Feature Articles

Native American heritage and folklore just waiting for visitors to explore

compiled by Lisa Hinton-Valdrighi - (For more pictures and info on this article, check out our online edition on the Rivah Visitor's Guide.) A simple glance at a map of the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula reveals dozens of place names with a nod to our area’s Native American heritage. Many...

S.A. Cosby: using tales of crime and Southern grit to explore the rural South’s darker history

by Jackie Nunnery - Some call it Grit Lit or Southern Noir, others call it just a plain good read. But whatever you call it, Gloucester writer Sean Cosby is currently at the top of this crime fiction genre. As the saying goes, crime doesn’t pay, but writing about it...

Cygnets: Dining to squawk about!

story and photos by Lisa Hinton-Valdrighi - Lottsburg is one of those quaint villages that if you blink passing through you might miss it. What you don’t want to miss is Cygnets restaurant smack in the middle of the village. The building, originally Watkins General Store, circa 1921, has served...

The Rivah’s Best Beaches

Visions of summer in coastal and rural Virginia include glasses of cold sweet tea, honeysuckles lining dirt roads, driving with the top-down, summertime carnivals, baseball, softball, and the beach. Whether you’re a sun worshiper determined to soak in as many rays as possible, an adventure seeker looking for your...

Middlesex’s Cross Rip Campground uses some old pilothouses as cottages

by Larry Chowning -  The Cross Rip in the name Cross Rip Campground in Deltaville came from the name of a lightship that anchored just off the coast of Nantucket, Mass., in the Atlantic Ocean. The late Anna Scott (Scotty) Hoye bought the 20-acre site overlooking the Chesapeake Bay in 1950...

Decorative carving is a living legacy in White Stone

Although Chris Sampson is a relative newbie to the art of carving, his decorative waterfowl look like the work of a seasoned veteran. Sampson has carving in his blood and took on the hobby after years of watching his great grandfather, Lewis Shelton, create decorative decoys. He shares creative space...

To Do Café: Comfort food and homey surroundings create a laid back spot to stop for a bite

It’s a busy Saturday afternoon at the To Do Café in Tappahannock and co-owner Diane Lentz is circulating around the rush of lunch customers with a demeanor that is anything but rushed. “Did you get enough to eat?” she asks a group of diners, her hand resting warmly on the...

Gloucester-Mathews Historic Garden Week House and Garden Tour features four homes nestled on the pristine waters of the East River

The 2022 edition of the annual Gloucester-Mathews Historic Garden Week House and Garden Tour is set for two sessions on Saturday, April 23. The morning session runs 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. and the afternoon session runs 1:30-5:30 p.m. All details are available at www.vagardenweek.org/tours/gloucester/. The stops on this year’s Mathews-focused tour include...

Northern Neck shuttle bus tour will explore Northumberland County’s historic Mundy Point

History and modern architecture are perfectly blended and framed by Mill and Wilkins creeks that feed the Yeocomico and nearby Potomac rivers in the picturesque community of Mundy Point in historic Northumberland County. On Wednesday, April 27, the Garden Club of the Northern Neck's Historic Garden Week Tour showcases five architecturally designed homes...

Volunteers tag 19,000-plus fish in 2021

The Virginia Game Fish Tagging Program (VGFTP) celebrated the achievements March 11 of its top volunteers with the help of Bass Pro Shops in Hampton. A cooperative effort between the Marine Advisory Program at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) and the Virginia Saltwater Tournament at the Virginia...