Louisa’s Twin Oaks commune recovers from devastating 227-acre fire

Deep in the Louisa backwoods, Twin Oaks sits on a dirt road that runs behind the ancient Yanceyville Mill on a 450-acre property unlike any in the area. Dotted by rustic two- and three-story dormitories with names like “Tupelo,” named for a type of tree, “Degania,” after a socialist Zionist kibbutz, and “Zhankoye,” an old […]

An ode to the hotel bar

“What is it,” Luke Barr wonders, “about the hotel bar?” I’m wondering, too, and that’s why I’ve asked Barr, a pro, to vamp about the romance and allure of hotel bars. He’s a former editor at Travel + Leisure magazine and the author of 2018’s Ritz and Escoffier: The Hotelier, The Chef, and the Rise […]

Your Charlottesville summer bucket list

Spoiler alert: Summer’s almost halfway over. But there’s so much more fun to be had! We’ve compiled 24 must-dos for your summer bucket list. Check them off as you go, and use hashtag #cvillesummerbucketlist to share what you’re up to. Pop by the City Market. If you don’t visit the City Market at least one […]

These longstanding businesses are area standard-bearers

In a city like Charlottes­ville, where Thomas Jefferson sneezed his creativity and innovation into practically every brick paver, it’s easy forentrepreneurs to feel buoyed enough to follow a dream. It makes for an ever-changing skyline, with new businesses springing up like wildflowers.  But amid that same skyline there exists a group of businesses that have […]

“I’m going to be who I want to be”

Sitting on the floor of his bedroom, Carter cracked like an egg.  It was December 1, 2020, the doldrums of a Covid year; technically Carter was in a Zoom class, but attending his sophomore year of Charlottesville High School from home had long lost its novelty, so Carter was scrolling through Instagram when a simple […]

Kickoff to summer

Local soccer fans considering making the trip to New York or Los Angeles for the 2026 World Cup or 2028 Olympics needn’t go that far for a fix.   In fact, they’ll only have to travel as far as St. Anne’s-Belfield, where Charlottesville Blues FC is looking to seize on the growing popularity of American […]

The art of the place

A chilly March night, and the indoor space seems to be unheated. It’s not designed to be comfortable; it’s an industrial building in Harrisonburg repurposed as a climbing gym that also hosts music, and it has a concrete floor, a loft reached by a ladder missing a rung, and odd couches and crates. People bob […]

Crowd pleasers

April is here and so is Charlottesville’s annual Tom Tom Festival, flooding the downtown area with events, music, and people. The festival has grown substantially in its 12 years, and is slated to span five days, from April 17-21, with a medley of different showcases including panels on technology, entrepreneurship, social justice, and consciousness. With […]

Hide and seek

On a recent cool morning in Gordonsville, a cadre of a half-dozen cops in street clothes assembled next to the local fire department. Their commanding officer for the day, Lt. Patrick Sheridan of the Louisa County Sheriff’s Office, was ready to get started. “8:25!” Sheridan shouted. It was the time that the trail was laid; […]