What We Love: Land

The Noland Trail

Run it. Walk it. Or amble through the woods and listen to the birds. The five-mile Noland Trail in Newport News turns 13 this year and not even Hurricane Isabel can keep it down for long. Volunteers have been working hard to move debris so they and others can again lace up their hiking boots. ~K.H.Q.

Azar’s

Exotic hummus. Delicious dolmas. Tabouli. Couscous. What isn’t there to love about Azar’s? Outstanding Mediterranean foods that are like a vacation in each bite. Dine in. Take out. Pick some up. Any way we can get it, we love it. Cafes/markets found in Virginia Beach, Norfolk and retail at area grocery stores. ~P.E.H.

Busch Gardens

First-time visitors often stop suddenly to gawk at the colorful flowers. This is a clean, well-lighted place—your feet won’t stick to the concrete here. But don’t forget the rides after you’ve stopped to sniff the roses. Apollo’s Chariot is one of the best roller coasters around. No problems with geese lately, either. ~K.H.Q.

Sugar Plum Bakery

Glass cases filled with rows of delicious, fresh-baked pastries, cookies, cakes. Service with a smile. Reasonable prices. Enough reasons to love Virginia Beach’s Sugar Plum Bakery, but another reason we love them is their work with adults with profound disabilities. Truly a special place.~P.E.H.

Wareing’s Gym

Wareing’s Gym has been a beloved Beach institution for 44 years. Founded by the late John Wareing, a strongman, TV personality and raconteur, the gym thrives today under the leadership of sons Mike, Tony, and Jack. ~A.W.

Williamsburg Winery

The colonists had a good idea. The Twelfth Acte of 1619 required settlers to plant grape vines for winemaking. Thank goodness, one place—Williamsburg Winery—still follows the edict. ~P.E.H.

Yorktown

Gaze across the York River and then close your eyes and look back in time. British troops were trapped by a French blockade on the water and the upstart Americans on the land. This is where the battle for freedom was really won. Just like Jamestown, there are two sites. It’s also a great place for flying kites, riding bikes and romping over hills. ~K.H.Q.

Lee Hall

Civil War reenactors and relic hunters often take this exit off I-64 just west of Newport News, but this area has appealed to hunters for thousands of years. Those hunting only for a good time may like the Lee Hall tour that includes Endview, Lee Hall Mansion and a meal at the Boxwood Inn. Hoop skirts optional. ~K.H.Q.

Jamestown

In 1607, the English barely kept one Jamestown settlement going. Now there are two. We love the state-run site because it has an Indian village, an English settlement and replicas of the three ships. The federal Jamestowne is on the original site and offers glass-blowing, artifacts and a scenic trail. Plus we love that ‘e’ the feds tacked on the end to remind us it’s old. ~K.H.Q.

Colonial Williamsburg

John D. Rockefeller, Jr. commenced the ambitious restoration of Virginia’s colonial capital in 1926. Sleepy little Williamsburg was the only city that was closely associated with the birth of our nation and had remained essentially unchanged. It was an unopened time capsule of the defining moment in American history. Colonial Williamsburg has saved any number of nearly obsolete trades from extinction. From the beginning, the Historic Area had need of millers, coopers, wheelwrights,harness makers and blacksmiths. They plied their trades in front of the visitors who began flocking to Williamsburg in the 1930s and crafted reproductions needed for the exhibition buildings. Colonial Williamsburg has been at the forefront in making history come alive. It has been a leader in its examination of the role of slaves, indentured servants, freemen and others frequently overlooked in history books. Costumed interpreters become so thoroughly immersed in their 18th-century characters that they can discourse at length about the smallest details of daily life 200 years ago. ~A.W.

The Dismal Swamp

Both alluring and foreboding, what we love about the Dismal Swamp includes the ancient cypress trees, the still, black water and the mystical aura of the place. But we also love the fact that so many world-famous writers have drawn on the swamp for inspiration. Visiting an associate in Norfolk in 1803, Irish poet Sir Thomas Moore visited the swamp and was so inspired he wrote “A Ballad—The Lake of Dismal Swamp,” making the swamp world famous. After hearing about the swamp as a haven for runaway slaves, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow penned “The Slave in Dismal Swamp” in 1842. From that poem, and based loosely on the Nat Turner Rebellion, Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a sequel to Uncle Tom’s Cabin in her 1856 novel, Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp. The end? Nevermore. According to the Norfolk District of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, Edgar Allen Poe was inspired to write “The Raven” while staying at the Halfway House Hotel, which once sat in the middle of the swamp, straddling the Virginia and North Carolina border. James Adams’ Floating Theatre once traversed the canals of the swamp, where, also according to the Corps, Edna Ferber got the idea to write the novel Showboat, upon which the famous musical was based. And in 1894, a young poet named Robert Frost, heart broken over a jilted lover and criticism of his work, took a steamer from New York to Norfolk and walked into the swamp hoping for death, or at least serious injury. He wandered around for hours, left unscathed, pulled himself up by his bootstraps, and went on to become one of American’s most famous bards. No one knows whether he found the woods of the Great Dismal Swamp to be lovely, dark and deep. ~P.E.H.

The College of William & Mary

“College” is a bit of a misnomer for this small “Public Ivy” university. The second oldest educational institution in the U.S., William & Mary was founded in 1693 and attended by four U.S. presidents, including George Washington (who also served as Chancellor). This lovely, pedigreed school near Colonial Williamsburg has enjoyed the service of a succession of august Chancellors including former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and, currently, former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger. ~B.D.

Historic Garden Week

Since 1929, Historic Garden Week has raised millions to preserve historic gardens in the Old Dominion. Local projects made possible by Garden Week grants include gardens at the Moses Myers House, the Adam Thoroughgood House, Portsmouth’s 1846 Courthouse, Bruton Parish Churchyard, Bacon’s Castle and Lee Hall. This year’s tour is scheduled for April 17-25. ~A.W.

Japanese Garden

Like all traditional Japanese gardens, the one at Norfolk Botanical Garden is a carefully constructed microcosm of the natural world, in which the designer’s command of scale, perspective and materials creates a convincing landscape in miniature, at once rugged and manicured. Stone, wood, water and plant materials native to Japan combine with manmade elements like a footbridge, a koi-stocked pond and a large stone lantern to form a tranquil space, rife with symbolism. Created in 1962 to honor Norfolk’s sister city, Kitakyushu (formerly Moji), the Japanese garden was renovated in 1995 and continues to thrive along with over 20 other theme gardens in the 155-acre Norfolk Botanical Garden ~B.D.

North American Sand Sculpting Championship

For three days in September, the oceanfront topography between 5th and 10th streets morphs dramatically. Three hundred international competitors transform the flat beach into an outdoor gallery of figurative sculptures and architectural replicas with themes from the lighthearted “Hillbilly Hoedown,” to the poignant “Brothers Stick Together.” ~B.D.

Tidewater Community College

With campuses in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach, TCC is the second largest of the 23 community colleges in Virginia. And it is still growing, as evidenced by the 2003 dedicationof the Advanced Technology Center on the Virginia Beach campus and plans to create a new 40-acre campus in Portsmouth. ~B.D.

First Landing State Park

It’s superb in winter, when you can hike the forested dunes past dark lagoons, spotting the sparkling water of Broad Bay through bare branches. Sheltered from the wind and cold among tall cypresses and live oaks, temperatures are about ten degrees warmer than the nearest street. There are no bugs, few people, flat paths or hilly—a primeval paradise. Runners love its soft, flat paths. Hikers can explore the rare maritime forest on 19 miles of well-marked trails. Bikers can go from ocean to bay along an old Indian path through salt marshes and swampy, tea-colored tannin bogs. Enthusiastic volunteer interpreters offer morning botany walks and sunset ecology tours, along withnight hikes, birding, and campfires in the summer. The park is the northernmost point for southern plants and the southernmost point for northern plants—14 distinct biological communities, brimming with picturesque Spanish moss and bald cypress knees. Six hundred separate species of plants live here. Even locals like to reserve one of the 222 campsites along the Chesapeake Bay, the most popular camp in the state by far with 1.6 million visitors last year (not to mention those who slipin for a daily walk). Did you know there are 20 two-bedroom cabins tucked into the hilly woods on the trail side of the park? You can fish, picnic, kayak or launch a boat from the Narrows at the end of 64th Street. As often as I go, I always feel safe and nurtured, cradled in piney dunes thatlook the way they must have to the expedition of three ships led by Christopher Newport on April 26, 1607, destined to establish the first permanent English colony in America. ~J.M.H.