, the Pink Dinghy, which is, well, pink

Constance Fahey is founder of The Artist’s Gallery, which shares a building with the Virginia Art Center. A co-op of about 60 artists, the gallery holds working studios where visitors are encouraged to interact with the artists as they work. A peek over Fahey’s shoulder reveals the beginnings of a sunset scene—a canvas full of wavy dark blue and orange blocks. There’s even a ceramics studio where pros and tourists alike can mingle and leave with a glazed and fired piece.

A Maker’s Paradise

On Saturdays, you’ll find the Old Beach Art and Eco Market in ViBe Park, and the Old Beach Farmers Market just across the street. Visit on the third Saturday of the month, and you’ll also catch the Virginia Beach Flea and the Military Owned Market.

At Mug’s Bakery, I sample their buns in flavors like caramel apple bourbon and espresso mocha. Owners Tyler and Kiwii Boyd call it a “modern disco bakery,” and it shows—most of the treats are decorated with bright psychedelic designs. At Virginia Pie Shop, I’m too late for an Iberian eggplant hand pie, so I settle for Southern spanakopita. Like many other vendors here, the bakery and pie shop are pop-ups, so you have to make it to the markets to catch them.

The restaurants here echo the arts vibe: Contemporary gastropub Esoteric feels like a small gallery itself, full of paintings in gilt frames that look down on rich small plates like duck tacos, poutine, and charred octopus. Next door at Commune, you can stroll through the garden to see the vegetables that will turn up on the menu. And Zoës Steak and Seafood nearby has been named one of America’s Top 100 Wine Restaurants by Wine Enthusiast magazine.

Go High, Go Low

Just past the Boardwalk’s north end at 40th Street, I practice a vertical and gustatory twostep, stopping into a pair of the city’s finest hotels for a drink and a small plate. I start at the Cavalier Hotel and descend the spiral steps to the basement-level Hunt Room, part of its multimillion dollar renovation, where I’m greeted by a large fireplace. In warmer months it holds a mellower sort of fire—aging barrels of whiskey from the adjoining Tarnished Truth Distillery. A window opposite the bar affords a view of the distillery’s gleaming copper kettles and steam valves. I take the guided tour, and I’m rewarded in the tasting room with a sample of each spirit.

The Hunt Room’s clubby atmosphere is a warm respite from the winter wind—with a little imagination, you might feel like you’re stepping off the Scottish moors. And it lives up to its name. Under a dark green paneled ceiling, a black bear rears by

“The idea is, you should be able to stand anywhere in the ViBe, turn around in a circle, and see art all around you.”

—Kate Pittman, executive director, ViBe Creative District

ViBe Creative District executive director Kate Pittman and co-founder Laura Wood Habr pose in front of a mural by local artist Caesar.

Indoor skydiving at iFly.

the hearth, while two raccoons play cards on the mantel. A pheasant and fox stare down the dark wood of the bar.

On the menu, the honey-stung Brussels sprouts are a most pleasant way to eat your veggies—overall, this is the place for elegant comfort food. The pleasant smell of rich woodsmoke occasionally wafts through the room as the bartender prepares cocktails like the smoked Old Fashioned.

Onward, but mostly upward, I leave the Cavalier and head across the street to Orion’s Roof, the rooftop restaurant perched high on the 24th floor

of the Marriott Virginia Beach Oceanfront. The first thing you’ll discover: The view lives up to the hype. It’s hard to focus on the Asian fusion menu, or the spare elegance of the dining room, when outside in the green-gray Atlantic Ocean, I count three kites, two sailboats, and one brave swimmer. On the beach below, the seating suggests nuptials, but the bachelorette party in the elevator was unmistakable. It’s a popular spot for couples seeking a sand-in-your-toes wedding.

The bartenders in suspenders remind me of an upscale Prohibition-era bar at a seaside resort—

fitting, since Orion’s Roof feels like its modern counterpart. A table here is in high demand, one of the benefits of a winter visit: Reservations are easier to score.

Live, Laugh, Love Song

If you’ve ever enjoyed cooking show competitions, you’ll also like sitting at the bar at Love Song, opened in late 2021 by chef Mike Hill, previously of Richmond’s Heritage. This oceanfront restaurant is a long, narrow-ish affair, but the action is in the small

photos (from left): by kyle laferriere, courtesy of ifly, by kyle laferriere

kitchen, positioned directly behind

Igor Acord of Igor’s Custom, a custom sign shop and pit stop on the ViBe District tour, with some of the items in his self-described “Smallest Museum on Earth.”

the bar. Here, you are almost—but not quite—a dancer in this chef’s ballet, at once frenetic and tightly controlled, with more cooks and burners in this tiny space than should be possible.

You may also almost—but not quite—believe you can drink like a chef, too. In addition to a wine list focused on natural and biodynamic wines, the drink menu features a series of bracing “50/50s”—essentially shots made with half spirit and half amaro or aperitif.

I am interested in the T&A, a Tequila and Aperol shot, but my server tells me that the M&M is the staff favorite—that’s mezcal and Montenegro. She dips over the bar to pull the bottle of Montenegro and show me. It’s representative of the service here, informal and highly attentive.

The Hunt Room’s clubby atmosphere is a warm respite from the winter wind—with a little imagination, you might feel like you’re stepping off the Scottish moors.

Tall containers of herbs stand at intervals behind the bar, mis en place forests from which chefs pluck and pull as they cook. Littleneck clams clatter into a pot, duck breasts sear on the flat top as Motown and classic hip-hop mix with the sizzling, chopping, and bubbling of the kitchen.

I watch a chef use long tweezers to arrange dill onto my mushroom tartine. It eats like an open-faced sandwich, the bread crispy around the edges but soft enough to cut with a fork in the middle, piled high with mushroom, creamy eggplant, and soy—an ode to umami, earthy and nearly overpowering. He takes similar care with the feathery ricotta gnudi, pesto, and a pillowy cloud of Parmesan.

Another chef pries clams open with a spoon as they cook in a red-orange sauce. All but the tip

of his spoon is still. You can see the focus—his awareness flowing to that one point. Guided meditation simmering in cream sauce.

The standout is a plate of marinated anchovies, balanced with fennel, the saline tang of green olives, rich butter, and saffron aioli, served with crusty baguette slices—just enough to grant a glimpse at the strength of each flavor without overpowering.

Indoor Escapes

Adventure-seekers will love iFly Indoor Skydiving, where you can step into a wind tunnel to simulate the free-fall part of jumping out of a plane—without the plane. Downshift afterwards at SeaHill Spa at the Cavalier where you can choose among a dizzying array of spa treatments—from Quartz Thermal Therapy to Soak

Taxidermied raccoons at the Hunt Room enjoy a Manhattan, courtesy of local distillery Tarnished Truth.

Dinner and late night menus at the Hunt Room vary with the seasons and feature sophisticated cuisine inspired by rustic, old-world traditions. Bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin with roasted root vegetables and an ample serving of creamed corn include fresh and locally sourced ingredients.

DIG IN

Virginia Beach Restaurant Week, Jan. 16–22: Master chefs at nearly 50 area restaurants serve up specially priced tasting menus to eat in or take out. DineInVB.com

More food favorites include:

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photos (from left): by marcus holman, by ashley lester, by keith lanpher, courtesy of love song, by fresh look photography / courtesy of town center of virginia beach

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BoBo’s Fine Chicken: No-fuss, traditional fried chicken. On Shore Drive, it’s a longtime local favorite. BoBosFineChicken.com

Cobalt Grille: Owner and executive chef Alvin Williams capitalizes on fresh and local ingredients in his seasonal and seasideinspired menu. CobaltGrille.com

ȕ

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Le YaCa: A fine French and European dining institution with a new-ish Beach location caters to an in-the-know foodie crowd. LeYaCaWilliamsburg.com

Taste: The gourmet sandwich shop with three Beach locations got its start in 1973. Take home a bottle of their famous House Dressing, a must-have souvenir. TasteUnlimited.com

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Tupelo Honey: Southern inspired dishes, scratch-made with seasonal ingredients from executive chef Eric Gabrynowicz, a four-time James Beard Award semifinalist. TupeloHoneyCafe.com

and Sand rituals that rejuvenate with ocean minerals. Try a CBD massage or step into the multisensory Hydro Capsule. Equipped with 20 shower sprays, the capsule delivers an invigorating mix of infrared heat, aromatherapy, and chromotherapy.

Get your aura read, walk the labyrinth, or book a massage and grab lunch at Graze Kitchen & Catering, all on the campus of Edgar Cayce’s Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.), headquartered on 67th Street and Atlantic Avenue. A prolific psychic, Cayce is considered the “father of holistic medicine.” He established the A.R.E. to explore spirituality, holistic health, intuition, dream interpretation, psychic development, reincarnation, and ancient mysteries.

A.R.E. is a popular spot among locals and visitors alike, with free daily lectures, a health center and spa, meditation garden, the Cayce/Reilly®

School of Massage, a metaphysical bookstore, and gift shop. The campus is also home to Atlantic University which offers degree, continuing ed, and certificate programs.

In the midst of all, a winter break in Virginia Beach yields art, great food, music, theater, and even outdoor adventures—I haven’t missed the sand or sunbathing one bit.

I think of Pittman’s description of the ViBe District: “A museum without walls—a venue without a roof.” His words capture the rest of the city, too. One big venue that’s a little more chill, a little more local, and a lot more than I’d expected— especially in the winter months.

Taylor Pilkington is a Richmond-based writer interested in exploring the intersections of Virginia’s history, culture, and commerce.

SEASIDE SHOPPING

Hilltop: The area’s premier lifestyle, dining and shopping destination with over 120 storefronts, Hilltop includes local favorites like: ȕ

Airotciv by Victoria: From hand-crafted jewelry to carefully curated beachwear, this specialty boutique showcases a coastal European aesthetic.

AirotcivByVictoria.com

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The Collective Garments & Goods: Women’s contemporary clothing and activewear with a casual luxury vibe, plus gifts and kids clothing.

TheCollectiveVB.com

Frances Kahn: Women’s high fashion featuring brands like Herno, Majestic Filatures, Kinross, and Lafayette 148. FrancesKahn.com ȕ

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The Globe: Fine gifts and home décor, and brands like Simon Pearce, Vietri, Staub, and Herend.

TheGlobe.MyShopLocal.com

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Nectar: A home accessories and gift boutique with a coastal flair showcasing Dash & Albert, Archipelago Botanicals, Bella Bags, and more.

Facebook: @NectarVB

La Promenade features a distinctive collection of chic boutiques, including Chico’s, Ocean Palm/Lilly Pulitzer, Talbots, and J. McLaughlin. Salons and spas for pampering and relaxation include Amazing Lash Studio MassageLuxe Ava Maria, and Restore HyperWellness Aldo’s Ristorante and Mizuno Japanese Restaurant offer casual dining.

French Twist Boutique: Gifts, jewelry, tableware, clothing, and accessories with a European flavor.

FrenchTwistBoutique.com

Lemon Cabana: Beach-inspired home décor and preppy-chic women’s clothing, jewelry, and accessories. LemonCabana.com

Acredale Saddlery: Cowboy boots and hats from Tony Lama, Ariat, Lucchese, Justin, Twisted X, Nocona, and others. Largest selection in the region.

AcredaleSaddleryBoots.com

If you’ve ever marveled at a cooking show competition, you’ll enjoy sitting at the bar at Love Song.

Love Song sommelier Brittany Herlig prepares a drink at the bar. Below: A staff toast.

Winter shopping at Town Center of Virginia Beach.

“The MOUNTAINS are calling and

MUST GO.”

– John Muir

After driving the Blue Ridge Parkway through our mountains, a few other things awaiting you are picnics at a covered bridge, canoe rides, traditional mountain music, artisan studios, local wineries, bed and breakfasts, camping, hiking, mountain biking, and fishing. From the rugged outdoors to 5-Star luxury, there is so much to discover in Patrick County. www.visitpatrickcounty.org

GOODtaste

STARTERS A LABOR OF LOVE

A must-stop on Route 58 in Patrick County, Pickle & Ash is a restaurant, bar, market, and local gathering place that’s taking a fresh approach to Appalachian cuisine.

“We live in a bucolic area where folks have been growing and cooking their own food from scratch for generations,” says owner Chelsea Raby. “We cook in a way that people can identify with, but we also find new ways of preparing the foods that folks have been growing for years. Our name comes from our love of food preservation, especially pickling, and cooking with fire—or ash.”

The menu, built on hyper-local ingredients from more than 20 farmers, food artisans, breweries, wineries, and other purveyors, changes with the seasons. Look for tacos filled with pulled pork—hickory smoked on-site—and

topped with butternut squash crema, cranberry salsa, and candied jalapeños. Peach chutney complements the wood-roasted bone-in pork chop, served with roasted garlic grits, honey brown butter rainbow carrots, or white winebraised cabbage with apples.

“We host lunch, dinner, and brunch, and we stock our market with entrées, soups, salads, and baked goods,” Raby says. “And our cocktails are custom blended with fresh seasonal produce. Our coffee is roasted locally as well.”

Outdoors, firepits and games beckon. And locals gather for trivia nights, beer and wine dinners, parties, and workshops. “Pickle & Ash is most definitely a labor of love,” says Raby. “It is a tremendous amount of work, which is why you don’t find places like ours very often.” PickleAndAsh.com

In Stuart, Pickle & Ash honors Appalachian cuisine.

By Patrick Evans-Hylton  | Photo by Deana Clark

 ST ARTERS  SW EETS  F OOD FOR THOUGHT  D INING OUT  F OOD CULTURE

CONVERSATIONS:

Stephanie Stuckey is reinventing America’s roadside oasis.

IN THE 1960 s, highway billboards invited us to “Refresh-Relax-Refuel” at 368 teal-roofed Stuckey’s, including one in Mappsville, on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. With its Texaco gas, pecan log rolls, and kitschy souvenirs like coonskin caps and Mexican jumping beans, Stuckey’s created road trip memories for generations.

Founded in 1937 by W. Sylvester Stuckey, Sr. as a Georgia roadside pecan stand, the brand faltered after the family sold to Pet Milk in the 1970s.

In an attempted buyback, Billy Stuckey, son of the founder, recruited investors and launched DQ

PEANUT PERFECTION

Two gourmet brands choose Hubs.

Stuckey’s in a string of Dairy Queens. When her father’s move fell flat, Stephanie Stuckey bet her life savings on her family’s ailing chain.

An Atlanta native and longtime legislator in Georgia’s General Assembly, Stephanie bought the business in 2019, when it carried $163,000 in debt. Now she’s focusing on reviving the Stuckey’s brand.

Virginia Living: Did an emotional pull inspire you to return Stuckey’s to the family?

Stephanie Stuckey: I wanted to make Stuckey’s

a household name again. I was certainly attached to it, and I wanted to see it become profitable.

VL: How’s business now?

SS: I bought a fixer-upper. For decades, Stuckey’s did no marketing. I shifted the focus from stores to our classic candies and within six months we’d erased the debt and were making a small profit. By 2021, Stuckey’s gross sales totaled $13 million—up from $2 million in 2020.

Virginia’s own Hubs peanuts take a star turn in Big Spoon Roasters’ new crunchy peanut butter Based in North Carolina, Big Spoon makes small-batch nut butters in flavors like lemon coconut cashew and chocolate sea salt almond.

One taste and all thoughts of lunchbox PB&Js evaporate. This crunchy peanut butter gets its salty sweetness from sorghum and sea salt—and it’s elegant enough to serve on a cracker with cocktails.

In Springfield, Arkansas, chocolate

VL: How did you pull it off?

SS: Candy and nuts account for half our revenue. We make chocolate turtles, pralines, pecan log rolls, snack pecans, and divinity—a nougat candy with fudge and marshmallow. They’re sold at Food Lion, on our website, and we’re exploring gas station distribution. To secure Stuckey’s for another 85 years, I also purchased a pecan shelling and candy plant in Wren, Georgia.

VL: How many of the original Stuckey’s stores remain open today?

SS: Five. In Virginia, the Mappsville location is among the five oldest Stuckey’s still in operation. The others are in Summerton, South Carolina; Paxico, Kansas; Hattiesburg, Mississippi; and Winnie, Texas.

VL: Do you still see Stuckey’s as “A Roadside Oasis”?

SS: Definitely. We’re bringing back an American icon. People are sharing their Stuckey’s memories on our website’s guestbook. Stopping to shop is part of the road trip experience, so we’ve added Stuckey’s socks, coffee mugs, t-shirts, and trucker hats, with more products coming.

I do a lot of public speaking and I get interesting feedback. One man came up to me in Oklahoma City to say, “You don’t know me, but I wanted to thank you for giving me back a piece of my childhood.” That meant a lot.” Stuckeys.com —by Martha Steger

maker Kyya also chose Hubs for their single origin cacao and peanut chocolate bar. The limited edition peanuts grown and “shocked” by fourthgeneration farmer Elisha Barnes— see our Aug. ‘22 cover story—are paired with 50 percent dark chocolate, made from cacao sourced from a Ugandan farmer. Decadently delicious, Kyya’s chocolate nut bar debuts at The Hubs Vine in Franklin this winter.

HubsPeanuts.com, BigSpoonRoasters.com KyyaChocolate.com —by Vicki Friedman

CELEBRATING FAT TUESDAY

King Cakes rule Mardi Gras.

BISCUITS WITH THE BOSS

IN THE WILDLY POPULAR Ted Lasso series on Apple TV+, Jason Sudeikis plays an American football coach from the Midwest tapped to lead AFC Richmond, a fictitious English Premier League soccer team. But the show’s connection to Virginia doesn’t end there.

Sudeikis, who was born in Fairfax, co-created the series with executive producer Bill Lawrence, a 1990 William & Mary graduate. And Virginia’s capital was, in fact, named for England’s Richmond Hill when, in 1737, William Byrd II, noted a likeness between the view of James River from Richmond and that of the Thames, from his hometown southwest of London.

Ted breaks the ice with team owner, Rebecca, gifting her with a pink bakery box of homemade shortbread each morning. For fans anxious for the release of Lasso ’s third and final season—coming soon—a batch of Ted’s “official recipe” shared by Apple TV+ will help sweeten the wait.

—by Vayda Parrish

Ted’s Official Biscuit

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, plus more for the pan ¾ cup powdered sugar 2 cups all-purpose flour ¼ teaspoon coarse salt

Place 2 sticks of unsalted butter in a large bowl or stand mixer and let soften at room temperature. Butter an 8- or 9-inch square metal baking pan, then beat softened butter on high speed with the paddle attachment or hand mixer for 3 to 5 minutes, until fluffy. With the mixer running, gradually add ¾ cup of powdered sugar and continue beating until pale and fluffy.

Stop the mixer to sift in 2 cups all-purpose flour, then add ¼ teaspoon of coarse salt. Mix on low speed until just combined, then pat the dough into the prepared pan, spreading to an even ½-inch thickness. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, place a rack in the middle of oven and preheat to 300°F, then slice chilled dough into squares. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, until golden-brown and firm. Let shortbread cool completely, re-slice if needed, and serve. Makes one 8or 9-inch square pan. Recipe courtesy of Apple TV+.

A CHOCOLATE PERK

BEFORE

Feb. 21.

A New Orleans native, Guas, author of DamGoodSweet: Desserts to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth, New Orleans Style (Taunton Press, 2009), began making King Cakes long before he opened his NoVa bakery in 2010.

Guided by the secrets he learned in his Aunt Boo’s kitchen, Guas’ King Cakes are filled with creole cream cheese, dusted with cinnamon and sugar, and frosted with vanilla- or lemon-infused white icing, before they’re sprinkled with plenty of colored sugar. The result is what the Washington Post has crowned, “one of the top 5 King Cakes in the country.”

BayouBakeryVa.com —by Madeline Mayhood

No time to sip coffee? Each bite of AWAKE premium chocolate packs the caffeine equivalent of a half-cup of Joe. Gluten-free, the caffeinated chocolates are made with no artificial colors or flavors. And it’s the only chocolate with a “spokesowl” named Nevil. In peanut butter or dark chocolate. At Fresh Markets statewide. AwakeChocolate.com

LENT BEGINS, CHEF DAVID GUAS is sure to be knee-deep in gold, green, and purple sugar—the colors of power, faith, and justice—in the Arlington kitchen of Bayou Bakery, where he creates the sweet treat that signals Mardi Gras, coming this year on

Ted Lasso’s official shortbread recipe—revealed.

photos (clockwise from top): by milk bar, photo by ellen silverman, courtesy of awake chocolate

“A party without cake is just a meeting.”

—Julia Child

Above: Mardi Gras King Cake from Guas’ James Beard Finalist Cookbook, DamGoodSweet.

Dr. Gloria E. Ward

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Love at First Slurp

Our obsession with oysters began with the Lynnhaven.

By PATRICK EVANS-HYLTON | Illustration by JAMES ALBON

FIVE DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS 1606, Capt. Christopher Newport stood on the cold, windy docks in Blackwall, East London. With him, 144 men and boys boarded the Godspeed, Susan Constant, and Discovery and set sail toward the English Channel, then into open sea.

Four months later, on April 26, Newport anchored the ships off Cape Henry, off the Virginia Beach coast and the crew made their way ashore. The next day, George Percy, the crew’s diarist and future governor of Virginia, encountered Indians roasting oysters: “When they perceived our coming,

they fled away …. and left many of the Oysters in the fire. We ate some .… which were very large and delicate in taste.”

So began Virginia’s 416-year love affair with the oyster named for the bay where Percy shucked his first.

Today, Bay McLaughlin is among a handful of oystermen working these historic waters. “We’ve always had a passion for the Lynnhaven. Our father and grandfather lived as watermen here,” says McLaughlin who, with his brothers, Bruce and Craig, founded First Landing Seafood Company in 2021.

The McLaughlins’ proprietary Lynnhaven Fancies, Legacies, and Monsters are farmed on 70 acres of prime oyster leases in Tidewater’s Region 7, one of Virginia’s eight oyster growing regions—each with its own distinctive flavor. The Lynnhavens of Region 7 are known for being plump, tender, and slightly sweet, with a buttery creaminess and noticeable saltiness.

Napoleon relished their flavor. James “Diamond Jim” Brady did, too. Queen Victoria called them “fancies.” And during a 1909 visit, President Taft ate more than 10 dozen in one sitting.

“We are super fortunate that the tidal flows in Virginia give the Lynnhaven an unforgettable taste that you won’t find anywhere else,” says McLaughlin. FirstLandingSeafood.com, VirginiaOysters.org

Classic Mignonette

A nice alternative to cocktail sauce.

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons finely minced shallot

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Whisk vinegar, shallot, and pepper in a small bowl. Spoon over raw oysters. Yields about 1/2 cup.

Roasted Oysters

Delicious when done on the grill.

Rinse and scrub 4 dozen oysters under cold water; set aside. Heat grill to medium-high. Place oysters, flat-side up, on grill and cook for 8-10 minutes, or until the shells open at least a quarter-inch.

Remove oysters from grill with tongs and, with a gloved hand, open with an oyster knife, being careful not to spill juices. Discard empty top shell and slide oyster knife under the meat to release; arrange on plate. Serve with melted butter or sauce for dipping. Yields 4-8 servings

Fried Oysters

Juicy and tender with a crispy exterior.

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

24 large oysters, shucked

2–3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2–3 tablespoons butter

Mix the flour, cornmeal, salt, black pepper, and cayenne together in a shallow pan. Dredge the oysters, one at a time, in the mixture and place on a wax paper-lined baking sheet to rest for five minutes before cooking.

Heat oil and butter in a skillet on high heat until very hot, then add the oysters, separating them so they brown and do not steam. Sauté for about 30 seconds, turn, and sauté for an additional 30 seconds or until coating is golden brown. Remove oysters to a paper towel-lined plate to drain slightly. Yields 4 servings.

Patrick Evans-Hylton is an award-winning food journalist based in Virginia. He covers culinary trends at VirginiaEatsAndDrinks.com ȕ

Crassostrea virginica: The scientific name for Virginia’s principal commercial oyster. ȕ Cup: The bowl-shaped half of the shell, handy for serving an oyster on the half shell. ȕ Merroir: The distinctive taste oysters derive from their waters.

ȕ

Pea crab: If you find one alive in a raw oyster, it’s considered good luck and a delicacy. ȕ “R” Months: Contrary to popular belief, oysters are safe and delicious year-round, not just in months that end in “r.” ȕ

Wild oysters: Dredging damages their natural habitat, so 95 percent of oysters are now farm-raised.

The Next Chapter

After a 40-year run, The Trellis inspires La Piazza.

By FRANK MORGAN | Photography by FRED + ELLIOTT

WILLIAMSBURG WELCOMES 1.5 million tourists each year, but it’s also home to a world-class culinary scene. And for more than three decades, David Everett has been at its forefront, building the area’s reputation as a serious food destination.

Everett is the chef-entrepreneur behind Blackbird Bakery, DoG Street Pub, and the upscale Blue Talon Bistro, the lively space where clips of vintage Julia Child shows play behind the bar. With his latest venture, the modern bistro La Piazza, Everett brings Northern Italian classics to the hallowed culinary ground once occupied by The Trellis, the legendary restaurant founded by chef Marcel Desaulniers.

Soon after opening its doors in 1980, The Trellis put the region on the global culinary map, gar-

nering international acclaim and earning Desaulniers four James Beard awards, including Best Pastry Chef in America and Best Chef in the MidAtlantic. He also authored 10 books on cooking.

After a nearly 30-year run, Desaulniers sold The Trellis to Everett in 2009, leaving high expectations and big chef’s clogs to fill. Everett filled them spectacularly for a decade, maintaining The Trellis’ exceptionally high standards and continuing to offer Desaulniers’ famous Death by Chocolate, the seven-layer chocolate torte that became synonymous with the restaurant itself.

“The Trellis was iconic in its time,” Everett says. “People had an emotional connection to it. But after 40 years, it was just iconic.” By the time he closed The Trellis in March, 2020, Everett had set plans for La Piazza in motion, but the sleek Northern Italian bistro opened the next month to little fanfare. “We couldn’t gather people,” Everett says of the timing, “but we didn’t have the luxury of waiting.”

The space, which once seated 250 diners, has been reduced by half. With a vaulted ceiling and minimalist décor, the bistro feels modern, bright, and lively. The bar, situated between the two dining areas, is its centerpiece—and the perfect place to join the action and sip Italian-inspired cocktails, spritzes, and house-made limoncello. So I grab a seat and peruse the menu.

Don’t be fooled by the kids’ offerings. “In Merchant’s Square we have to appeal to students, tourists, families, and fine diners,” says Everett, who’s enjoying the shift to well-executed bistro cuisine. “You can have a nice romantic dinner, a family meal, or an inexpensive pasta. Either way, it’s a great dining experience that feels more approachable.”

The pastas here are all house-made, so the tortellini panna and the pappardelle with mushrooms, cippolini onions, and pecorino cheese intrigue. But first, cocktails.

I start with a Hugo, a refreshing aperitif that originated in the South Tyrol region of Northern Italy. Light and effervescent, it’s made with prosecco, elderflower syrup, and seltzer dressed with mint. It’s classically delicious.

For dinner, I’m tempted by the seafood spaghetti. It’s chock full of scallops, salmon, shrimp, mussels, and clams and topped with a lemon

“Get the meatballs,” my seatmates say in unison. That’s what I love about dining at the bar—culinary camaraderie.

La Piazza’s house blend roasted meatballs with beef, pork, and veal. Below left: Fritto misto with fried calamari, shrimp, and scallops.

Chef David Everett

La Piazza’s specialty meat lasagna. Below: A selection of signature cocktails, from left: “Cyn” and Passion with bourbon, Cynar, passion fruit, and lime; Amaretto Sour with amaretto, bourbon, fresh lemon, and orange bitters, shaken with egg white; the Hugo, with elderflower, mint, lime, seltzer, and prosecco.

cream sauce. But my bar companion can’t resist offering me her advice: “It’s all good, but you must go with the eggplant Parmesan,” she says, “it’s heavenly.” Her dinner partner suggests the Bolognese. “Best around,” he notes.

La Piazza has its evangelists, and I’m meeting two of them tonight. Their hearty endorsements speak to head Chef Mary Zaragoza and Pastry Chef Heather Defreitas, both accomplished in their own right.

For a starter, I’m torn between the burrata special, the meatballs, and the fritto misto—think calamari on steroids: this version includes shrimp and scallops along with the traditional lemon and marinara sauce. “Get the meatballs,” my seatmates say in unison. That’s what I love about dining at the bar—culinary camaraderie.

And they’re right. A delicious blend of beef, pork, and veal, the meatballs are roasted with house spices, dressed with a light, fresh-made tomato sauce and a sprinkle of Parmesan, and served with a side of ciabatta. They’re flavorful and no-nonsense, as meatballs should be.

A server whizzes by carrying the salmon entrée. Accompanied with grilled polenta and sautéed green beans, it’s a lovely dish. And while I trust the rave reviews from my neighbors, the short rib bucatini calls to me. It’s seared with mirepoix and cinnamon, then deglazed with red wine and slowly braised in tomato sauce for 24 hours. The result is a bowl of melt-in-your-mouth meat served over perfectly textured pasta, tender but firm and rich in flavor.

The bucatini is even better when paired with a glass of wine. La Piazza’s list is straightforward, eight wines by the glass, with several on tap, and a focused selection of bottles, mostly Italian, with a handful of well-chosen and well-priced bottles from France and the nearby Williamsburg Win-

ery. The Fattoria Dianella Chianti may be the gem of the list. Made from sangiovese, this delicious and expressive wine complements the widest range of dishes.

For dessert, there’s a ricotta cake with citrus glaze and fresh berries, cannoli, and a limoncello cake, but I go with a classic tiramisu. Paired with an espresso, the slightly sweet airy mascarpone evaporates with the first bite. The ladyfingers, soaked in espresso yet still firm, provide an almost bitter finish, balancing the sweetness for a delicious conclusion.

In fact, an evening at La Piazza can best be described as balanced. Everything—from the flavors and textures, accoutrements, and welcoming atmosphere—comes together to create an altogether pleasurable dining experience. And in a tourist town especially, it takes a thoughtful menu and deft hands in the kitchen to please both vacationing families and hometown foodies.

Everett and his team have found this all-important balance. Everyone, from parents toting hungry kids, to solo diners, to a date-night couple out for a great meal—can enjoy innovative flavors in this lively new space that feels fresh, thoughtful, and welcoming.

Frank Morgan is a wine columnist for The Virginian-Pilot and devoted student of wine. He explores his passion for the grape at DrinkWhatYouLike.com

Zeppoles with marsala zabaione sauce and a Chocolate Caramel Bunet with amaretto cookie crumb, and Luxardo cherries. Below: Chef Everett creates tagliatelle by feeding housemade pasta through a pastamaking machine.

When a double-chocolate loaf cake from the book burned to a crisp, Joan Bardsley didn’t blame the recipe. “I bought a new oven,” she says.

Why We All Love Junior League Cookbooks

From casseroles to chowchow, they capture local flavors.

By VICKI L. FRIEDMAN | Photography by TYLER DARDEN

LONG BEFORE THE FOOD NETWORK brought us celebrity chefs, we turned to Junior League cookbooks for inspiration. There, we discovered the stroganoffs, aspics, and seven-layer dips that our friends and neighbors swore by. Tried and true, the recipes were triple-tested by committees of women who knew a thing or two about good taste.

Some 200 Junior League cookbooks have been published by chapters across the country. These are books to savor. We recognize the names of recipe contributors and chuckle at the homespun stories that often accompany them. And they make wonderful gifts. “Everybody got one at a bridal shower,” says Samantha Bishop, former president of the Hampton Roads chapter.

And one fan says the books solved an annual birthday dilemma. “My brother gives me a Junior League cookbook from a new city every year. It’s become a fun tradition between us.”

Plenty of home cooks still rely on the books, compiled by the volunteers of the nonprofit that originated in New York City in 1901 to promote civic engagement. With 290 U.S. chapters, the Junior League also has chapters in the UK, Canada, and Mexico.

Tassie Pippert, a culinary professor at The Hart School at James Madison University, never tires of a good Junior League cookbook. “They’re so regional,” she says.

In Cincinnati that means chili. In New Orleans, it’s gumbo. Virginia’s Junior League cookbooks reflect the ham, peanuts, and oysters from the Tidewater region; Shenandoah apples from Roanoke, while traditional Southern fare rules in Lynchburg. Northern Virginia’s Flavors of Virginia is a melting pot, with Wine Tour Quinoa to Best of Both Worlds Deviled Eggs.

“Anything out of Northern Virginia has a worldwide perspective, because that’s what the

area holds,” Pippert notes.

The recipes are blessedly uncomplicated, though few are as simple as Foolproof Rib Roast on page 173 in Virginia Seasons, from Richmond’s Junior League. Two of the recipe’s three ingredients are salt and pepper.

Some, like My Mama Made That, published by the Hampton Roads’ chapter, throw in a dash of homespun humor. “A well-dressed table is like a well-dressed man. Both are pleasant to look at no matter what they’re dishing out,” reads one mama-ism. The book offers a full page of Smithfield ham advice: “Mama used to say that all Smithfield hams are country hams, but not

all country hams are Smithfields,” along with kitchen hacks, like how to salvage an over-salted soup: drop a peeled potato into the simmering broth to absorb the mistake.

A millennial browsing the websites of Virginia’s eight Junior League chapters might not realize the cookbooks’ wider impact. Now in its fourth printing, the inaugural What Can I Bring? has raised more than $150,000 for the Northern Virginia League’s community initiatives. Virginia Hospitality, published by the Hampton Roads League has sold 300,000 copies and counting. Proceeds from the books support literacy programs, domestic violence shelters, food banks,

A TASTE OF VIRGINIA’S JUNIOR LEAGUE COOKBOOKS

The Junior League of Charlottesville: ȕ With Our Compliments ȕ Best of the Bushel

The Junior League of Roanoke Valley: ȕ Of Pots and Pipkins ȕ Oh My Stars!

The Junior League of Richmond: ȕ Virginia Seasons: New Recipes from the Old Dominion ȕ Virginia Fare: A Culinary View of the Commonwealth

The Junior League of Lynchburg: ȕ In Good Company: Hospitality from the Homes and Hills of Virginia ȕ Good Cookin’ from the Heart of Virginia

The Junior League of Northern Virginia: ȕ Flavors of Virginia: What Can I Bring Through the Seasons?

The Junior League of Bristol: ȕ Start Your Ovens: Cooking the Way It Ought’a Be

The Junior League of Hampton Roads: ȕ Very Virginia ȕ Virginia Hospitality ȕ My Mama Made That

The Junior League of Norfolk-Virginia Beach: ȕ Tidewater on the Half Shell (McIlhenny Hall of Fame inductee) ȕ Toast to Tidewater: Celebrating Virginia’s Finest Food & Beverages

Above illustration: “Pineapple and strawberries in Kirsch” from With Our Compliments, published by the Junior League of Charlottesville, 1976.

foster care programs, and more.

Joan Bardsley of Great Falls has cooked every recipe in What Can I Bring? for a supper club she started with four other couples in 1988. “I tell you, there’s not a bad one in the book,” Bardsley insists. The red pepper dip is foolproof, she says, and the tortilla lasagna is a family favorite. When a double-chocolate loaf cake from the book burned to a crisp, she didn’t blame the recipe. “I bought a new oven.”

Recipe testers ensure each is a success. “If you got three people that really liked the recipe, you were good,” says Laura Shuford, who chaired the cookbook committee for Richmond’s Junior League and recalls the volunteer job became a full-time commitment. Two columns of recipe testers are listed in the index of the Northern Virginia cookbook.

Some recipes are timeless. French Quarter Cheese Dip from the Richmond book dresses up cream cheese with brown sugar, mustard, pecans, and Worcestershire sauce. Others don’t make the cut. “There were a lot with aspic that didn’t

FOOLPROOF RIB ROAST

Recipe contributed to Virginia Seasons: New Recipes from the Old Dominion by Judy Brooks, published by the Junior League of Richmond.

1 standing rib roast Salt & pepper

Let roast stand at room temperature, 30 minutes per pound. Season with salt and pepper. Place in a 500°F oven, rib side down in shallow baking dish. Cook five minutes per pound. Turn off heat and leave in oven for two hours. Roast will be crusty and brown outside, but rare and juicy inside. Preparation, five minutes. Serves two per rib.

make it,” Shuford recalls, “along with a Brandy Alexander pie.”

Virginia Hospitality from Hampton Roads earned a spot in the McIlhenny Hall of Fame, which honors cookbook classics. The book, bound by a plastic comb, features a pineapple on its cover—a nod to the colonists’ welcome symbol. The League’s 1995 book Very Virginia featured only a few photos, but for their 2009 book, My Mama Made That, a professional food photographer employed a little extra olive oil to add shine to lettuce and other veggies.

The Hampton Roads book doesn’t list recipe contributors, by design. “Because someone’s grandma and somebody else’s grandma some-

times have the same recipe,” Bishop says. Contrast that with Start Your Ovens, the official Bristol Motor Speedway cookbook, published by the Junior League of Bristol. The book’s recipe for Family Race Night Taco Casserole, submitted by Nancy Andretti, identifies her as “wife of John Andretti.” The book also includes NASCAR references and historical data about the famous track.

As online recipes compete, home cooks remain devoted to their Junior League books. “I used to grab one wherever I traveled,” Pippert says. “Because they’re Junior League, the recipes stay fresh. Even family recipes are usually tweaked. So often, old cookbooks seem like they’ve been written by a bunch of old ladies. These books feel fresh and new and give me an exciting perspective on food.”

Vicki L. Friedman is an award-winning writer who spent 20 years at The Virginian-Pilot and a decade as an ESPN contributor. She is now a writer and digital media strategist for Consociate Media in Gloucester.

Built for little adventurers. Built for Elizabeth

Small, but mighty, 8-year-old Elizabeth doesn’t let anything stand in her way—not even her epilepsy. Sometimes though, her chronic condition means her childhood can look a little different.

Our new Wonder Tower will be dedicated to offering the unique care kids like Elizabeth need so they can get back to climbing trees, doing gymnastics and going on adventures. From surgery and intensive care – to emergency room visits and a specialized epilepsy monitoring unit – we are building an entire city block dedicated to kids. Construction is nearly complete, but we still need your support to help bring it to life.

Built for kids. Built by you. Donate today at BuiltForKids.org

HEALTH+Wellness

WHAT’S NEXT THE CLOCK WATCHERS

By Leslie Laurence

In the not-too-distant future, cardiologists might routinely schedule certain heart surgeries in the afternoon because they know that this precise timing will reduce complications. Oncologists might schedule chemotherapy within the window of time that reduces side effects and improves outcomes. And doctors prescribing medication may note exactly when to take a drug, along with the dosage, to increase its effectiveness.

Welcome to the emerging field of circadian medicine, which uses the increasing knowledge about our biological clocks to personalize treatments with the goal of helping us live healthier, longer lives. While it’s still in its infancy, the field piggybacks on the substantial science on circadian rhythms and sleep, then amps it up a few notches.

If you’ve experienced jet lag, you know the fallout of disrupted circadian rhythms. Researchers have long known that a master clock in our brain synchronizes our body’s functions—regulating sleep, blood pressure, body temperature, metabolism, even mood. This central clock, a group of about 20,000 neurons about the size of a grain of rice—the suprachiasmatic nucleus, or SCN—operates on a 24-hour cycle in most living organisms.

But the brain’s master clock doesn’t work alone. Genes that reside in our cells and organs are also keeping time, synchronizing our heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, and even our immune and reproductive systems with this central internal timekeeper. They’re also working in harmony with our environment to keep our bodies humming along smoothly.

In the emerging field of circadian medicine, researchers are discovering how timing impacts our health.

Carla Finkielstein, Ph.D., Director of the Molecular Diagnostics Lab and Interim Director of the Cancer Research Group at Virginia Tech’s Fralin Biomedical Research Institute.

Health problems can arise when our internal clocks fall out of alignment with the rhythms of our wider world. Late night eating, time zone changes, sleepless nights, shift work, even aging (sigh) can throw circadian systems out of whack. And when these disruptions become chronic, they increase our risk of developing diseases—from diabetes, obesity, stroke, and cardiovascular disease to cancer, depression, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s diseases.

“There is a sense of urgency for educating the public of the consequences of deregulating our biological clock,” says Carla Finkielstein, Ph.D., a professor and director of the Molecular Diagnostics Lab at Virginia Tech’s Fralin Biomedical Research Institute in Roanoke. “This is a difficult task because we live in a society where we are constantly exposed to circadian disruptors as a result of our daily routines. The grand challenge is to find ways to harmonize the needs of a modern society with the demands in our body.”

The Promise of Circadian Medicine

Dr. Finkielstein joins a burgeoning group of scientists at the forefront of circadian medicine research. Her lab is specifically focused on the timing of treatments. “Our work is all about finding that sweet spot for delivering therapeutics,” she explains. “Let’s deliver any drug at a time of day that yields its maximum efficacy.”

A shift in timing could mean a drug delivers better results, even at a lower dose. This finding is especially relevant for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy and radiation treatments, which often produce debilitating side effects. Beyond medical outcomes, Dr. Finkielstein believes treatment timing has the potential to improve a patient’s quality of life.

At UVA Health in Charlottesville, Sean Moore, M.D., and Jason Papin, Ph.D., are making equally exciting discoveries about the role bacteria in our gut play in regulating circadian rhythms. Because the bacteria also operate on the circadian clock, reprogramming them could improve chemotherapy outcomes.

These insights are just the tip of the iceberg. Indeed, hundreds of clock-regulated genes are potential drug targets, according to a 2014 study by John Hogenesch, Ph.D., a circadian biologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Ohio.

When he reviewed 50 years worth of clinical trials that evaluated time-of-day drug dosing, Dr. Hogenesch found that 75 percent of them concluded that right timing mattered. The studies covered a range of conditions—from asthma and arthritis, to hypertension and cancer. This discovery, published in Science in 2019, led him to conclude that, “if you give the drug when there’s a lot of the target around, then it’s going to do more.”

Still, of the 100 most-prescribed drugs in the U.S., only four of them come with recommendations for time-of-day dosing. For this reason, Hogenesch is among the researchers calling for FDA drug trials to build time-of-day dosing into their study protocols.

What the Future Holds

As their field grows, circadian scientists would like to see their findings integrated into medical guidelines and treatment plans. “Understanding

how the clock works in our body offers other opportunities,” says Dr. Finkielstein. She envisions a future where physicians prescribe light therapy instead of drugs to reset a patient’s circadian clock and treat a growing number of disorders. After all, it’s been used for decades to treat winter depression and sleep disorders.

They’re also exploring the preventive potential of our biological timekeeper. One approach: clock-enhancing molecules that activate or deactivate the genes that control our internal clocks could lead to a day when treatments are aligned with our individual biological rhythms.

If this all feels futuristic, it is. But consider the simple changes we can make today to improve circadian health (see below). Think of your body clock as a muscle you can strengthen through training. We’ve heard it before, but getting sunlight during the day and shutting off lights and devices before bedtime, goes beyond a good night’s sleep. It can also lower our risk or disease and improve our overall health.

Leslie Laurence is a medical journalist whose articles have appeared in Self , Glamour, Town & Country, and Ladies’ Home Journal , among other national publications. The co-author of Outrageous Practices , Laurence lives in New York and loves visiting Gloucester and Richmond.

HOW TO BENEFIT FROM CIRCADIAN SCIENCE NOW

Although it’s too soon for researchers to make broad medical recommendations, documented time-of-day findings are worth discussing with your doctor, especially in the following situations:

ȕ

Statins. Research has shown that these cholesterol-lowering drugs work best when taken in the evening. That’s because levels of the enzyme that statins target peak at night.

ȕ

Heart surgery. Patients who underwent aortic valve replacement surgery in the afternoon were less likely to suffer complications, when compared to those who had the same operation in the morning, according to a 2018 study published in The Lancet. “Hypertension peaks at 6:45 a.m.,” says Dr. Finkielstein, “so having heart surgery early in the morning might not be the smartest choice.”

night was found to dysregulate biological rhythms, according to a study published in the European Journal of Neuroscience in 2021. Randy J. Nelson, Ph.D., oversaw this research at West Virginia University School of Medicine’s department of neurosciences.

ȕ

Stroke recovery. In stroke units, ask hospital staff about room-darkening options. Even dim light at

ȕ Neonatal intensive care units (NICU). The narrow-spectrum lighting found in most neonatal intensive care units was long thought to be beneficial. But findings on full-spectrum lighting by researchers at Cincinnati Children’s were so compelling that the hospital replaced their NICU lighting with a full-spectrum system to ensure ideal light for newborns during this key window of development.

photos by dan addison / courtesy of uva health. graphic by

A shift in timing could mean a drug delivers better results, even at a lower dose.

Jason Papin, Ph.D., professor of biomedical engineering at

UVA.

Sean Moore, M.D., professor of pediatrics at UVA.

TONGUE-TIES TREATING LIPAND

Feeding Issues

Many children struggle with transitioning from milk to purees or table foods. While some become picky eaters and have difficulty managing variable texture of table foods.

Dental Issues

Cavities seen on the front part of the incisors or recession of gums near the midline are often attributable to lip-ties. Cavities on the chewing surface of the molars are often seen in patients that have a tongue-tie and never developed the reflex to clean out the sticky foods after snacks or meals.

When you need us, we’re ready. Here.

For over 120 years, we’ve enhanced the health of our neighbors in the community through compassionate care. A lot has changed in that time, but one thing never has— our commitment to you and your family.

Starting as an eight-room hospital and growing into a system with two hospitals, three emergency departments, and more than 60 outpatient healthcare facilities, Mary Washington Healthcare has always strived to meet the needs of our community.

Just as our region continues to grow and change, we too look forward to a future of innovative care, centered around you.

Learn more at mwhc.com.

Consequences of Untreated Lip and Tongue-Ties

Speech Issues

Many children develop air management and speech clarity or articulation problems due to limited range of motion and elevation of all parts of the tongue required to produce various sounds–l/th d/n, st/sr/kh/gh, m/p/b and so on.

Zzzz

Sleep Issues

Disordered Breathing and Sleep Apnea are often seen in children that cannot manage the proper posture and tone of the tongue muscle due to restrictions or ties. Snoring, exhaustion, grinding of teeth, attention deficit disorders, behavioral issues are all now being connected back to sleep disordered breathing in the literature.

Dr. Rishita Jaju & Dr. Anh Dang

Board Certified Pediatric Dentists 571-350-3663 11790 Sunrise Valley Drive Suite 105 Reston, VA 20191

Learn How Tongue-Ties and LipTies are Treated by visiting: www.smilewonders.com

Now. Always.

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It’s your life and we want to help you live it to the fullest. The amenities of our 52-acre community take all of your worries away. You’ll have the time to explore new hobbies and talents, while also enjoying space for peace and quiet. Our nationally-recognized LifeCare program offers you the security that comes with having a solid plan for your future.

GETTING GRATISFIED

WHEN FRIENDS ASKED TO ORDER her homemade granola bars, Sara McGlothlin, a holistic health coach, nutrition expert, cookbook author, and digital editor of Healthified, her own podcast and online magazine, found herself adding “food entrepreneur” to her long list of roles.

Her latest venture, Gratisfied, now makes granola clusters, baking mixes, and Empower bars. The grain-free bars, in almond butter, cacao, berry, and original, are made without refined sugars or hard-to-pronounce preservatives and additives. And they’re formulated to keep blood sugar levels on an even keel.

Healthy eating wasn’t always baked into McGlothlin’s DNA. Raised in Petersburg, “on Pringles and Oreos,” her eating habits didn’t improve in college. But once on her own, McGlothlin began connecting the dots between

SECRET SOURCE:

Healthy Meals, Made Easy.

WHEN SHOPPING, CHOPPING, AND COOKING just aren’t in the cards, three Virginia services are cooking fresh, healthy meals and delivering them to your door:

A Bowl of Good, in Harrisonburg, packs their healthy Valley-made breakfasts, sammies, and bowls in dry ice for nationwide shipping. Founder Katrina Didot’s favorite is the “Bada Bun Bowl”—chicken or tofu over rice noodles topped with nuoc mam sauce and peanuts. Classics like chili, barbeque, and mac ‘n’ cheese are favorites, too.

“We are passionate purveyors of good, locally sourced food, and have been since 2005,” says Didot of the food she offers, both in her brick-and-mortar café and shipped.

what she ate and how she felt. “I realized that I needed to feel good to navigate my best self,” she explains.

She left a post-grad corporate job to turn to wellness coaching, experimenting with healthy recipes along the way. By 2019, she’d published her first cookbook, Gluten-free Vegan Baking, and began tinkering with a recipe for grain-free bars. Their popularity propelled her to Hatch Kitchen, a food business incubator in Richmond’s Manchester district, where she and her husband, Alex, developed the brand.

Baking mixes are the latest in her lineup. With the addition of eggs, oil, and liquid sweetener, customers can now customize their own homemade bars, replacing oil with mashed bananas or using applesauce instead of eggs. Available online and in specialty stores around the state. Gratisfied.com —by Vicki L. Friedman

BETTER-FOR-YOU SWEETS?

GOOD NEWS for those seeking a sweetener that won’t send blood glucose soaring. A rare natural sugar known as tagatose delivers 92 percent of cane sugar’s sweetness—with a third of its calories and a glycemic index of three, compared to sugar’s 68. Even better, tagatose is a prebiotic for gut health, has no aftertaste, and doesn’t promote tooth decay.

Why haven’t we heard of tagatose before? While it’s found in small quantities in fruits, grains, and cacao, it’s expensive to extract, making it cost-prohibitive as a food ingredient. Charlottesville company Bonumose—the name’s a Latin mashup for “good sugar”—is changing that with a breakthrough, FDA-approved extraction process. The company’s new $27 million facility started producing tagatose in late 2022, says CEO Ed Rogers. You won’t find it in grocery stores just yet, but the news is sweet music to Hershey, which invested heavily in Bonumose in 2021, with plans to collaborate on new products.

“The new Bonumose facility represents the next step in our commitment to providing consumers with better-for-you confections that are both affordable and accessible,” says Hershey’s chief development officer Kris Meulen. Bonumose.com —by Margaret Wadsworth

“I think we were forerunners in local, healthy, internationally inspired food.”

MightyMeals delivers chef-prepared, nutrition-dense dishes to designated Northern Virginia and Richmond ZIP codes. Founded in Fairfax in 2015 by two fitness gurus and a chef, the company is poised for expansion with a new $7 million production kitchen, announced in October. Choose from over 150 meals, including tandoori cauliflower rice and tofu poke bowls, and standards like spaghetti and meatballs or Mediterranean grilled salmon.

CleanEatz cafés now number seven statewide. Drop into a CleanEatz storefront to select meals, or order in increments of five for shipping. CleanEatz also offers “Kidz Mealz” with whole grain mac ‘n’ cheese, turkey burgers, and nutrient-dense sweet potato fries. ABowlOfGood.com, MightyMeals.com CleanEatzKitchen.com —by V.F.

Healthy eating with good, clean food.

MightyMeals’ tandoori-style roasted califlower.

Sara McGlothlin with a few of Gratisfied’s signature products.

Hershey partners with a Charlottesville company to make it happen.

Meet Riley,

She loves snacking, especially on chips.

Chips are a no-no since she has braces. One afternoon while enjoying some delicious fried potato goodness, Riley experienced a crunch, and it wasn’t from a chip.

One of her brackets had popped off.

At Virginia Family Dentistry, our team of orthodontists are available for everyday emergencies and had her bracket fixed same day. You can find Riley good as new and back to her regular routine (sans chips) to which we say...

Chip-Chip-Hooray!

ALTHOUGH MICROSUTURES are successful in just 50 percent of cases, they’re currently a surgeon’s only tool for reconstructing severed nerves. “Nerve repairs are an unsolved problem,” says Jonathan E. Isaacs, M.D., chair in the Division of Hand Surgery at VCU Medical Center. His high-tech Nerve Tape can “truly improve patient outcomes,” Dr. Isaacs says.

The surgical tape uses micro-hooks embedded in a biologic wrap to bind cut peripheral nerves and align them to heal and regenerate. “From what we’ve seen, it’s remarkably more efficient

HEALTHY COMMUNICATION

As phone injuries soar, think prevention.

TEXT NECK? i PHONE THUMB? These injuries may sound trivial, but the pain they cause is “often a symptom of something larger,” says Jessica Frankenhoff, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon at VCU Medical Center. “The phone predisposes us to painful repetitive-use injuries that we’d normally see later in life.”

“Trigger finger” locks a digit in a bent position. And “cell phone elbow,” also known as cubital tunnel syndrome, is marked by an inflamed ulnar nerve in the inner elbow, which can radiate pain to the hand. “There are treatments for this, but none work completely,” Dr. Frankenhoff says. “Healing comes from rest and putting down the phone.”

Not surprisingly, walking while texting is also a leading cause of broken bones and facial lacerations. “I ask people, ‘How did you hurt yourself?’” says Carrie Russell, a physical therapist at the Upper Extremity and Nerve Center in the VCU Health System. “And they’ll say, ‘I was texting, and I fell off a curb and broke my elbow.’”

For safer phone use, Russell advises: “Use earbuds

than microsuture repairs,” he says. “This product has the potential to offer surgeons a faster, simpler method for achieving a precise, reliable repair of injured nerves.”

Dr. Isaacs partnered with VCU’s Orthopedic Microsurgery Laboratory to develop the tape, and VCU’s Innovation Gateway helped him secure a patent and find a “perfect partner” in BioCircuit Technologies. Now that Nerve Tape has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Atlanta-based company is moving quickly to launch it in hospitals in 2023. BioCircuit.com/NerveRepair —by Constance Costas

HOSPITALS EYE LANGUISHING

SUBURBAN MALLS

Inova Alexandria plans move to former Landmark site.

when possible, and prop your device on a table at eye level when reading or texting to prevent ‘text neck.’” To avoid painful inflammation, Russell suggests taking regular digital breaks to shake out hands, stretch wrists, extend arms overhead, and roll the neck to increase blood flow. And keep your eyes on the road—not on your phone.

—by Meredith Lindemon

AILING SUBURBAN MALLS are becoming healthcare epicenters. One hospital making the shift, Inova Alexandria, will take up residence in the city’s languishing Landmark Mall, shuttered since 2017.

Now renamed West End Alexandria, the former Landmark site will include 52 acres of residential living, shops, restaurants, a movie theater, plus Inova’s 10-acre medical campus. With three builidngs slated for completion in 2028, it will offer:

A full-service cancer center

Larger emergency room with trauma services

An antenatal testing center

Surgical and medical subspecialists

Advanced services for obstetrics, heart and vascular, and neurosciences

“Not only does it provide healthcare on the site of former shopping malls,” says Dr. Ellen DunhamJones, an urban redevelopment expert at Georgia Institute of Technology, “it’s also part of a walkable, compact, mixed-use redevelopment project whose design fosters physical activity, social interaction, and biophilic exposure.”

Nationwide, at least 32 malls have been repurposed to include healthcare facilities as developers look for better ways to serve their communities.

Next up: Norfolk’s Military Circle Mall is currently exploring three redevelopment proposals, all including healthcare providers. —by Jill Devine

Jonathan Isaacs, M.D.

Nerve Tape received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administratiion this year.

Established in 1872, Inova Alexandria is the state’s oldest continuously operating community hospital.

Artist rendering of the reimagined Landmark Mall site.

East Meets Southwest

Finding balance at Eupepsia Wellness Resort.

By SHERRIE PAGE GUYER

ICAN’T PINPOINT EXACTLY when Dove squares and Nightingale Ice Cream Sandwiches became a food group in my book, but sugar had me on speed dial, and I knew it was time to regroup.

In years past, I’ve taken healthy getaways to Hilton Head Health, Yogaville, and a beachfront boot camp in Tulum, Mexico. This time, I chose Eupepsia Wellness Resort, set on 256 acres in Bland, an hour west of Blacksburg.

Compared to spa destinations like Canyon Ranch, Eupepsia’s rates are reasonable, and the drive was just four hours from Richmond. The prospect of hiking the Appalachian Trail and eating vegetarian meals—cooked by someone who wasn’t me—convinced me to give it a whirl.

Eupepsia’s program is grounded in Ayurveda, a holistic healing system that originated in India more than 3,000 years ago. Designed to restore the body’s equilibrium, an Ayurvedic lifestyle clears the body of the imbalances that create the chronic inflammation that causes disease. The approach here is simple: clean diet, herbal remedies, immer-

sion in nature, and meditative practices. The name Eupepsia translates to “ideal digestion.” So come prepared to talk about it. A lot.

Restoring the Immune System

And with good reason: Eupepsia’s founder Shivani, an Ayurvedic counselor, tells me that gut health supports the immune system. She’s right: 70-80 percent of our immune cells reside in our gut. To support them, much of the food is grown on-site in an expansive greenhouse. Fresh and wholesome, there’s nothing to avoid.

“It’s time to stop being afraid of food,” Shivani tells me, as I recount my recent romance with sugar, “especially when it’s nutritious and pure.”

Eupepsia’s chef, Tarek, embraced Ayurveda before he arrived here in 2017, the year it opened. Like all of the staff members, he is calm and softspoken, even while cheerfully accommodating guests with special requests. I have seen the positive effects in my life,” he tells me. “At the same time, I love cooking and exploring different cuisines. So I’m combining my two great passions.”

Shivani founded Eupepsia to share her own healing practices—and her decades of experience in the wellness field—with others. She arrived in Virginia from Dubai, home of sister property, Eupepsia Medical Clinic. In short order, the Virginia retreat has collected a World Spa Award along with accolades from TripAdvisor, USA Today, Blue Ridge Outdoors, and Luxe Life

At a post-yoga Q&A session, Shivani insists Ayurveda is based on common sense. “If people avoided caffeine and alcohol, ate healthy foods, and got plenty of rest and sleep, they’d find relief from a range of health concerns, from anxiety to type 2 diabetes.” True, I think. But sometimes, that’s easier said than done.

Guests arrive seeking pampering in a bucolic setting, or to ease medical problems. During my stay, one woman found relief from the arthritic inflammation in her hands after just a few days on the Ayurvedic path. Another returns with her husband each year to manage his high blood pressure. “I never imagined him meditating,” she tells me, “but it brings him back, and it’s working.”

Austerity and Luxury

We gather for meals in the property’s main house where Chef Tarek bakes fresh herbs into his satisfying homemade focaccia, pairing it with a salad of grilled peaches, yellow tomatoes, and avocado.

photos courtesy of eupepsia; golden milk photo by anton belo

At Eupepsia, digestive health is the path to wellness. Come prepared to “rest and digest.” You’ll talk about it. A lot.

Eupepsia’s signature Ayurvedic Shirodhara treatment.

ȕ

EUPEPSIA’S TOP AYURVEDIC LIFESTYLE TIPS

Eat three warm meals a day and avoid snacking. It overloads the digestive system.

ȕ Avoid processed foods.

ȕ Balance all six flavors—sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent, and astringent to feel satisfied and prevent cravings.

ȕ Prepare yourself for a good night’s sleep with a cup of Golden Milk (recipe below).

ȕ Spend time in nature to boost your immune system. Get outside, go on hikes, try forest bathing.

Surrounding the main house, a large outbuilding houses the guest rooms, spa treatment areas, a fitness center, and the Grand Yoga Hall, where intricately-carved doors open to a studio lit by elaborate chandeliers.

The combination of austerity and luxury extends to my room—with a wall fireplace, an adjustable bed, and a bidet and toilet with more bells and whistles than I can count. As I settle in, Joana introduces herself as my personal point of contact. Anything I’d like to do, she’ll arrange it.

Most spas offer a daily schedule of fitness classes, lectures, and cooking demonstrations, but at Eupepsia, the days are more go-with-the-flow. Beyond a boot camp class each morning, activities here are ad hoc. If I want to hike, Joana assures me, she’ll arrange a guide.

Each night, after dinner, we pore over the endless list of therapeutic spa treatments—I lost count at 65. There’s an Ayurvedic full body warm-oil massage, known as abhyanga, reflexology, and a “marma” facial, which promises to improve the flow of life-force energy. You’d need to stay a month to try them all. Some guests do.

Rest and Digest

You get a lot of Ayurveda for your buck here and that’s by design, to encourage people who aren’t in “the spa set” to experience its power to transform their health. Despite the modest rates, Eupepsia’s facilities are impressive. There’s a

EUPEPSIA’S GOLDEN MILK

Before bedtime, guests at Eupepsia sip Golden Milk to promote relaxation and sleep. Grounded in Ayurveda, Golden Milk’s therapeutic properties have been prized for centuries.

1 cup full fat organic milk

1 teaspoon organic maple syrup

¼ teaspoon ground green cardamom pods

¼ teaspoon turmeric powder

Pinch of black pepper

Heat 1/3 cup of the milk in a saucepan over medium low heat for one minute. Add maple syrup, ground cardamom, turmeric, and black pepper. Stir until combined. Pour remaining milk into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, 3–5 minutes until flavors blend. Makes one serving.

Himalayan salt chalet, infrared sauna, flotation room, and magneto therapy, which improves circulation and energy using magnets. The impressive gym offers a climbing wall, regulation basketball court, and the latest cardio and weighttraining equipment. A hydrotherapy pool features an underwater treadmill. And in nearby tanks, you can pedal Aqua Cycles, also underwater.

As I return from my hike, I discover that I’ve just been “forest bathing.” Immersion in nature,

Shivani explains, has the power to increase our white blood cell production, regulate blood pressure, elevate mood, and relieve stress, all to support our immune system.

A few days into my stay, I’ve shed my hyperalert busy state and entered “rest and digest” mode, rediscovering the natural ebb and flow of hunger. It reminds me of childhood, when my family gathered for meals, cooked from real, unprocessed food. Like most kids then, my days were punctuated with alternating intervals of activity and rest: playing outside with friends and reading books, instead of devices. By the end of the week, Eupepsia has restored these essential rhythms and I feel calm, content, and cared-for. Once home, I notice it’s easier to focus on work, now that I’m not distracted by cravings for Dove squares and ice cream. And after giving up alcohol, sugar, and processed flour for a week, three meals a day, with no snacks, feels right. When I feel full, I notice and stop eating. And I’ve reclaimed the balance that had slipped away from me. Now, it all feels like common sense. But sometimes, we just need reminding. Eupepsia.com

Sherrie Page Guyer is a Virginia-based writer and registered nurse. Her work focuses on health, parenting, and self-discovery. SherriePageGuyer.com

A dip and a mountain view from Eupepsia’s outdoor jet pool.

Eupepsia’s Himalayan salt chalet.

Life in the Blue Zone

Could Virginia be the world’s next healthiest place?

By MEREDITH LINDEMON

A hike to the top of Hawksbill Mountain, the highest peak in Shenandoah National Park.

Flourishing is a hot topic among scientists studying human health these days. Sure, we’d all like to live longer. But the question on researchers’ minds goes more like this: how can we live longer while also avoiding disease and feeling good?

There are five places in the world where people live beyond 100 in greater numbers than anywhere else. First described in author Dan Buettner’s book, Blue Zones, they’re places like Okinawa, Japan, and Loma Linda, California.

What can Virginians learn from Blue Zones? That’s the question Virginia Tech scientist Samantha Harden, Ph.D., is determined to answer. “Essentially, within 17 years, I want to create the world’s sixth Blue Zone in Virginia,” she says.

Harden, a behavioral psychologist in the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise at Tech, has focused her research on the culture of Costa Rica’s Blue Zone, on the country’s Nicoya Peninsula. And she intends to put her findings into practice around the state.

Making the World’s Sixth Blue Zone

Known for their natural beauty and sunny weather, Blue Zone communities also have strong economies and political stability. And they foster happiness through strong social ties and a collective sense of spirituality. This combination supports a multifaceted holistic wellness that goes

beyond eating well and exercising.

“The Nicoya Peninsula is a place of staggering natural abundance, and the weather is great, so people are outdoors constantly,” says Harden. “But people in the Nicoya Blue Zone deal with the same types of stress as people here do—work, family, not having enough time. Life isn’t a permanent vacation there.”

Like Costa Rica, Harden believes Virginia can become a model for holistic health for the rest of the country. “You can call it happiness, contentment, or flourishing—these are all things scientists try to measure, but it’s also something you feel,” says Harden.

Her research at Virginia Tech’s Physical Activity Research and Community Implementation Lab—known as PARCI—has revealed the power of social groups to create a dynamic that promotes physical activity among its members. Think of a group of friends who meet for regular walks, or to play pickleball. Their commitment to activity can

DR.

SAMANTHA

HARDEN’S TIPS FOR A BLUE ZONE LIFE

Build and maintain healthy social groups. To build ties, try a new activity or group at least six times. Doing activities you like will connect you with people who share similar interests and create a sustainable pool of people to connect with over a shared activity, sport, or hobby.

To start a healthy habit, change your thinking. To create healthy habits you need to develop new neural pathways to change the way you think about a new activity or way of eating. If a negative thought comes up about a habit you’re trying to form, acknowledge it, breathe, and then let it go. Then, start to retrain yourself by saying: I can rest after I take my walk. Or: Being outside will bring me energy both mentally and physically. Or: I want to move my body because I appreciate what it can do for me.

Pick one small change you can make today. Use the motto “just for today” as in: Just for today, I will walk the dog for 15 minutes. Or: Just for today, I will choose a glass of water before I consider a sweetened beverage.

Plan short breaks to off-load stress. From your list of to-dos, start a “Power Hour” and accomplish what you can in 50 minutes; saving the remaining 10 minutes to rest and book undone action items onto your calendar. Celebrate what you did do instead of what you didn’t.

photos (from left): by skylar arias, courtesy of samantha harden

Like Costa Rica, Harden believes Virginia can become a model for holistic health for the rest of the country.

Virginia Tech behavioral psychologist Samantha Harden, Ph.D., does a tree pose at The Meadow, a protected lot at Nellie’s Cave Park in Montgomery County.

have a ripple effect on others, helping to build a community focused on wellness, self-care, and mindfulness.

Testing a Statewide Program

Harden’s position at Tech is the direct result of Congress’ 2019 bill, Promoting Physical Activity for Americans Act. “The point of this work is to effect policy change that will make well-being— nutrition, physical activity, and happiness—central to public health,” says Harden.

Her findings have been published by the Center for Disease Control’s academic journal, Preventing Chronic Disease. Additionally, she is a member of a nutrition and health subcommittee of the U.S.D.A.

Harden’s signature programs—FitEx, teambased activity tracking classes, and LIFT, activity for older adults—incorporate fitness and nutrition tracking while emphasizing mindfulness and self-care.

Piloted among Bedford County state employees, the programs will be offered this spring through Virginia’s Cooperative Extension offices, where people can join, form connections, get active, and track healthy eating.

“I think there’s a misperception with wellness,” says Robert Hiss, Bedford County administrator, who participated in Harden’s pilot program. “People think we want them to run a half-marathon, but that’s not what it’s about. These programs meet people where they are, to track mobility and healthy eating habits. You try your best to increase fruits and vegetables, and maybe not eat as much unhealthy stuff. I thought it was a well-rounded program.”

“The facilitator made it fun,” adds Layney Skinner, a marketing coordinator in Bedford County’s tourism office, who also joined the pilot program. “That set the tone from the beginning. They made it like a friendly competition. We tracked our steps, and any activity we did outside of the program—even if we vacuumed in the house— we tracked it as physical activity.”

Happiness, Friendship, and Belief

The Blue Zone prescription goes deeper to tap into the power of happiness, cultural stability, and spirituality. “Human connection is the fabric of any strong society,” says Harden. “As people age, we experience more of the isolation that leads to depression, mobility issues, and the inability to age in place—to remain in your own home for the duration of your life.”

Our outlook on life—and our idea of what defines a good one—may also impact our health. In Blue Zones, Harden notes, “people think of their lives less as a list of accomplishments over failures.” Happiness is valued over achievement. For those of us steeped in American consumer culture, Harden says, that may require a clearer appreciation of what matters.

“There is a tendency to think of happiness as just a paycheck away,” she explains, “as if it comes with a promotion or a kitchen remodel. This is a uniquely American cultural value that drives our behavior. It’s also a sentiment that, more often than not, results in unhappiness, inactivity, and instability.”

People who live in Blue Zones also create close-knit communities—what Harden calls “social cohesion”—by accepting their differences,

particularly in matters of spirituality. “Rather than thinking of your religion versus my religion, or trying to change people who don’t believe in the right thing,” she explains, “it’s culturally important that each individual believes in something beyond themselves, whatever that something may be.”

Research like Harden’s is bringing a better understanding of how a lifestyle built around the cornerstone principles of nutrition, physical activity, social connection, happiness, and spirituality moves us toward a holistic approach to self-care and wellness that supports health and longevity.

PARCILab.org, Ext.VT.edu/Food-Health

Meredith Lindemon covers trends in wellness, lifestyle, and design. Her work has appeared in Boston , Philadelphia , Bethesda , and Northern Virginia magazines, among others.

MeredithLindemon.com

“People in Blue Zones deal with the same stress as people here do. Life isn’t a permanent vacation there.”

—Samantha Harden, Ph.D.

Loma Linda, California Nicoya, Costa Rica

photos (from top) by: cdrin, ben simmons, werner spremberg, percy ryallalvaro leiva, ed schipul

Sardinia, Italy Ikaria, Greece

THE WORLD’S BLUE ZONES

Okinawa, Japan

THE POWER 9®: The Healthy Secrets of Blue Zones

In his book, Blue Zones (National Geographic) author Dan Buettner lists the nine lessons of a Blue Zone lifestyle.

1. Move Naturally: They don’t pump iron. Instead, the world’s longest-lived people move naturally throughout their day, tending a garden or walking to a friend’s house.

2. Purpose: People in Blue Zones have a reason to wake up in the morning beyond work. Research finds that a sense of purpose adds seven years to life expectancy.

3. Downshift: Even people in Blue Zones experience the stress that leads to chronic inflammation and disease. The difference: they adopt routines to shed that stress.

4. The 80 Percent Rule: For people in Blue Zones, the smallest meal is eaten at the end of the day. They stop eating when they feel 80 percent full, which helps prevent weight gain.

5. Plants: Beans are the cornerstone of most Blue Zone diets. Meat, on average, is eaten in small servings, just five times per month.

6. Wine: People in all Blue Zones drink alcohol moderately. The trick is to drink one or two glasses per day with friends and/ or food.

7. Right Tribe: Happiness, healthy habits, and loneliness are contagious, so choosing the right friends can add years to your life.

8. Belonging and Belief: Attending faith-based services of any denomination adds to life expectancy.

9. Loved Ones First: People who live in Blue Zones commit to a life partner, invest in their children, and keep aging parents and grandparents nearby.

Adapted from Blue Zones: 9 Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest, by Dan Buettner, published by National Geographic.

Life in the Heart Land

By GEORGE TISDALE | Illustrations by KELLI LADERER

s aNy FOurth-grader caN tell yOu, withOut VirgiNia, there’d be NO uNited states.

startiNg with the hardy baNd whO settled JamestOwN , Our cOlONists begat the PatriOts whO trOuNced the british at yOrktOwN , wiNNiNg Our iNdePeNdeNce iN 1781. yOu ’re welcOme, america.

w e w e N t ON tO PrO d uce eight Preside N ts, 515 NFl Pl ayers, FO u r r e al hO usewiVe s, Olym Pi c swimmer m i chael PhelPs , the carter Family, saN d ra b u llO c k, aN d Pharrell. “ s tO P! ” yO u say. “ te ll me sOm ethi N g i d O N ’ t already kN Ow.” g l adly. le t’s start with the reasO N te xas might waN t tO JOt us a thaN k-yO u NOte.

lON e s tar s tate F O u N der Texas wouldn’t be Texas without the legendary Sam Houston, who was born in Rockbridge County near Lexington in 1793. The first and third president of the Republic of Texas, Houston was the state’s seventh governor and, later, had a good-sized Texas city named after him. A go-getter, Houston was also the sixth governor of Tennessee, making him the only American ever to be elected governor of two states.

gallOP i N g w est t O k e N tucky

When Louisville needed a racetrack, Meriwether Lewis Clark, Jr. leased 80 acres from his uncles, John and Henry Churchill, to found Churchill Downs in 1875. Clark was the grandson of explorer William Clark of Caroline County, half of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Another Virginian, Secretariat, was first to break the 1.4 mile track’s two-minute barrier. His 1973 record of one minute, 59 and two-thirds seconds still stands. The father of 664 named foals, Secretariat died at 19 and was buried at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky, whose owners hail from Albemarle County.

FrOsty c u P

If you’ve sipped a Mint Julep on Derby day, raise a silver cup to John Dabney, the Virginia bartender who popularized this bourbon slushy in the 1850s at Richmond’s Columbia Hotel. The Julep itself originated in Virginia, as documented by the first written record of the drink in 1787.

s ch OO l News

Our Ni N th Preside N t

Also with roots in Virginia, President Abraham Lincoln. We kid you not. His father, Thomas Lincoln, was born in Rockingham County near Broadway in 1778. Young Abe was named for Thomas’ father. Historians have speculated on the frosty relationship between our 16th President and his father. When Thomas died in 1851, he’d never met the President’s wife and children—and Lincoln skipped his funeral.

The drinks weren’t flowing at the first college fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa, founded at William & Mary in 1776. Instead, its members met in secret to debate hot topics like “Was Brutus justified in killing Caesar?” Little failed to fascinate these young, 18th-century minds, some of whom, no doubt, went on to attend the nation’s first law school, also established at William & Mary in 1779.

John Heath, the first president of Phi Beta Kappa.

The marriage of Pocahontas, John McRae, 1855.

Crime And Punishment

Our nation’s first crop of law students couldn’t possibly fathom how forensic science would eventually solve crimes. But in 1987, Virginia became the first state to convict a serial killer using DNA evidence. Tragically, Timothy Wilson Spencer murdered four women in Arlington and Richmond. When DNA linked him to a fifth homicide, he was finally convicted and later executed, exonerating the man initially accused.

nA me t h At

Seven years later, in 1862 at Berkeley Plantation in Charles City County, Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield whistled a few bars to Private Oliver Norton. “Hear that, son?” Butterfield said, according to no historian ever. “Play it back for me.”

Norton turned the whistle into a tune and played it at lights-out for the Army of the Potomac that night. A smash hit, “Taps” became the military’s official bugle call for flag ceremonies and funerals.

Offi C er t r A ining

The seeds for a New York school with a Virginia origin story were sown on the rocky cliffs of the Hudson River in 1789, when General George Washington lobbied to establish an academic institution to train Army officers. Initially opposed to the idea, President Thomas Jefferson signed legislation to establish the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1802. Virginia’s influence continued when graduate Robert E. Lee served as West Point’s superintendent from 1852–1855.

t he Pl Ay’s the t hing Williamsburg colonists, looking for their own hit, opened the first theater in our not-yet United States in 1716. At the Play House, amateur actors put Shakespeare on heavy rotation. But all did not end well. The Play House was torn down in 1745 to build a town hall.

BA rrOO m d r A m A t O C O urtrOO m Br Awl

The demise of the Williamsburg theater came almost 100 years after the first-known theatrical performance, staged in an Eastern Shore tavern in 1665 by three men reciting verses, speeches, and passages. The performers landed in hot water when a vocal audience member took offense. The local King’s attorney hauled the amateur actors into court, still in costume. But when the judge found the show innocent enough, the tattletale got stuck with the court fees.

Jim Crumley, Trebark® camouflage inventor, pictured here—wait—well, he was here a second ago...

Daniel Butterfield

Robert E. Lee as superintendent of West Point.

Members of the Jug Broke Theatre Company at Colonial Williamsburg’s recreated Play House Stage. Below right: Foundations of the original theater.

a rmy fashion u pgrade

Hard to fathom but, until 1980, Army surplus clothing was the only option for hunters looking to blend into the olive-drab scenery. Frustrated by the lack of sartorial choices, outdoorsman Jim Crumley, a teacher at Alexandria City High School, designed a tree-and-bark pattern and developed a method for transferring it onto fabric. With this innovation, Crumley created the first camouflage clothing for hunters. He parlayed his camo line into the multimillion dollar clothing company, Trebark®. Haven’t seen it around lately? Exactly

n aked a mbition

All too visible was America’s first streaker, George William Crump, a student at Washington College (now Washington and Lee University). Crump ran through the streets of Lexington in 1804, wearing only his birthday suit. We suspect alcohol and a dare were involved. Crump was suspended for a semester but, naturally, this bad boy went on to serve in the Virginia House of Delegates, U.S. Congress, and as

nventive nventions

Decades earlier, the fullyclothed Thomas Jefferson sat in a Windsor chair while writing the Declaration of Independence and found it ... confining. Once home at Monticello, he put a fresh spin on a Windsor of his own, using an iron spindle and window sash rollers to create the world’s first swivel chair. It was a turning point in the history of office furniture.

r ead my l us C ious l ips

Also inventive, Lynchburg pharmacist Charles Fleet tinkered with a waxy stick wrapped in tinfoil in the 1890s. But Fleet’s lip balm bombed, perhaps due to the cumbersome packaging. He sold the patent for five bucks to a friend, John Morton, whose wife came up with a brilliant lipstick-tube dispenser—and ChapStick was born. Fleet went on to invent the now famous device for relieving, um, oh, never mind.

s mall Change

Not all innovations are welcome. Like us, Virginia’s earliest travelers might have found themselves searching for small change in their cup holders—if only they’d been invented—as they approached the New World’s first toll gate. In 1772, the Virginia Legislature authorized Augusta County to build a highway over the mountains between Jennings Gap and Warm Springs and establish a toll gate to fund its maintenance. The idea had legs: Toll gates appeared on Alexandria’s roads in 1775 and they’ve been with us ever since.

Crump was suspended for a semester but, naturally, this bad boy went on to serve in the virginia house of delegates.

Cars lining up at the toll plaza on Dec. 1, 1967, on the Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway as it was officially opened.

Workers at the Lynchburg ChapStick factory packaging ChapStick into Christmas stockings in 1961.

A modern recreation of Thomas Jefferson’s original design. The seat swivels like a lazy Susan.

photos (clockwise from top left): by ken perrotte, courtesy of kipp teague, courtesy of the virginian-pilot, courtesy of american philosophical society, courtesy of the colonial williamsburg foundation, by wayne reynolds / courtesy of the colonial williamsburg foundation

Triple Trains

Richmond still boasts the only spot in the country where three railroad lines cross over one another. Have three trains ever crossed simultaneously? Not once, though doctored photographs depict this fictitious three-way. Want to eyeball the nation’s only triple crossing yourself? Stop by the nearby Triple Crossing Brewing afterward to sample some suds.

Wing delivers a package in Christiansburg.

a ir Drop

Want that beer flown in? The first commercial drone deliveries in the U.S. got underway on Oct. 18, 2019, when three Wing drones lifted off in Christiansburg. One delivered cough syrup and another a winter vest. And the third? It delivered chocolate. Today, you can find a Wing drone in the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

a Fizzy Ques T ion

Thirsty yet? The question of whether Dr. Charles T. Pepper, of Rural Retreat—a Confederate surgeon turned pharmacist—inspired the name of the soft drink persists. According to the Dr. Pepper museum in Waco, Texas, the drink’s origin has 12 unverifiable theories, but the most plausible by far is that pharmacy owner Wade Morrison named it after his colleague, the good doctor. Some even speculate that Morrison swiped Pepper’s formula.

Firs T Dish

One formula we can confirm, Virginia’s Brunswick Stew pre-dates Georgia’s by 70 years. The Virginia Guide, published by the depression-era Federal Writers’ Project, states that Jimmy Matthews, a Black cook, created the savory stew on an 1828 hunting trip in Brunswick County, citing the recipe. Sorry, Georgia.

A nice thought, Georgia, but we beg to differ.

Me T h Che F

Also a cook, Walter White of the Emmy® Award-winning series Breaking Bad sprung from the imagination of series creator Vince Gilligan, whose roots run to Farmville and Richmond. The show, which ran for five years, once held a Guinness World Record as the most critically acclaimed TV show of all time. Gilligan followed Breaking Bad with its prequel, Better Call Saul, which starred White’s hapless attorney and garnered 25 Primetime Emmy® Award nominations.

a ll T he Chu C kies

Walter White’s not the only Virginia-originated character breaking bad. Chucky, the demented doll of the Child’s Play film franchise, was created by Don Mancini, in a send-up of the Cabbage Patch Doll craze. Mancini, also from Richmond, went on to write Bride of Chucky, Curse of Chucky, Seed of Chucky … you get the idea.

n u T Job

Another doll-like icon originated in Suffolk in 1916 when the Planters Nut and Chocolate Company ran a contest. Thirteen year old Antonio “Tony” Gentile, also of Suffolk, submitted his drawing of a peanut character, which went on to become Mr. Peanut.

a Migh T y s hell

Another tiny protagonist, adorably animated by Richmonder Dean Fleischer-Camp, Marcel the Shell With Shoes On is voiced by Jenny Slate, of fleeting Saturday Night Live fame. After their early Marcel videos went viral in 2010, Hollywood came calling. Fleischer-Camp directed, produced, co-wrote, and appeared in the 2021 indie film—which also includes a cameo by 60 Minutes correspondent, Lesley Stahl.

photos (clockwise from top right): courtesy of the howard and georgeanna jones foundation for reproductive medicine, courtesy of missouri history museum, courtesy of virginia museum of history & culture, courtesy of a24, by michael rivera, courtesy of wing

Drop the m i C

A word of thanks to electrical engineer James West, inventor of the polymer foil electric transducer, essential to 90 percent of all microphones— and most phones—today. Born in Prince Edward County, Dr. West holds 47 U.S. patents and nearly 200 international ones. His mother, Matilda West, worked at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton. Founded in 1917 under the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, Langley was the first civilian aeronautical laboratory in the U.S.

Keep i t Clean, p eople

Back on earth, America’s first sanitation law was enacted at Jamestown in 1610. It read “nor shall anyone aforesaid, within less than a quarter of one mile from the pallizadoes, dare to doe the necessities of nature.” The penalty for such “loathsome immodesties,” was a good whipping. Given the settlers’ persnickety sanitation rules, it follows that, by 1780, the first permanent city board of health in the U.S. was established in Petersburg.

Before a streetCar nameD Desire

The world’s first electric streetcar system was inaugurated in Richmond in 1888. Fittingly, it also inspired the first transit strike in 1903. A 1904 law calling for segregated streetcar seating sparked a boycott among Black riders that bankrupted the company in three months. By the late 1940s, the advent of transit buses sealed the streetcars’ fate and, with an utter lack of historic foresight, the city doused its remaining trolleys with gasoline and set them afire.

i t’s a Girl!

A health innovation that rocked the cradle, and the world, was the first successful in vitro fertilization (IVF) pregnancy in the U.S. The blessed event occurred at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, where husband and wife doctors Georgeanna and Howard Jones had opened an IVF clinic in 1980. The trailblazing baby girl, born on Dec. 28, 1981, was considered a miracle.

t he n ee D le s ti CK

h ear D roun D the Worl D

Another miracle was aided by the pronged needle invented in 1965 by Virginia Tech grad Benjamin Rubin at Wyeth Laboratories. When dipped into a vial of smallpox vaccine, the forked needle captured a perfect dose. Rubin’s needle administered some 200 million smallpox vaccinations annually between 1966-1977, earning him a place in the National Inventors Hall of Fame. When the World Health Assembly declared smallpox defeated in 1980, it was the first deadly disease eradicated by man.

Doumar’s Cones

Equally vital, Virginia also lays claim to the ice cream cone, invented by Abe Doumar of Virginia Beach at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904. When his paperweights weren’t selling, young Abe bought a fresh waffle at a nearby vendor’s stall, rolled it into a cone, and topped it with a scoop. Gourmet Magazine recognized the ice cream at Doumar’s Barbecue in Norfolk as some of the best in the U.S. Parts of his original four-iron waffle-baking machine—which pressed nearly 23,000 cones at the 1907 Jamestown Exposition—are now in the Smithsonian Institute.

George Tisdale is a freelance writer and artist who enjoys urban and mountain hikes, trying to fly fish, and petting other people’s dogs. He lives in Richmond.

“nor shall anyone aforesaiD, Within less than a quarter of one mile from the pallizaDoes, Dare to Doe the neCessities of nature.”

Georgeanna and Howard Jones in 1998.

Children enjoy their first ice cream cones at the 1904 St. Louis Exposition.

A streetcar parked next to a stop on the Main Street line in Richmond.

Poet and essayist JoAnn Balingit of Newark, Delaware stands outside her studio at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, where she finds time to work on an essay about her eccentric late aunt, a WWII cigarette girl turned Catholic nun turned professional clown. Right: Balingit holds a 1936 family photo that includes her mother and aunts as children.

A PLACE TO CREATE

For 50 years, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts has nurtured the world’s most promising artists.

By SARAH SARGENT | Photography by SERA PETRAS

ENTER THE PROPERTY KNOWN AS MT. SAN ANGELO, just outside of Amherst, and a sign near the cattle guard reads “Cows and Cars Share the Road.” As you hairpin up the hill, your inner clock begins to slow, and you feel the rare gift this pastoral setting offers artists seeking refuge from the hubbub of daily life.

Cy Twombly once painted here. Wild author, Cheryl Strayed, settled in here to write. Nashville songwriter Beth Nielsen Chapman, who wrote Faith Hill’s hit, This Kiss, strung lyrics together here during her residency. And Gregory Maguire, whose novel, Wicked, inspired the hit Broadway musical, found creative time and space on this 412-acre campus.

Located just north of Lynchburg, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA) offers one of the nation’s largest year-round artist residency programs. Like the venerable Yaddo in New York and MacDowell in New Hampshire, it’s among more than 500 places in the U.S. where writers, artists, and composers apply for stays lasting anywhere from two weeks to two months.

Persephone's Renewal by Ivy Parsons is a fountain on the VCCA campus designed to mimic the horizon of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

FRONTING THE ARTISTIC PROCESS

Those lucky enough to earn a spot here— the center hosts 22 artists at a time—find a fertile incubator for the books, paintings, and music that enhance our lives.

“They had me when I was nobody,” says author Beth Macy of her VCCA residencies. Macy’s book, Dopesick, won a Los Angeles Times Book Prize and spawned a Hulu series that earned an Emmy Award and Golden Globe for actor Michael Keaton.

“I was just a newspaper reporter,” Macy recalls. “That first time, I was working on a novel that went nowhere, but they kept letting me come back. They took me seriously in a way that made me take myself seriously.” On her most recent VCCA residency, Macy worked on her follow-up to Dopesick. Published in August, Raising Lazurus: Hope, Justice, and the Future of America’s Overdose Crisis explores solutions to the opioid epidemic.

“What makes us unusual is that we focus on the front end of the artistic process,” says VCCA’s executive director Kevin O’Halloran. “Most art philanthropy supports the back end—performances and exhibitions. We’re giving people the time and space they need to nurture the creative process.” It’s an overlooked but crucial part of the arts, he notes.

A 50TH ANNIVERSARY

The VCCA has served more than 6,000 artists, many repeat customers. Currently, their suggested rate of $150 per day covers a private room with bath, individual studio, and meals. But to celebrate its 50th anniversary, O’Halloran hopes to change that: “What we really need to propel VCCA to the top ranks of artists communities is to increase our endowment, so we don’t have to charge a residency fee. That’s what I’m working on now.”

What does it take to earn a coveted residency? Among those who apply, 30-40 percent are accepted. Applications for 2023 jumped by 150 percent, thanks to the 50th Anniversary Fellowships—50 scholarships that will cover all expenses desgined to expand VCCA’s applicant pool. This increase will reduce winter acceptance rates to just 18 percent.

Past Fellows, as the artists are known, are an illustrious group, garnering Pulitzer Prizes, Rome Prizes, National Book Awards, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation. While most hail from the U.S., artists from far-flung places like China, Denmark, India, Malawi, South Korea, and the U.A.E. have also traveled to Amherst, just to create.

Music composed by Fellows has been played by the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center. Their artwork has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney in New York. And the poet laureates of Mississippi, New York, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and West Virginia? All VCCA Fellows.

SOLITUDE AND COMMUNITY

Despite this heady atmosphere, there’s an unpretentious vibe about the place. More than an institution, VCCA is, in a very real sense, home. “The campus is absolutely beautiful,” says first-time Fellow, Vitus Shell, a visual artist from Monroe, Louisiana. “I’m so inspired by the other residents. I feel like I’m part of a big family of creatives who I plan to collaborate with after leaving.” In addition to a dormitory-style room and meals, each Fellow is given a private studio housed in a magnificent 13,000-square-foot Normandy-style barn that dates to the 1930s.

Austrian photographer David Fisslthaler (pictured at left) shares a set of photographs, including two from his Negative Spaces series.

The studio barn at the VCCA's Mt. San Angelo campus.

Director of artists' services, Sheila Gulley Pleasants, shares a calendar outlining the schedules of VCCA Fellows.

Richmond

installing Wave using found pine boughs and limbs and Johnson grass. Her work builds “a language between the boundaries of a space and the transitional state of the object.”

“

“

It’s a privilege to focus all one’s energy on making work. At VCCA, I found crucial time to develop a new sculptural installation. It’s a call and response, between the wooded location and the gallery.”

—Reece Camp Carter, sculptor

artist Reece Camp Carter

Unplugged from day jobs and family responsibilities, Fellows find both the solitude and community that fuel artistic success. Plus the food is plentiful and good. “We try to do a lot of treats for our Fellows,” says Katy Murray, director of dining services. Murray works with farmers and purveyors to bring in fresh, local produce.

Warm and bubbly, Murray understands her role in the creative process. “When the realization dawns on them that they don't have to plan any meal, shop for food, or cook, it’s an emotional moment for some Fellows,” she says. “We are witness to some incredibly creative moments, and we love being on the fringe of that—to realize that, yes indeed, you were there in a moment mentioned in a poem published in The New Yorker. It’s priceless.”

Fellows use an app to preorder lunch, which is delivered to the studio barn kitchen. Evening meals feel festive, more like a dinner party. “After spending hours in solitude, everyone seems upbeat, excited to share what they’ve accomplished that day,” says Sheila Gulley Pleasants, VCCA’s deputy director and director of artists’ services. They push tables together or gather in groups on the patio or in the living room, talking excitedly while expressing genuine interest in what others are doing.

ARTISTIC AFFIRMATION

After dinner, they’ll gather at the residence for an informal presentation by several Fellows. Whether it’s a reading or a brief concert, these intimate gatherings allow Fellows to share their work and garner valuable feedback from a group of peers.

Rebecca Chase, who traveled from Brooklyn, New York, for her first VCCA residency.

“It’s hard to overstate how crucial the affirmation provided by a residency is for artists, who often work in solitude for long periods of time,” she notes. “I have met some extraordinary fellow artists, and I will carry this experience, and the new work generated here, with me when I have to return to the ‘real world.’”

Before you exit the property onto Route 29, there’s a sign: “The Real World.” It refers to the realm that exists beyond VCCA’s nurturing confines, but for the talented people who come here, it’s also a reminder to hold onto the magic when they leave this remarkable place. VCCA.com

“To have this opportunity to shut out the noise and really turn inward to listen for that inner voice that informs my writing feels more necessary now than ever,” says

Sarah Sargent writes for C-Ville Weekly and the L.A.-based Artillery magazine. She has served as director of Charlottesville’s Second Street Gallery and VCCA’s director of communications and grants. ArtNosh.Blogspot.com

Composer and sound artist Leah Reid captures ambient noise from the fields at Mt. San Angelo. Below left: A sample of Reid's sound-making tools.

Fellows gather every night for evening meals, often followed by sitting around a firepit or a dip in the pool.

Mt. San Angelo’s landscape is dotted with character of both sculptural and bovine variety.

Sculptor Reece Camp Carter at her installation, Woods #5-Pyre, in maple, quartzite, and hemp rope, on the VCCA campus.

by a longtime board member. With the influx of cash from the sale of the O’Keeffe in 2020, VCCA purchased the 412-acre Mt. San Angelo property. After 42 years, the total tab on the lease amounted to two $20 bills, plus a couple of singles.

The sale preserved a significant swath of land and cemented the relationship between the VCCA and Sweet Briar, longtime neighbors.

A

VIRGINIA ARTISTS’ COLONY: How it began.

It was during a residence at MacDowell in New Hampshire when writer Elizabeth “Betty” Coles Langhorne met Nancy Hale, the first female reporter for The New York Times and a frequent New Yorker contributor. Once home in Virginia, the two women set out to replicate their experience and founded the VCCA in Charlottesville in 1971. On the fledgling organization’s original board, they installed MacDowell’s former director, George Kendall, and the novelist Peter Taylor.

Langhorne, a member of the distinguished Cole family of Virginia, was the great-granddaughter of publisher Joshua Lippincott. She grew up on Philadelphia's Main Line and attended Vassar College before marrying Harry Forsythe Langhorne, a nephew of the

famous Langhorne sisters of Mirador in 1941.

By all accounts, Betty Langhorne was a colorful character who piloted her own plane and spent time in Puerto Rico, where she also founded the Vieques Conservation and Historical Trust.

First headquartered at Wavertree Hall and later Prospect Hill in Albemarle County, the VCCA eventually entered into an agreement with Sweet Briar College to lease Mt. San Angelo, once the estate of Sweet Briar founder Indiana Fletcher Williams’ sister, Elizabeth. Although the “rent” was only one dollar a year, as the decades passed, the VCCA was eager to own the property outright.

The solution arrived in Georgia O’Keeffe’s painting, Blue Sand (1959), which was donated to the organization

“With all that’s happened, there’s so much that hasn’t changed,” says VCCA’s Sheila Gulley Pleasants. “And that’s what returning Fellows are so happy to see. It’s still the VCCA; it still has its wonderful quality. It’s a serious vibe, it’s a professional vibe, but it’s still a relaxed, egalitarian, welcoming place where they can be their truest selves and do what they feel they’ve been put on this earth to do.”

sidebar photos courtesy of vcca. moullin à nef photo by paige critcher

“What makes us unusual is that we focus on the front end ... giving people the time and space they need to nurture the creative process.”

—Kevin O’Halloran, executive director, VCCA

Kevin O'Halloran with VCCA executive dog Asta.

Helios and the Ivory-billed Woodpecker by Craig Pleasants. This acclaimed sculptor and North Carolina native is married to VCCA's director of artists' services, Sheila Gulley Pleasants. He founded Sculptorhouse, a venture that reimagines how we create housing.

One of the few U.S. artist communities with a location abroad, the VCCA hosts artists who have completed Virginia residencies at their Moulin à Nef location in Auvillar, France.

Cy Twombly at the VCCA in 1998.

Blue Sand (1959), Georgia O'Keeffe

Betty Langhorne in the cockpit of her Cub Coupe. Far left: Nancy Hale.

Weddings

BY INVITATION ONLY THE PAPER TRAIL

By

Wedding invitations function as more than a debrief of the who, what, when, and where of your celebration. With the help of a stationer, these pieces of paper also give guests a preview of your day— from the wording, to the design, to the color palette. In most cases, customdesigned suites allow you to choose different elements, like the number of pieces included in each invitation, the paper stock, envelope liners, and printing methods, like letterpress, embossing, or digital.

BY I NVITATION ONLY  H OSPITALITY  T RENDS  K EEPSAKES  V A WEDDINGS

Invitation suites set the stage for what’s to come.

Claire Sullivan  | Photo by Sera Petras

Natalie O'Dell of chez la mariée in Lexington incorporated meaningful details in a letterpress wedding suite she designed for Avery and Fuller Ramsey, using their favorite shade of blue. In addition to a customized envelope liner and monogrammed invitation seal, a deckle-edged save-thedate featured a pen and ink rendering of the couple's reception venue, Norfolk's Chrysler Museum of Art.

Produced & edited by VAYDA PARRISH

AS WITH MOST PARTS of the wedding planning process, you’ll want to start by establishing your budget. Custom suites allow you to splurge on different parts of the design and save on others. Postage comes into play, too, so if you love the feel of weighty paper stock, remember you’ll need to account for enough postage to safely get your invitations delivered to guests.

Custom invitation suites may be priced à la carte, but some stationers offer packages that include save the dates, invitations, reply cards and envelopes, and day-of paper details like place cards and maps. Charlottesville stationer Stephanie Fishwick, who counts Gwenyth Paltrow, Jo Malone London, and Tiffany & Co. as clients, kicks off the design process with a creative call, where she hones in on the couple’s style and what motifs they want to include. Natalie O’Dell, founder of Lexington-based stationery company chez la mariée, starts with a similar conversation, then translates that information into delicate designs, incorporating meaningful details like a late family member’s favorite flower or a motif that ties back to the couple.

The wording plays a big role, too. Fishwick likes to think about the guests when guiding clients to the right tone. “Think about who is coming and how you communicate to different generations,” she explains. By using descriptive, clear wording, you can avoid follow-up emails from family members wondering about details like the dress code or transportation. Because wording can be tricky, Fishwick created Party Paper, a downloadable guide available for purchase on her website. Ultimately, your stationery is just one piece of a day that’s celebrating love. “Trust in your story and your style,” says O’Dell, “and you can’t go wrong.”

Claire Sullivan is a Southern-raised, New York City-based writer. A former editor at Martha Stewart Living and Martha Stewart Weddings , she is currently the senior beauty and lifestyle commerce editor of Women’s Wear Daily.

“Sometimes I’ll pull from a textile pattern of the wedding dress. It conveys your style in a subtle way.”

–Natalie O’Dell

photos (from top): by sera petras (2), by david bastianoni, by ashley florence

Bespoke invitation suite by Stephanie Fishwick for a wedding in Positano, Italy.

Stephanie Fishwick

Fishwick tests out a flat nib before writing in an italic calligraphy style.

Rachel May Photography

The Art of Hospitality

Welcome your wedding guests with thoughtful touches.

By CLAIRE SULLIVAN

Friends and family who surround you on your wedding day are an important part of your celebration: They’ll witness your joy, share the emotions, and toast to your life together. To welcome your guests in style and ensure they enjoy every moment, we’ve tapped Virginia-based planners for tips on incorporating a touch of Southern hospitality.

Overshare information

Lots of logistics go into a wedding, and with some strategy you can help guide guests through the process of booking travel, planning outfits, and mapping out their weekend. To communicate these details without an abundance of emails, make your wedding website as detailed as possible before sending save the dates, and add a link to your website on the design. Include information about where to stay, what to pack, and any special considerations—if your wedding venue is in the mountains, it’s nice to let guests know to bring warm layers and comfortable shoes.

Extend a warm welcome

It’d be impossible for you to greet each guest as they arrive, but a welcome bag sends the same message. Consider including an itinerary with venue and transporation details, along with a welcome note. Lauren Hill, owner and creative director of Richmond-based For Love of Love, likes to incorporate local treats—“something sweet, something salty”—from shops and bakeries. “Often these shops are very meaningful to the couple,” she says, “and guests feel like they are part of their history.”

Amy Marie Polezhaev, owner and lead designer of Amy Marie Events in Mechanicsville, recommends a welcome drink for guests when they arrive. “It doesn’t have to be alcohol but something that says, ‘I know you just traveled here and it may have been a few minutes or a few hours, but here’s a drink in case you’re thirsty,’” she explains.

Orchestrate a seamless day

Wedding websites can help guests navigate the weekend, but know that some attendees may not have that information directly available once the celebrations begin. To make things simple, do your best to direct guests where they should be. “This can mean easy to read and identifiable signage, a map on the backs of programs, or a designated person to greet and direct guests. It shows guests that you thought about the fact your venue is probably a place they have never been to and you want it to be as worry free as possible,” Polezhaev says.

Share your gratitude

Thank-you notes don’t have to wait for after the wedding day—you can thank guests throughout the weekend, too.

“We’ve seen a huge increase this year in couples writing personalized notes to each guest thanking them for coming, sharing a personal memory, and overall sending love to them so they feel special,” Hill says. “For a recent wedding, the bride found old vintage postcards of scenes from Richmond and wrote a message on the back,” [above] Hill explains. “These ended up being the seating assignment cards guests found at cocktail hour, and hearing everyone gasp as they realized it was a personalized note as they picked them up was super special.”

Treat guests to a build-your-ownbouquet flower bar.

photos (from top) by: kir tuben photography(2), david & tiffany photography

Vintage postcards with personalized notes doubled as a seating chart at a recent wedding.

Liz + Stephen (p. 127)

Buttercream Dreams, Weyers Cave Lemon, blueberry, and cream.

Flowers, Fondant, and Frosting

Minimalist wedding cakes still lead the pack, but with elegant details.

By HEATHER BIEN

FROSTING LOVERS, LOOK AWAY the naked cake continues its reign as a perennial wedding favorite. But, this year, it’s getting dressed. Minimalist naked cakes are lightly swept with buttercream frosting, then adorned with vibrant pressed flowers or covered in an abundance of sugary sweet marzipan blooms that appear plucked right out of a midsummer night’s dream.

Susan Sweeney of Cake Bloom in Charlottesville created a dreamy, organic look with a wildflower cake this year that boasted three tiers of fresh, locally-grown stems of varying heights, blended with dried pressed flowers. “There was so much texture and color and movement with the petals blowing in the wind that day. The couple did a custom floral print dance floor and table settings to match. It was spectacular,” says Sweeney.

We’re also seeing wallpaper make a comeback in the wedding world. From invitation liners to

photo backdrops to escort card stations, repetitive designs are being used to tie every detail of the wedding experience together, and that includes the cake. Patterns, motifs, textiles, and even lace are recreated on cakes using fondant, gold leaf, and carefully stenciled color. Picture an elegant climbing vine motif debuting on the invitation, then making an appearance as the fabric wrap surrounding the bar, and finally imagined in fondant and covering a few choice layers of cake.

And say goodbye to the giant sheet cake. The past few years have seen a rise in smaller cakes for smaller celebrations, and, now, even larger parties are embracing wedding cake restraint. Couples are opting for a selection of smaller cakes that allow them to offer a variety of sweet treats. Not only do guests get to exercise their chocolate and vanilla preferences, but you may also find gluten-free, dairy-free, and other dietary options among the bevy of baked goods.

Tessa + Wes (p. 108)

Uncommon Cakes, Amherst

Three tiers—strawberry cardamom, tea and honey, and triple chocolate.

Esther + Allan (p. 119)

SweetNanaCakes Bake Shoppe, Waynesboro

Red velvet cake topped with fresh florals from Mary Jo’s Flowers (Harrisonburg)

photos (from top) by: kylie martin photography, stephanie whitehill photoography, rivkah fine art photography, andrea cable photography

Susan Sweeney of Cake Bloom in Charlottesville illustrates the art of elegant detailing in this three-tiered wildflower wedding cake.

Morgan + Corey (p. 125)

Fluffy Thoughts Cakes, McLean

Strawberry lemonade: lemon cake with lemon curd, fresh strawberries, and vanilla Italian buttercream.

photos (clockwise from top left) by: jessica nazarova photography, bethany snyder photography, ashley peterson photography, justin hankins (2), chris isham photography, kim branagan photography, corrin jasinki photography

Grace Ann + Chris (p. 123)

Hamlet Kitchen, Martinsville

Lemon flavored, with lemon curd filling between the layers with vanilla buttercream icing. Plus, strawberry, almond, and chocolate mini bundt cakes for the guests.

Alexi + Geoff (p. 117)

Bowerbird Bakeshop, Charlottesville

Yellow cake, strawberry jam filling, and lemon American buttercream. Blooms by Honey Bee’s Florist (Staunton). Floral arrangement by bridal party member Grace Atkins.

Suzanne + Hank (p. 115)

Car Wash Cafe, Kilmarnock

Layers of carrot cake, cheesecake, carrot cake again, topped with cream cheese frosting and garnished with chopped walnuts.

Brittany + Jonathan (p. 112)

Maliha Creations, Charlottesville

Top layer: Almond cake (lemon curd, hazelnut frosting).

Bottom layer: Hummingbird cake (passionfruit curd, cream cheese frosting).

Sara + Cory (p. 104)

Signature Sweets by Amanda, Warrenton

Almond cake with alternating layers of brown sugar cream cheese frosting and honey mascarpone.

Renee + Patrick (p. 121)

Gelato: Incredible Edibles, Virginia Beach

No cake? No problem. For their reception, Renee and Patrick rolled out a gelato cart and Patrick’s Nonna brought Italian cookies and pastries from Mueller’s Bakery, where she works in New Jersey.

Luxury Wedding Films

Telling your story your way

Destination weddings and intimate parties in virginia wine country

Destination weddings and intimate parties in virginia wine country

Destination weddings and intimate parties in virginia wine country

Destination weddings and intimate parties in virginia wine country

E ach of our four distinct wedding venues offer a unique experience tying in ter. Our private 4,000 acre reserve features historic manor homes and cozy cottages for overnight stays.

Charlottesville ’s historic and lush charac

Charlottesville ’s historic and lush charac

E ach of our four distinct wedding venues offer a unique experience tying in ter. Our private 4,000 acre reserve features historic manor homes and cozy cottages for overnight stays.

E ach of our four distinct wedding venues offer a unique experience tying in ter. Our private 4,000 acre reserve features historic manor homes and cozy cottages for overnight stays.

Charlottesville ’s historic and lush charac

Charlottesville ’s historic and lush charac

E ach of our four distinct wedding venues offer a unique experience tying in ter. Our private 4,000 acre reserve features historic manor homes and cozy cottages for overnight stays.

O ur on-site Tasting Room + Taphouse uniquely offers a craft brewery in addition to our estate grown wines for a tasting or to enjoy with pairings from our kitchen. We specialize in dinners and parties to complete your wedding weekend and celebrate your mile stones.

O ur on-site Tasting Room + Taphouse uniquely offers a craft brewery in addition to our estate grown wines for a tasting or to enjoy with pairings from our kitchen. We specialize in dinners and parties to complete your wedding weekend and celebrate your mile stones.

O ur on-site Tasting Room + Taphouse uniquely offers a craft brewery in addition to our estate grown wines for a tasting or to enjoy with pairings from our kitchen. We specialize in dinners and parties to complete your wedding weekend and celebrate your mile stones.

O ur on-site Tasting Room + Taphouse uniquely offers a craft brewery in addition to our estate grown wines for a tasting or to enjoy with pairings from our kitchen. We specialize in dinners and parties to complete your wedding weekend and celebrate your mile stones.

We welcome you to join our community.

We welcome you to join our community.

We welcome you to join our community.

We welcome you to join our community.

Parcels and properties available for sale on the Reserve. www.turkeyruncville.com

Parcels and properties available for sale on the Reserve. www.turkeyruncville.com

Parcels and properties available for sale on the Reserve. www.turkeyruncville.com

Parcels and properties available for sale on the Reserve. www.turkeyruncville.com

www.mountidareserve.com info@mountidareserve.com 434-960-4655Charlottesville, VA

www.mountidareserve.com info@mountidareserve.com 434-960-4655Charlottesville, VA

www.mountidareserve.com info@mountidareserve.com 434-960-4655Charlottesville, VA

www.mountidareserve.com info@mountidareserve.com 434-960-4655Charlottesville, VA

Keeping with (Southern) Tradition

By HEATHER BIEN

Exchanging wedding vows dating back half a millenia isn’t the only tradition that’s alive and well in the South. Here, we take pleasure in doing some things the old-fashioned way. Borrowed and blue? Your grandma did it, too. And there’s a good chance she might have dug up a bottle of aged bourbon, pulled a charm before meeting your grandfather, or had a say in that chocolate and peanut butter groom’s cake.

Shoveling Up Spirits

There’s a certain thrill in grabbing a shovel and digging into fresh earth in a pristine white wedding dress. Especially if it comes with the promise of clear skies ahead. The Virginia tradition of burying the bourbon dictates that couples must bury a full bottle of bourbon upside down one month before they say, “I do.” If the bottle is left undisturbed until the morning of the ceremony, the forecast will be on their side, ushering in sunny skies and seasonally perfect temperatures. Take a celebratory swig before walking down the aisle or pass the bottle around with your wedding party after tying the knot.

Lucky Charms

Victorians loved tradition—and, over a century after the ribbon pull debuted in the United Kingdom, single friends of the bride still gather ‘round for the cake pull. Each one pulls a delicate ribbon from under the bottom layer of the wedding cake to reveal a fortune-telling charm. Pull a boot and pack your bags because you’re traveling soon. Pull a flower and a blossoming relationship could be on the horizon. Pull a moon—and opportunity awaits.

A Toast to the Groom

The year was 1989. Steel Magnolias introduced the country to the armadillo cake and a classic Southern tradition. First developed by none other than those ritual-loving Victorian couples, the groom’s cake traditionally offered guests a richer alternative to standard flavors. However, in the decades since that red velvet armadillo hit the silver screen, the world has seen an explosion of creative, overthe-top, and clever groom’s cakes showing off favorite sports teams, alma maters, and more than a few Star Wars obsessions.

Heather Bien is a freelance writer who splits her time between Washington, D.C., and Locust Hill. She writes for Apartment Therapy, Martha Stewart Weddings , and more.

Shoo off bad weather or predict your future with century-old rituals.

photos (clockwise from top): by matt schmachtenberg photography (2), courtesy of maliha creations, courtesy of twin charms

Charms created by Twin Charms in Centreville.

Virginia Living ’s Special Projects Editor, Vayda, and her husband, Jonmichael, at their April 9, 2022 wedding at Parrish View Farms in Kenbridge with their freshly exhumed bourbon bottle.

Pup groom’s cake by Maliha Creations in Charlottesville.

There’s a certain thrill in grabbing a shovel and digging into fresh earth in a pristine white wedding dress.

Our luxury turn-key properties ensure that saying "I do" is a seamless and stress-free process. Celebrate your wedding at Dover Hall and your rehearsal dinner, welcome party, and departure brunch at our nearby sister p roperty, Bartizan.

Forget the Photo Album

These keepsakes commemorate your big day in an unconventional way.

LITTLE STONE DRESS

To Virginia Beach-based artist Erika Hitchcock, a wedding dress is more than a pretty gown—it’s a symbol of change, hope, and your first steps on a new journey. She embodies all of that in picture-perfect, ceramic replicas of wedding gowns where every button and intricate lace detail is captured. Starting at $500, StoneWearCeramics.com

MOMENT IN TIME

There’s something mystical about paint on canvas. It’s a medium that captures emotions in ways photos rarely can. A live painter on your wedding day creates a memory of that moment in time—whether it’s the ceremony, the reception, or the first look. It’s a fine art memento you’ll treasure for decades and generations. Starting at $4,500, WedOnCanvas.com

photos (clockwise from top) courtesy of: stonewear ceramics (2), wed on canvas, after the tone, sofias flower designs, wood flowers co.

SENTIMENTAL STILL LIFE

Artist Sofia Marraffa gives bridal bouquets a second life. Her romantic renderings in oil capture every organic detail of your wedding florals in beautiful still-life detail. The finished work can be added to your art collection and even replicated on thank-you cards and stationery. By commission SofiasFlowerDesigns.com

JUST LIKE THE REAL THING

Whether you decide to have a replica of your wedding bouquet made after the big day or you want a no maintenance option for walking down the aisle, these wooden florals made in Bristol are as stunning as the Starting at $90, WoodFlowersCo.com

ROTARY RECORD

If you’ve ever saved a message from a loved one who’s no longer with us, you know the power of voice. That’s the feeling After the Tone sets out to capture. Friends and family leave their well wishes, roasts, and toasts on a retro answering machine for a record of all your favorite people together on your favorite day. Inquire for pricing AfterTheTone.co

S virginia Weddings

By HEATHER BIEN, CLAIRE SULLIVAN, & VAYDA PARRISH

Sara & Cory

Focused on savoring every moment.

August 7, 2021   Goodstone Inn, Middleburg

ALATE SUMMER SUNSET showed off its brilliant colors as Sara and Cory King’s family and friends settled in under a sailcloth tent for a candlelit dinner filled with romantic peach and coral florals. The lush dahlias, roses, ranunculus, and stock in the arrangements complemented the landscaped beds and thoughtfully planted containers throughout the property.

Striking coral tapers, blush old-fashioned glasses, and soft-pink napkins united the elegantly set farm tables. It was the kind of Blue Ridge Mountain evening they’d envisioned when they booked the Goodstone Inn for their wedding.

They were looking for a place where they could create a welcoming and private weekend-long getaway, focused on savoring every moment of togetherness with friends and family, and they found it in Middleburg amidst the rolling hills of Virginia farmland.

—by H.B.

He Said, She Said

How did you meet? We are a modern day romance—swiped right at just the right time.

Engagement: private or elaborate? Private and cozy at my family’s mountain home in Floyd with our two dogs and a great bottle of Champagne. Wedding planner or DIY?

I admire DIYers, but a planner gave us such a sense of freedom to really enjoy the day.

First look, yay or nay?

Definitely. Having time for just the two of us before we were swept away in the excitement with our loved ones was really special.

Favorite splurge?

We kept waffling on booking a videographer but in the end we are so glad we did.

Smart skimp?

Programs and signs. We tried to avoid things that would just be tossed or have little use after.

Bright idea?

I was stuck on my “something borrowed.” My aunt suggested I borrow the song that my uncle wrote and performed for her on their wedding day. It was truly so special.

DJ or live band?

We loved the variety of music that having a DJ offered.

First dance?

“Thank You” by Bonnie Raitt.

Wardrobe change?

Not for me! I loved my dress too much to change out of it a second earlier than I had to.

Honeymoon or staycation?

We did a bit of both. A mini-moon at the Omni Homestead Resort right after our wedding followed by a trip to Santa Teresa, Costa Rica in the spring.

The Details

PHOTOGRAPHY: Kim Branagan Photography

PLANNER: Vida Events, Purcellville HAIR AND

MAKEUP: Anna Breeding, Charlottesville

DRESS: Alexia’s Bridal Boutique, Raleigh, NC

FLORALS: Steelcut Flower Co., Baltimore, MD

VIDEOGRAPHY: Compass Studios, Reston

DJ: Mixing Maryland DJs, Annapolis, MD

Tessa & Wes

COUNTLESS COUPLES GET MARRIED at Virginia vineyards, but most couples don’t buy the vineyard first. Tessa and Wes Roberts aren’t most couples. They were living in Jackson, Wyoming, when the pandemic hit and, with Tessa’s parents in Afton, they began daydreaming on Zillow. A turn of the century farmhouse with a bonus—a winery—hit the market. And, with rose-colored glasses and many evenings spent poring over spreadsheets, they made it work.

It only made sense they’d celebrate their marriage at Lovingston Winery, which has become their passion project and life’s work. Tessa spent hours thrifting china plates, jars, and flower pots to set the stage for a garden party soirée. With flower grannies and a ring bearer entourage, a mini horse, and a dog named Arnie, the day was a warm and welcoming celebration of a couple and a dream brought to life in Virginia wine country. —by H.B.

He Said, She Said

How did you meet?

The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Engagement: private or elaborate?

In the backcountry of Wyoming where two rivers meet. No cell service, a couple of close friends, and a bottle of Champagne.

Wedding planner or DIY?

A lot of DIY and a day-of planner.

First look, yay or nay?

Nay, we wanted to make the ceremony a really special moment.

Favorite splurge? Does buying a vineyard count?

Smart skimp?

Planting herbs as centerpieces instead of florals.

Bright idea?

Loved having a two-man bluegrass band (Lama & The Hound) during dinner. Made it so fun.

DJ or live band?

The trifecta! Harpist during the ceremony, live band during dinner, DJ for dancing.

First dance?

Of course, we met on a dance floor after all.

“Earthquake” by The Black Lillies.

Wardrobe change?

Nope. Picking one dress was enough for me.

Honeymoon or staycation?

Mini-moon to Savannah, Georgia. Hoping to go to Italy when our schedule allows.

dream comes true in Virginia wine country.

Ringbearer Charlie escorts miniature horse Wildman down the aisle, with Arnie trotting behind.

Leigh Skaggs Photography

Kaitlyn

Brittany

BRITTANY TYLER AND

JONATHAN

Cho’s wedding celebration was a beautiful union of two people—and the marriage of two distinct styles. The pair collaborated on the design and details, with Brittany infusing mystical woodland touches with mossy features, avian elements, and an earthy color palette, while Jonathan brought a refined minimalist sensibility through the paper details that he

designed. Though the couple had floated the idea of a destination wedding, they decided to stick with Pippin Hill. “Every time I tried to think about my wedding, I could only think about the Blue Ridge Mountains in the background,” says Brittany. Hummingbird motifs and white orchids honored the bride’s late mother, Pi-Hsiah, who loved both. The storybook day touched everyone who attended the mountaintop ceremony. —by C.S.

He Said, She Said

Engagement: private or elaborate?

Private. Jon proposed on his birthday at the Jefferson Hotel. Wedding planner or DIY?

Wedding planner! Have a point of view, but let the experts bring your dream to life.

First look, yay or nay?

Nay for us—we wanted the big reveal moment.

Favorite splurge?

Band and open bar … these things are a good combo.

Bright idea?

Our table cards were hung from little hummingbirds which doubled as a design centerpiece and favors.

First dance?

“Suitcase Full of Sparks” by Gregory Alan Isakov.

Wardrobe change?

Yes—we wore traditional hanboks. Jon’s mom had them custom made for us in Korea. It’s one of my favorite memories, great pictures, and it was a fun surprise for guests.

Honeymoon or staycation?

We did a mini-moon on the Shenandoah River with our chubby Samoyed, Bobby. Then later on, a honeymoon in Spain.

Brittany and Jonathan wearing traditional hanboks.

PHOTOGRAPHY: Chris Isham Photography

PLANNER: Reagan Events, Charleston, SC FLORALS: Swell Botanics, Charleston, SC BAND: The Band Punch, Chesterfield

Brittany’s mom, Pi-Hsiah.

Suzanne & Hank

A coastal wedding on the Bay.

Railway was at one time the busiest railway on the Chesapeake Bay, welcoming boats from near and far. And, after Hank Smith’s father, Matt, took on restoring this piece of history, it once again welcomed visitors from around the world—this time for a wedding. Despite coastal flash flood warnings on the day of the couple’s nuptials, the celebration went off without a hitch.

Although Suzanne and Hank Nuss live in Berlin, Germany, home will always be the Northern Neck, and that’s where the couple said “I do,” on a boat built by Smith’s ancestors. The celebration, held with an intimate group of family and friends, included boat rides in a 1940s ChrisCraft, custom-labeled Virginia Diner Peanuts, springtime blue-and-white florals, and even a cameo by Hank’s parents’ dog, Bruiser. —by H.B.

The Details

He Said, She Said

How did you meet?

Introduced by a mutual friend from college when we both moved to D.C. in 2013.

Engagement: private or elaborate?

Private engagement with a family heirloom ring on a boat built by Hank’s ancestors and restored by his dad (same boat we got married on).

Wedding planner or DIY?

Hank’s mom did everything locally and was the best planner we could have hoped for.

Favorite splurge?

Custom-labeled Virginia Diner Salted Peanut cans with our wedding design on them! And an oyster bar!

Smart skimp?

The list is too long!

Bright idea?

Hank’s dad has been restoring the town’s local marine railway, which made for a uniquely Virginia venue.

DJ or live band?

Neither! We curated several playlists, but ended up playing songs that brought up good memories with the people around us. Wouldn’t have it any other way.

First dance?

None, but on the spot decided to play “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!” by Shania Twain to kick off the party. It worked.

Honeymoon or staycation?

We stayed in Reedville for a week of boating and then flew home to Berlin, and welcomed a Portuguese water dog puppy, Ziggy, into our family.

THE HISTORIC REEDVILLE MARINE

May 12, 2022   Reedville Marine Railway, Reedville

PHOTOGRAPHY: Ashley Peterson Photography

CATERING: Car Wash Cafe, Kilmarnock FLORALS: Cathi’s Gardens, Irvington HAIR: Sara Brown Salon, Kilmarnock RENTALS: Clements Tent Rentals, Warsaw GIFTS: Virginia Diner Peanuts, Wakefield

Alexi & Geoff

History buffs tie the knot at Highland.

ALEXANDRA GARRETT AND Geoffrey Skelley knew Charlottesville was the perfect place for their wedding: It’s where they met and spent the first five years of their lives together. The two history buffs spent time researching venues, ultimately landing on James Monroe’s Highland. “We specifically chose the venue because it’s not just a historical or museum site; it’s also an active research center,” Alexandra explains. The pair planned a Colonial American-inspired celebration with a modern twist. “We chose cream damask tablecloths with turquoise napkins, since the latter resembled the famous Prussian blue walls at George Washington’s Mount Vernon,” the bride notes. They incorporated bright, bold florals to contrast the historic touches. After a ceremony co-officiated by the couples’ respective siblings, the night ended with an epic dance party complete with an impromptu performance by the newlyweds. Their al fresco summer celebration was one for the books. —by C.S.

He Said, She Said

Engagement: private or elaborate?

Private at first—Geoffrey popped the question in one of the pavilion gardens by The Lawn at the University of Virginia. Then we headed to our friends’ home for a private backyard celebration.

Favorite splurge? Videography.

Bright idea?

Having our two siblings co-officiate the ceremony. They magnified the joy, humor, and love of our special day.

DJ or live band?

DJ. Because we didn’t think live bands could play Ke$ha that well…

First dance?

“Across The Room” by ODESZA featuring Leon Bridges. We did a mix of slow and fast dancing to it together.

Wardrobe change?

No—but the bride and her dad put on leather jackets for their father-daughter dance!

Honeymoon or staycation?

Delayed honeymoon—headed to Hawaii to start off 2023 with a luau!

The Details

PHOTOGRAPHY: Bethany Snyder Photography

VIDEOGRAPHY: Silver Streak Media, Charlottesville CATERING: The Local, Charlottesville DJ: Blue Cut Media, Barboursville FLORALS: Honey Bee’s Florist, Staunton INVITATIONS: Rock Paper Scissors, Charlottesville

June 18, 2022 James Monroe’s Highland, Charlottesville

Esther & Allan

of cultures.

WEDDINGS MAY BE FOCUSED on the union of two people, but for Esther and Allan Oloo, the big day also honored the coming together of their two families and cultures. The result was an afternoon full of friendship, dancing, and all the color. “I was born in Nepal and Allan was born in Kenya, so we wanted our wedding day to represent the many cultures that we come from,” Esther explains. The menu nodded to the groom’s African roots, while the bride, who wore a traditional sleeveless gown, changed into a stunning red number, traditional for Nepalese brides. Esther’s bridesmaids wore elegant and authentic Nepalese saris. The late summer celebration, outside with sweeping views of the Shenandoah Valley, was brimming with color, friendship, and worldly love. —by C.S.

He Said, She Said

Engagement: private or elaborate?

Private. Allan proposed at the JMU Arboretum, one of our favorite parks. It was very much a surprise. Wedding planner or DIY? Mostly DIY with lots of help from bridesmaids and family.

Bright idea?

Esther’s dad is a local beekeeper, so for wedding favors, we harvested the honey and put them into cute individual jars. This helped us save money, and everyone loved it!

Smart skimp?

We reused the wedding décor the venue already had from previous weddings, which saved us a ton of money.

Wardrobe change?

Yes, Esther changed into a more cultural dress called a Lehenga.

First dance?

“At Last” by Etta James, then we broke out in a surprise dance to “The Git Up” by Blanco Brown.

The Details

A beautiful blend

September 4, 2021   Brix & Columns Vineyards, McGaheysville

PHOTOGRAPHY: Andrea Cable Photography BOUQUET: Mary Jo’s Flowers, Harrisonburg FLORALS: Valley Garden Co., Harrisonburg CATERING: Taj of India, Harrisonburg DESSERT: Smiley’s Ice Cream Truck, Bridgewater

Renee & Patrick

A touch of Italy in Norfolk.

September 5, 2021   Ceremony: Sacred Heart Catholic Church

Reception: Chrysler Museum of Art

BORN AND RAISED IN NAPLES on the Adriatic Coast, Renee Robus dreamt of an Italian wedding, but, with the realities of travel in 2021, she and her husband, Patrick Castello, decided a Virginia-based celebration would allow as many of their friends and family as possible to share in their joy. So they set out to infuse their stateside wedding with the beauty and culture of Renee’s home country. The Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk provided a dramatic backdrop for their vision. Florals, in blue, yellow, and white, were complemented by a decidedly Italian theme of lemons, which were liberally incorporated into the décor and included individual bottles of limoncello at every place setting. Despite being an ocean away, the couple brought to life the relaxed elegance of Italy for a stunning and memorable celebration in Coastal Virginia. —by H.B.

He Said, She Said

How did you meet?

We met at Virginia Tech. We were both living in the same dorm.

Engagement: private or elaborate?

Private—Patrick asked me to marry him at East Beach in Norfolk. Afterward we celebrated with our families in Cape Charles.

Wedding planner or DIY?

I planned my wedding with the help of my amazing vendors, specifically Pari from Astro Entertainment.

First look, yay or nay?

Nay.

Favorite splurge?

Our venue. The Chrysler was such a beautiful setting and it perfectly fit my vision.

Smart skimp?

My dress was less than $1,000, and I loved it. I looked at more expensive dresses but none of them felt more beautiful than the one I chose.

Bright idea?

I had photos of our parents’ and grandparents’ weddings displayed on the dessert and grazing tables.

DJ or live band?

DJ.

First dance?

“The Best” by Tina Turner.

Wardrobe change?

Not at the reception, but I changed into a thrifted Jessica McClintock wedding dress for my afterparty at the Grain.

Honeymoon or staycation?

Honeymoon. We spent 10 days in Costa Rica!

The Details

PHOTOGRAPHY: Justin Hankins Photography

FLORALS: Debbie Pence, Fluttering Flowers, Virginia Beach TRANSPORTATION: Sand Shark Limos, Virginia Beach DESSERT: Incredible Edibles, Virginia Beach CATERING: Chef by Design, Norfolk DJ: Astro Entertainment, Doc Pari, DJ Roger, Virginia Beach

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Grace Ann & Chris

There’s no place like home.

October 24, 2021   Ceremony: Hillcroft (private home), Fieldale

Reception: Historic Bassett Train Station, Bassett

GRACE ANN AND CHRIS CRIMMINS

bring new meaning to the phrase “home is where the heart is.” The bride always envisioned a wedding at her childhood home. Her grandfather built the gazebo that served as the backdrop for the Crimmins’ nuptials. Faced with postponing their wedding, the couple chose the same date, exactly one year later. They tied the knot on October 24, 2021, as the date aligned with the street number of the family home, 1024. Their celebration flowed to a reception at the historic Bassett Train Station, with garden-inspired details throughout. “We wanted our wedding day to represent us,” says Grace Ann. “And there is nothing more ‘us’ than enjoying a beautiful day under a sunny and clear Virginia sky with all of our family and friends close by.” —by C.S.

He Said, She Said

Engagement: private or elaborate?

Private. It was early morning at Rooster Walk Music Festival with friends and family waiting nearby.

Wedding planner or DIY?

DIY by my mother and me, with an event coordinator.

First look, yay or nay?

Yes! It was the only moment during the day that it was just the two of us.

Smart skimp?

We were married at the historical home the bride grew up in.

Bright idea?

Sprayed Champagne during our exit—the pictures are one of a kind!

First dance?

‘Take Me First’ by Yarn. Grace Ann’s mom surprised us with them performing live at our rehearsal dinner afterparty. Truly the best surprise of our lives.

Wardrobe change?

Nope! How often do you get to wear a wedding gown?

The Details

PHOTOGRAPHY: Corrin Jasinski Photography

EVENT COORDINATOR: Julie Wells, Martinsville

BAND: TFC Band, Virginia Beach CATERING: 1618

On Location, Greensboro, NC FLORALS: Simply the Best by Sharon Martin, Martinsville HAIR

Grace Ann wore her grandmother’s yellow flower pin as her “something borrowed.”

AND MAKEUP: I Do Style, Stokesdale, NC

RENTALS: Prettiest Pieces, Greensboro, NC

Morgan & Corey

An epic party at Capital One Hall.

May 28, 2022   Ceremony: Capital One Hall, Tysons Reception: The Watermark Hotel, Tysons

POPS OF PINK, showstopping florals, and a sparkling new venue marked Morgan and Corey Edson’s wedding day, the first-ever held at Capital One Hall and the nearby Watermark Hotel. “From the food and drinks, to the rooms our guests got to stay in, our wedding was a dream,” says Morgan. The couple threw an epic party to celebrate their new life together, one they’d been growing towards since they started dating nearly nine years ago. A classic black and white color scheme for the ceremony was accented with bold roses and lush greenery. The bride and groom did a dual wardrobe change into hot pink party clothes for the reception. “It was the most joyous day, filled with love, laughter, and, of course, lots of dancing,” says Morgan. —by V.P.

The Details

He Said, She Said

How did you meet?

Our freshman year at Virginia Tech.

Engagement: private or elaborate?

Both, it was just the two of us, but Corey proposed in front of the Lincoln Memorial on his birthday!

Wedding planner or DIY?

Both, my parents helped do a lot of the planning, but we used Etc. Coordinators for day-of.

First look, yay or nay?

Yes! It was such a perfect moment just the two of us before the ceremony!

Favorite splurge?

Photography and flowers!

DJ or live band?

DJ! Everyone was on the dance floor the whole night.

First dance?

“How Long Will I Love You” by Ellie Goulding.

Wardrobe change?

Yes! For our after party, we both wore hot pink!

Honeymoon or staycation?

Bora Bora.

PHOTOGRAPHY: Jessica Nazarova Photography

PLANNER: Etc. Coordinators, Leesburg

DJ: Zandi Entertainment, Leesburg FLORALS: The Rosy Posy, Manassas VIDEOGRAPHY: Dream Wedding Films, Chattanooga, TN

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AMBASSADOR LIMOUSINE

Charlottesville’s Premier Transportation Service Wedding Transportation

434-973-5466

CINDY’S CAKERY

Serving Williamsburg, Gloucester, Mathews, Northern Neck, New Kent and the Peninsula Areas Custom Wedding Cakes 7928 Laura Ann Lane, Hayes, VA 23072 757-377-0997 • CindysCakery.com

CRADDOCK TERRY HOTEL & EVENT CENTER

A TRIBUTE PORTFOLIO HOTEL

Make Your Dream Wedding a Reality VENUE: Hotels & Resorts 1312 Commerce Street, Lynchburg, VA 24504 434-455-1500 • CraddockTerryHotel.com

CREATIVE ENTERTAINMENT

Creative solutions for your entertainment needs! Services: DJs, Ceremony Music (bands, etc.), Photo Booths sales@creativeentertainmentva.com

@CreativeEntertainmentVa on Facebook 540-354-3598 • CreativeEntertainmentVa.com

COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG RESORT

Intimate to Elaborate — and Everything in Between Virginia Honeymoon Destinations

HOGBACK MOUNTAIN BBQ

Catering in Lexington, Virginia and beyond!

FOOD: Catering Fairfield, Virginia • info@hogbackmountainbbq.com 540-348-3123 • HogbackMountainBBQ.com

JAMES LIMOUSINE

Driven To Serve Limousine Service

Central Virginia 804-273-1540 • JamesLimousine.com

JEFF'S FLOWERS

Hampton Roads' Local Florist Since 1993 VENDOR: Florist

300 Ed Wright Lane, Newport News, VA 23606 757-827-5333 • JeffsFlowers.com

JOY & COMPANY WEDDINGS AND EVENTS

When you want the best and know the difference Wedding & Event Planner

RIVERSIDE ON THE POTOMAC

Unique. Exceptional. Riverside.

Historic, Elegant and Rustic, Estate and Barn. 44337 Spinks Ferry Rd., Leesburg, VA 20176 571-528-1065 • RiversideOnThePotomac.com

ROBERTS & CO. EVENTS

We pride ourselves on treating each client like family, tackling the challenges and excitement of their event with a fresh perspective and stress free attitude Richmond & DC • tabitha@robertseventplanning.com 804-564-4459 • RobertsAndCoEvents.com

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SAUD

E CREEK VINEYARDS

Enjoy a variety of venue options for your very special day. Venue: Vineyards

16230 Cooks Mill Road, Lanexa, VA 23089 804-966-5896 • SaudeCreek.com

THE SESSIONS HOTEL

A TRIBUTE PORTFOLIO HOTEL

Destination Weddings in the Heart of Bristol

• AmbassadorLimos.com

AGNIHOTRI COSMETIC FACIAL SURGERY

Flawless wedding makeup starts with healty skin BEAUTY: Cosmetic Procedures

130 Towne Center W. Blvd., Henrico, VA 23233 804-270-5028

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ATHENAEUM

Contemporary Art | Iconic Architecture | Authentic Alexandria Venues: Events/Gallery

201 Prince Street, Alexandria, VA 22314 703-548-0035 • rentals@nvfaa.org • nvfaa.org

ATOKA STRING QUARTET

Virginia Hunt Country’s Premier String Ensemble Ceremony Musicians P.O. Box 432 Upperville, VA 20185 703-853-5899 • AtokaStringQuartet.com

BLUE CUT MEDIA

"Honestly felt like a best friend..." SERVICE: DJ Serving Central Virginia and beyond 570-916-1086 • BlueCutMedia.com bluecutmedianow@gmail.com • IG: @bluecutmedia

BRIAR PATCH BED & BREAKFAST INN

Historic charm in D.C.’s Wine Country Venues: Barns and Farms 23130 Briar Patch Lane, Middleburg, VA 20117 703-327-5911

• BriarPatchBandB.com

CARILION CLINIC COSMETIC CENTER

Discover the best version of yourself. BEAUTY: Cosmetic Surgery 2107 Rosalind Avenue, Roanoke, VA 24014 540-853-0510

• CarilionCosmetic.com

CARRERAS JEWELERS

As a purveyor of designer and estate fine jewelry for over 50 years, we’re committed to providing honest, knowledgeable, and unparalleled service. 121 Libbie Avenue Richmond, VA 23226 804-282-7018

• CarrerasJewelers.com

C.H.E.F.S. CATERING

Creative Hospitality Events From Stoneridge

FOOD: Catering Lexington, Virginia 540-462-7182 • StoneridgeCatering.com

Historic Colonial Williamsburg, VA 23185 855-231-7240 • ColonialWilliamsburgHotels.com

DOVER HALL

A Luxury Wedding and Event Venue

VENUE: Grand Gatherings (200+ Guests)

1500 Manakin Road, Manakin-Sabot, VA 23103 804-784-6051 • doverhall.com • jeff@doverhall.com

EAGLEVIEW EVENT CENTER

Rustic Elegance In The Heart Of The Blue Ridge Mountains Wedding Barn & Event Venue 639 Wagon Wheel Rd., Elk Creek, VA 24326 276-768-8511 • EagleviewEvents.com

EDITH J. CARRIER ARBORETUM

a woodland sanctuary

Venues: Gardens 780 University Blvd, Harrisonburg, VA 22807 540-568-3194 • jmu.edu/arboretum

FINK’S JEWELERS

Since 1930. Trusted for generations. SERVICE: Jeweler

Multiple Locations Statewide 540-344-8697 • Finks.com

THE GEORGES

Lexington’s premier address for private events

Venues for Weddings, Receptions, Rehersal Dinners, Wedding Luncheons, Showers, and Wedding Welcome Parties 11 North Main St., Lexington, VA 24450 540-463-2500 • TheGeorges.com

THE GLOBE

Hampton Roads’ Finest Bridal Registry

VENUE: Gift Store/Wedding Registry

Hilltop North Shopping Center, Virginia Beach 757-422-3313 • TheGlobe.myshoplocal.com

HAHN HORTICULTURE GARDEN

Create your dream wedding in our beautiful garden

Venues: Gardens and Plantations

200 Garden Lane, Blacksburg, VA 24061 540-231-5970

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HISTORIC TUCKAHOE

A National Historic Landmark

Venues: Plantation and Gardens 12601 River Road Richmond, VA 23238 804-971-8329

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448 Cummings Street, Abingdon, VA 24210 charlotte@joyandcompany.com 276-623-6188 • JoyAndCompany.com

MELODIOUS STRINGS QUARTET & PROFESSIONAL ENSEMBLES Ceremony Musicians Shenandoah Valley, Northern VA, Washington D.C., & Richmond Regions harrisonburgstrings@gmail.com • melodiousstrings.com

MICHELLE AMARILLO EVENT PLANNING

Event Planning + Design for Coastal Virginia and Beyond Wedding and Event Planning Hampton Roads 757-619-2446 • MichelleAmarillo.com

THE MIMSLYN INN

Vintage Southern Hospitality VENUE: Hotels

401 W. Main Street, Luray, VA 22835 540-743-5105 • MimslynInn.com

MOUNTAIN LAKE LODGE

Creating memories for families, romantics and adventurers Venues: Barns and Farm 115 Hotel Circle, Pembroke, VA 24136 540-626-7121 • MountainLakeLodge.com

THE OMNI HOMESTEAD RESORT

Combining Southern charm and service in an iconic resort setting Venues: Hotels & Resorts 7696 Sam Snead Highway, Hot Springs, VA 24445 800-838-1766 • OmniHotels.com/TheHomestead.com

THE ONE BRIDAL SALON

You’ve Found The One, Now Find The One SERVICE: Wedding Dresses & Accesories 603 W. Main St. Charlottesville, VA 22903 434-284-5464 • TheOneBridalSalon.com

THE OSPREY’S AT BELMONT BAY

The Perfect Place To Say I Do VENUE: Bridal Showers, and Budget Friendly Ceremonies 401 Belmont Bay Dr., Woodbridge, VA 22191 703-497-1384 • OspreysGolf.com

VENUES: Hotels & Resorts, Honeymoon Destinations 833 State Street, Bristol, VA 24201 276-285-5040 • SessionsHotel.com

SINKLAND FARMS

Our Farm, Your Dream Wedding VENUES: Intimate Celebrations

3020 Riner Rd., Christianburg, VA 24073 540-382-4647 • SinklandFarms.com

STONELEIGH

AN HISTORICAL COUNTRY ESTATE

A tudor revival mansion nestled in the Virginia foothills Wedding & Event Venue 276-732-2784 375 Edgewood Drive, Stanleytown, VA 24168 stoneleigh-estate-historical-country-estate.business.site

TASTE Catering & Events

Coastal Virginia’s premier full-service caterer for custom innovative menus, impeccable service and exquisite event design for more than 40 years.

1391 Air Rail Ave., Virginia Beach, VA 23455 757-425-3011 • TasteCateringVA.com

SALAMANDER RESORT & SPA

A timeless destination, located in historic Middleburg, Virginia Wedding & Event Venue 500 N. Pendleton St., Middleburg, VA 20117 540-751-3160 • SalamanderResort.com

SCENTS

STEPHANIE WHITEHILL PHOTOGRAPHY

ZOYA’S ATELIER

Where New York style meets London attitude Bridal and Evening Wear 260 W. Broad St., Falls Church, VA 22046 info@zoyasatelier.com 703-533-9600 • ZoyasAtelier.com

Liz & Stephen

A story to build on.

LIZ AND STEPHEN CATHCART wanted a wedding venue with a history as interesting as their own. The pair’s unconventional backstory was a perfect fit for the Blackburn Inn, which was once a hospital, then a prison, before transforming into the beautiful hotel that it is today. “We were roommates before dating and dog parents and co-homeowners before being engaged,” says Liz. “But it was perfect for us—a unique story to build our lives on.” The couple worked with the Inn to create a modern atmosphere with sophisticated nods to the historic setting, using primarily white décor with gold and royal blue accents and white calla lilies. Each bridesmaid wore a different floral dress, chosen to suit their personality and style. “One guest told us he ‘didn’t know two people could smile so much in one day,’” adds Liz. “That perfectly describes how we felt, surrounded by our nearest and dearest.” —by V.P.

He Said, She Said

How did you meet?

Became roommates in a group house with young professionals in Washington, D.C.

Engagement: private or elaborate?

Private. Steve proposed in the house we bought together the month before. Private, intimate, and in line with starting our life together!

Wedding planner or DIY?

DIY! We had a coordinator the day of the wedding, but we had a particular vision that we were happy to DIY to life.

First look, yay or nay?

Yes, and a private vow ceremony! This was one of (if not THE) best part of the wedding.

Favorite splurge?

Late night dance party with drinks flowing and fried chicken sliders!

Smart skimp?

Creating our own florals for the rehearsal dinner and welcome event.

Bright idea?

Stocked welcome bags with beers from Staunton’s Skipping Rock Beer Co. to get the party started.

DJ or live band?

DJ. We have a group that loves dancing. Having a big variety of music from the start to end of the night was important to us!

First dance?

“I’m with You” by Vance Joy.

Wardrobe change?

Had one in the back room—but I didn’t end up changing because I didn’t want to take any time away from the party.

Honeymoon or staycation?

Mini-moon: Riviera Maya, Mexico. Honeymoon: Vietnam.

The Details

PHOTOGRAPHY:

FLORALS: The Faded Poppy, Waynesboro

VIOLINIST: Justina Hodgson, Staunton HAIR AND

MAKEUP: Locks and Lashes, Lynchburg BRIDE’S

ATTIRE: Ellie’s Bridal, Alexandria ENTERTAINMENT: Olivera Music Entertainment, Ashburn

June 4, 2022   The Blackburn Inn and Conference Center, Staunton

Stephanie Whitehill Photography

The happy couple with their dog, Tucker.

A Valentine for Henry Kissinger

By PATRICK EVANS-HYLTON | Illustration by JAMES OSES

IN FEBRUARY, WHEN CONVERSATION HEARTS begin showing up on store shelves and long-stemmed roses fill flower shop windows, my thoughts turn to President Nixon’s Secretary of State.

Henry Kissinger entered my life in 1971, when I was just seven. I was visiting my aunt in Washington, D.C., touring its museums and monuments during a hazy, humid summer that included a now-fateful lunch at a small restaurant in Chinatown.

Young and glamorous, Brenda was a United Airlines stewardess during the waning golden years of aviation, when people still dressed up to fly. Although she was 16 years older, we’d grown up together, raised by my grandparents, and we considered ourselves siblings. From her trips, she’d send trinkets from Rio, Athens, or Rome.

She’d begun her airline career in 1967, during the Summer of Love. Based in San Francisco, its epicenter, she’d send psychedelic postcards, enthralling me with tales of Jefferson Airplane concerts and, once, of serving drinks to Janis Joplin, who was seated in first class on one of her flights.

Swept up in the spirit, I wore love beads and pinned a peace sign button to the tiny fringe vest I wore to school. Our teacher played Three Dog Night’s “Joy to the World,” and The Fifth Dimension’s “Age of Aquarius” in class. On the way home, in carpool, I’d hum, Life I love you, all is groovy, from the Simon & Garfunkel hit, “Feelin’ Groovy.”

On that hot June day, over sweet and sour shrimp, a friend of Brenda’s stopped into the D.C. restaurant to pick up lunch for her boss, Henry Kissinger. Like every kid, I loved watching The Mod Squad and The Partridge Family, but Walter Cronkite held a special place in my heart. A budding news junkie, I knew Kissinger’s dark wavy hair, thick glasses, and ponderous,

heavily-accented voice from Cronkite’s nightly newscasts.

At the drop of his name, I pricked up my ears. This was my Kissinger. Looking back on the meal that inspired my 30-year culinary career, I only wish I’d noted his lunch order.

The next day we received a phone call from Kissinger’s office.

Arrangements had been made for a private White House tour. On it, Brenda and I caught a brief glimpse of Nixon. The president’s suit was gray; mine was blue.

For the rest of that summer, I watched for signs of the peace and love trains I knew were coming. By Christmas, when Coca-Cola wanted to teach the world to sing, the sentiment shored up my waning hope.

Two months later, I twirled a fat pencil in my hand as I addressed my dime-store Valentine’s Day cards. The holiday finds its purest expression in children. Our valentines were sent with platonic sincerity to anyone who’d won our affection.

That year, in addition to my teacher and classmates, I added one more card to my valentine list.

I’d noticed, in news appearances, Henry Kissinger looking particularly exhausted. And I remembered his kindness in arranging our White House tour. If anyone needed a valentine in February 1972, it was Kissinger—a man facing the turbulence of an unwinnable war.

Rather than the flimsy boxed cards I’d sent to classmates, I made a special construction paper valentine for Dr. Kissinger. I drew a crayon portrait of him sitting at his desk, buried in paperwork and, under it, I wrote: “I hope you aren’t too busy to be my valentine. Love, Patrick.”

A few weeks later, an envelope emblazoned with an official seal arrived in our mailbox.

“Young man,” Kissinger wrote, before thanking me for the card and sharing that my valentine was now proudly displayed in his office. (I wonder if Nixon was jealous?) Then, he let slip a poignant truth:

“This may be one of the only valentine cards I get this year.”

Even as a child, the pathos of this line did not escape me. My valentine had landed where it was needed most.

Ever since then, on Valentine’s Day, I think of Henry Kissinger. He reminds me that the holiday is not always about romance. Sometimes, the simple act of mailing a valentine is more about connection. And, like the rest of us, people of great importance— even those whose envelopes bear official seals—appreciate knowing that someone, even a small child, is thinking of them.

Patrick Evans-Hylton is the author of Virginia Distilled: Four Centuries of Drinking in the Old Dominion . A Johnson & Wales-trained chef and award-winning food journalist, he covers culinary trends at VirginiaEatsAndDrinks.com .

If anyone needed a love note in 1972, he did.

Like the rest of us, people of great importance appreciate knowing that someone is keeping them in mind on Valentine’s Day.

Find Your Hidden Oasis

Escape to cascading waterfalls, explore secluded woodland groves, and trek to panoramic mountain views. Harrisonburg, VA is your basecamp for adventure.