Historyland~Historic Northern Neck of Virginia~Off the Beaten Path Get-a-Ways

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We wanted a quiet place with a sandy beach without the crowds, noise & lines that a Labor Day Weekend brings to most East Coast resort towns. After a look online we found a cottage for rent on the southern shore of the Potomac River where it meets the Chesapeake Bay somewhere between Heathsville & Reedville, Va. What a delightful time we had, a perfect place to take the family for some down-time. My 5 yr old son never stopped running, fishing & playing on the beach with my husband & I got to read a magazine or two (alone). The cottage was from 1950: cozy, rustic & comfortable, having everything your might need for a family vacation at the beach. We did want to crab, but did not find a way to do it, next time, but we did have a crab feast on the screened in porch. There is much to do in this area if you like history, seafood & beach time.


We ate local seafood: crabs, oysters, she-crab soup, crabcakes, & more crab. Other local offerings: fried green tomatoes, Smithfield ham, hush puppies, grits, bbq (lots to be found) & plenty of farm stands along the way.

We found a Harvest Festival (grapes), local farmers markets, good ice cream, & more history than in most places dating back to the 1600's. Stratford Hall (birthplace of Robert E. Lee) is a must: tour the house, eat lunch, & roam the grounds. There are cliffs there overlooking the Potomac River with fossils plentiful. I found 5 shark teeth in less than 15 minutes, one a good size. The birthplace of George Washington is equally interesting & visually stunning, also on the Potomac along the way to Reedville where the cottage awaited.  Also worth checking out: Westmoreland St. Park, did make it there but was on our list of "to do's".

We saw much wildlife (blue heron, egrets, hawks, hummingbirds, all sort of butterflies, skunks, jellyfish, crabs, geese, ducks & more) but had hoped to see dolphins while we were visiting. The last hour of our time at the cottage was spent on the beach. After willing the heck out of a dolphin sighting, they came, an entire pod of them came swimming by to prove to my little boy & husband that they could come that far up the Chesapeake & into the month of September! This was the perfect way to end our time at the cottage.

If you have a heart for adventure & don't like the crowds, get online & look between the lines for places to go off the beaten path, they are most everywhere...falling fast asleep to the sounds of waves makes up for the time spent at your computer doing your research.  promise.

Labor Day Weekend, 2010

• Eight-foot shark caught in Potomac River (boingboing.net)