By Celeste M. Smucker – Buying a home can definitely enhance a family’s long-term financial security. Yet often buyers continue to rent, believing they have to save a large down payment in order to qualify for a mortgage. The good news is there are many sources of down payment assistance for eligible buyers, and a […]
By Celeste M. Smucker – One of 2017’s biggest real estate stories was the emergence of a fast-growing new construction market, which continues to keep builders very busy, in many cases, well into this year. Historically low interest rates and an upward trending stock market motivated buyers to jump into the market, seriously depleting inventories […]
By Marilyn Pribus – It’s an iconic movie moment—Our Heroine sweeping down the dramatic curving staircase toward Our Hero or the Supporting Cast of 1,000. Of course most of us don’t have a grand staircase or even any stairs at all. But if you do, here are some classy, functional, or just plain fun ideas […]
By Ken Wilson – Skiing, snowboarding, skating or tubing: on your feet or on your rear, straight or in circles, down the hill or up and over the obstacles—however you like to slide and however you like your winter sports, Wintergreen Resort in Nelson County’s Rockfish Valley has a hill, a park, a rink, and […]
By Ken Wilson – You can spend a day driving Route 151, the “Brew Ridge Trail,” sampling beer, wine, cider and whiskey. You can spend the night at a bed-and-breakfast and make it a weekend. You can ski down Eagles Swoop at Wintergreen, hike up Spy Rock in the George Washington National Forest, or wax […]
By Ken Wilson– Put me on a mountain, way back in the backwoods. Put me on a lake with a biggin on the line. – Montgomery Gentry We have the mountains, we have the backwoods, and we sure do have the lakes and the rivers. Fishing and boating enthusiasts have everything they need here in […]
By Marilyn Pribus – During my husband’s 20-year military career, we were transferred. A lot. We became experienced movers with the Air Force covering most of the packing and moving costs. When we moved to Charlottesville nearly ten years ago, however, it was on our own dime, so we studied up on the thriftiest way […]
By Ken Wilson – It’s no novelty anymore, no curiosity, no fledgling with promise. Virginia wine—more than 6.6 million bottles in 2016—has found its identity and found its fans. It may have taken a few decades—or a couple of centuries counting Jefferson’s aborted attempts—but the local vino is making us proud, and making the state […]
By Ken Wilson – It was a staple of the Colonial diet, the most common drink in 18th and early 19th century America. Thomas Jefferson grew two varieties of apples, Hewes’ Crab and Taliaferro, especially suited for making it, and served it with the main course. And then, on American shores, it all but disappeared. […]
By Ken Wilson – Although it’s hard to say when exactly it happened this year, spring has sprung, and with it the hundred ways we show it. Whether it’s to make us parade down Market, run along the Rivanna, or jog up a mountain, spring energizes us all. Here are a few of the many […]