The August issue of Virginia Living explores “America’s first river,” the James, its renaissance and the responsibility we have to it. Also, travel back to pre-Revolutionary Virginia and learn of the secret love George Washington shared with Sally Cary Fairfax. Taste the best of Williamsburg, and bask in the light that infuses Lavender Hill, a Fauquier County estate designed by its owner, a noted architect. Step into the hog-wild world of competition barbeque, side-by-side with Tuffy Stone, leader of the nationwide team of the year. Take yourself out to a small-town, Shenandoah Valley ballgame where future major-leaguers prove themselves, and swing through Bedford to remember the soldiers we lost on D-Day and check out the up-and-coming town. Or fashion feature gives a nod to Virginia’s heyday as a tobacco giant. All this in more in the August Virginia Living.
George Washington would not have become the man he was without the help of Sally Fairfax. She mentored the young Washington and fired his ambition, and the two by all accounts shared a hidden—forbidden—love.more
After years of working abroad, architect Errol Adels dreamed of settling in a country house. He considered Provence but ultimately built a “contemporary version of a neolassical building” amid the rolling hills of Fauquier County.more
Barbara Holland is a feisty author with a soft heart for drinking, cursing and renegade women. Just don't ask her about living in Bluemont or her next book project.more
Within earshot of fife and drum, Christina Ball samples the fare at two of Williamsburg's most popular eateries. "Oh, for a bowl of fat canary, rich Palermo, sparkling sherry..."more
A succession of families has gotten their hands dirty at Oak Hill Farm, the estate of James Monroe, but it fell to the current owners to turn 3.5 acres of sprawling potential into a showplace.more
Bedford has a National D-Day Memorial and big dreams for becoming a tourist destination. As one resident says, " We do like to see folks come and see how we live."more
You can paddle, swim or even spend days traveling the James. For different people, on different stretches of the waterway, it is a different river - and that variety and unpredictability is the essence of its appeal.more
If you could peek into Dustin Hoffman’s backyard, you might see furniture made by the Richmond firm McKinnon and Harris, whose products are both functional and inspired. (Originally published in the August 2008 Issue)more
