Feb 7th, 2012 at 10:00AM: What's the hardest part about living in a dorm room designed by one America's founding fathers in the early part of the 19th century? Braving the elements when nature calls in the middle of the night.
"But guys have it easier," says Anne Allen, a fourth year student at the University of Virginia (UVA), who lives on The Lawn in Thomas Jefferson's Academical Village at the University of Virginia, ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
virginia posts
Jeffersonian dorm rooms in Charlottesville
Feb 7th, 2012 at 10:00AM: What's the hardest part about living in a dorm room designed by one America's founding fathers in the early part of the 19th century? Braving the elements when nature calls in the middle of the night.
"But guys have it easier," says Anne Allen, a fourth year student at the University of Virginia (UVA), who lives on The Lawn in Thomas Jefferson's Academical Village at the University of Virginia, ...Richmond: America's most underrated city?
Jan 24th, 2012 at 10:00AM: As the former capitol of the Confederacy, Richmond has long been one of the premier destinations in the country for Civil War geeks. But as I discovered on two recent visits, it's also a young, vibrant city with architecture treasures, stunning parks, walkable neighborhoods, great food and perhaps the most elegant vintage cinema in the country.
For Yanks looking for a quick taste of old Dixie, ...Norfolk, Virginia: Thanks to PETA, it's the next best destination for vegetarians
Jan 14th, 2012 at 4:00PM:
It seems likely that the site of the world's largest Naval would be a place where meat monopolizes the menu. But in Norfolk, Virginia that's simply not the case. The small city has truly embraced vegetarianism (and veganism as well), with nearly all of the restaurants featuring an ample list of veg-friendly options-plus plenty of places that cater solely to the meat-free crowd.
...Six new Virginia tourist attractions to visit in 2012
Dec 15th, 2011 at 9:00AM:
Demonstrations by skilled artisans, Civil War attractions, an amazing new treehouse, and a historic home that will make you feel (or at least sing) "crazy;" visitors to Virginia in 2012 will find several new vacation experiences. Throughout the next year, here are some of the new reasons to travel to the state.
Heartwood
Abingdon, Virginia
Billed as "Southwest Virginia's Artisan ...Virginia hosts '100 Miles of Lights' this holiday season
Nov 18th, 2011 at 2:00PM:
It might not even be Thanksgiving yet, but holiday travel planning is well underway. If you're looking to be razzle dazzled this holiday season, the state of Virginia offers a festival of lights that has been bringing visitors back year after year. The 100 Miles of Lights celebration is a series of world-class light displays spread across six cities: Richmond, Williamsburg, Newport News, ...President Obama creates new national park
Nov 2nd, 2011 at 8:00AM: President Obama created a new national park yesterday when he invoked the Antiquities Act for the first time in his presidency. The Commander in Chief used his executive powers to designate Fort Monroe, located in Hampton, Virginia, as a national monument, thereby adding it to America's National Park System.
The region has a long and storied history, that dates back to the early 1600's when ...Serial public art around the world
Oct 17th, 2011 at 4:30PM:
Public art exhibitions featuring a common sculpture that is multiplied and then embellished by various artists have been popping up in cities worldwide since 1998. Artistic director Walter Knapp first came up with the idea and convinced artists to dot Zurich, Switzerland with a collection of artfully-decorated lions. Within a year, Chicago businessman Peter Hanig had taken the idea and ran ...National Slavery Museum goes bankrupt without ever opening
Sep 23rd, 2011 at 3:00PM: The National Slavery Museum in Fredericksburg, Virginia, has filed for bankruptcy.
This will make little difference to potential visitors, however, since the museum doesn't actually exist.
Former Virginia governor Douglas Wilder, shown here in this U.S. Government photo, founded a nonprofit organization in 2001 to create the museum. It was supposed to open in 2004 but never did. A small ...Busch Gardens Williamsburg announces Verbolten for 2012
Sep 20th, 2011 at 1:00PM:
Last weekend, Busch Gardens Williamsburg confirmed their new 2012 roller coaster Verbolten. The multi-launch steel roller coaster will be built on the former site of the Big Bad Wolf. And, like that classic coaster, Verbolten will use the park's beautiful and hilly terrain. During its 2,835-foot course, the ride will dive to the Rhine River. The Zierer-designed roller coaster will include two ...The 5 ugliest states in the country
Aug 17th, 2011 at 2:00PM: They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. San Francisco Examiner writer and occasional Gadling contributor Bob Ecker doesn't behold much, at least for a few unlucky states. Ecker previously named the prettiest US states including coastal California, exotic Hawaii, diverse New York, historic Virginia, and verdant Washington. He's now determined the unfortunate ugliest states, measured by ...Civil War graffiti covers this Virginia home
Jun 19th, 2011 at 9:00AM:
Graffiti is now a fairly common part of our culture's dialogue, but did you know soldiers in the Civil War also tagged, doodled, and conversed with one another on walls? Inside a two-story home in Virginia, historians are slowly uncovering one of the largest collections of Civil War graffiti that has ever been found.
Now known as the 'Graffiti House,' the home served as a field hospital for ...Shenandoah National Park celebrates 75 years
Jun 14th, 2011 at 10:00AM:
I'm currently sitting in a rocking chair in Big Meadows Lodge at Shenandoah National Park listening to a young man talk about his day to what I presume to be his girlfriend back home. "We just spent two hours laying in the grass," he says, adding "it felt good to just be really, ridiculously lazy." I don't know who this guy is or where he is from, but I think many of us can relate to his ...Civil War anniversary: first escaped slave to take up arms against Confederacy
Jun 10th, 2011 at 2:00PM: As the nation commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Civil War over the next four years, there'll be a lot of mentions of "firsts". Here at Gadling we've already covered first land battle of the Civil War and the first significant battle of the Civil War. One lesser-known but significant anniversary is happening today.
By June of 1861 there had been very little fighting. Both sides were ...Civil War's first land battle to be reenacted in West Virginia
Jun 3rd, 2011 at 9:00AM: Today is the 150th anniversary of the first land battle of the Civil War.
After the April 12 attack on Fort Sumter kicked off the Civil War, there was a lull while both sides got ready. Some scattered skirmishes took place that had few casualties and no importance, but on 3 June 1861, the town of Philippi, in what's now West Virginia, became the scene for the first big fight.
Philippi stood ...Robert E. Lee's sword to go on display at Appomattox
May 12th, 2011 at 10:00AM: On 9 April 1865, Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant met at Appomattox, Virginia, so that Lee could surrender his Army of Northern Virginia.
This momentous event effectively ended the American Civil War. With Lee and his army gone, the Confederate cause lost hope. General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered the Army of Tennessee on April 26, and in Louisiana General Kirby Smith surrendered his ...Mobile farmers markets: the next "big thing" in food trucks?
Apr 25th, 2011 at 5:30PM: 2010 was the Year of the Food Truck, with cities from Seattle and San Francisco to D.C. taking it to the streets, literally. While street food and taco trucks have long been a part of U.S. culture in places like New York, Los Angeles, and Oakland, health regulations have historically made it considerably more difficult in other parts of the country. Eatocracy reports that Atlanta--despite its ...Three simple reasons why Palo Alto, California is like Reston, Virginia
Mar 17th, 2011 at 1:00PM: Business travel often takes you to places you normally wouldn't visit. I'd never plan a vacation to Peapack, New Jersey, for example, and London, Ontario is another that surely won't make anyone's "bucket list." The upside, however, is that you get to see places you'd never visit otherwise. And, you remember that "off the beaten path" – the goal very committed traveler – isn't ...Delta airlines puts elderly woman on wrong flight due to boarding pass mix-up
Feb 23rd, 2011 at 1:00PM: In a Top 10 of phone calls you probably don't want to receive from an airport official: "Your grandmother was found in baggage claim."
Eighty-year-old Nefissa Yesuf's Sunday Atlanta to Dulles flight didn't go quite as planned. CNN reports that airline and airport staff failed to notice that a Delta employee had allegedly given her someone else's boarding pass by mistake. Yesuf, who is from ...Nation gears up for Civil War sesquicentennial: reenactments, exhibitions mark the 150th anniversary of America's bloodiest conflict
Feb 17th, 2011 at 10:30AM: A hundred and fifty years ago, the United States descended into a bloody Civil War. Young men on both sides eagerly signed up for what they thought would be a short and glorious conflict. A typical example is this private from the Fourth Michigan Infantry, pictured here courtesy of the Library of Congress. He poses, way too young and unconvincingly cocky, in the early days of the war in 1861. It's ...A Day's Hike In West Virginia
Feb 3rd, 2011 at 10:45PM:
A grey dawn greets us; a stark, monochromatic world is waiting for us as we wake, languid and mottled, and emerge from our tents. The night's mist and rain lies heavy in the air around us, on our tents, heavy on our souls. We are pilgrims setting foot on sacred land, a group of cowering vagrants, little more than ants to some sort of greater power that lurks in the mountains opposite our camp. ...
