Although its name might suggest otherwise, the Great Dismal Swamp is a fun place to visit and even spend the night. Chesapeake-based Adventure Kayak & SUP leads trips into the nearly 113,000-acre Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, which straddles the Virginia–North Carolina line.
Autumn is one of the best times to visit, when the area blazes with fall colors that reflect off the water in a mesmerizing mirror effect. Owner Kevin Fonda, who has taken travelers through the area since 2013, leads daytime and overnight trips through the Great Dismal Swamp Canal, which is now part of the Intracoastal Waterway. The area has been home to Native Americans for more than 9,000 years and was once a refuge for escaped slaves. It also hosts more than 200 species of migratory birds, along with bears, bobcats, otters, and beavers.
Overnighters will set up camp near Lake Drummond, a 3,142-acre body of water that’s quiet and mysterious due to its peaty soil and low pH level, which limits the fish population. Fonda provides the kayaks and food, but travelers must provide their own tent. Guided day trips are $125 per person; overnight trips start at $375 per person.
A new freedom
The Freedom House Museum in Alexandria honors the lives and experiences of the slaves who were held there. Photo courtesy Anna Frame for OHA Freedom House
The Freedom House Museum, located in Alexandria in what was once the headquarters of one of the country’s largest slave-trading companies, reopened to the public in late May after extensive renovations. New exhibits honor the lives and experiences of the thousands of enslaved Black men, women, and children who were held here and moved through the city between 1828 and 1861.
A key exhibit, “1315 Duke Street,” focuses on the stories of those who were brought from the Chesapeake Bay region to the complex (model pictured above) and then forced into slave markets in the Deep South. Adults, $5; closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Affordable gourmet bites
At Patty O’s Café and Bakery, you can get the tastes of The Inn at Little Washington for a fraction of the price, including what might be the best carrot cake in the world (pictured). Photo courtesy The Inn at Little Washington/Greg Powers
The Inn at Little Washington in Washington, Virginia, offers a sensory (and pricey) experience: a 7-course meal at the only AAA Five Diamond restaurant in the Washington, D.C., area for around $328 per person. But its new Patty O’s Café & Bakery, located across the street from the inn, makes it easy to try the incredible food at affordable prices.
The lunch and dinner menus include upscale versions of classic dishes like curry chicken salad on a fresh croissant, Greek salad made with Turkish goat cheese, and pepper-crusted seared tuna with cucumber sorbet. Most lunch entrées run under $20. Whatever you order, leave room for a slice of what may be the world’s best carrot cake.
Read more: 6 best brunches in Virginia you need to try
Call it a comeback
Try your hand at harvesting your own Virginia Chestnuts at their orchard. Photo by Pixel-Shot/stock.adobe.com
The American chestnut was the East Coast’s dominant tree species before billions were felled by a fungus first discovered at the Bronx Zoo in 1904. But a new hybrid variety called the Dunstan chestnut has been bred to be blight resistant. Occupying some 26 acres of a 46-acre Nelson County farm, Virginia Chestnuts produces about 10,000 pounds of the sweet nuts every year. And the orchard welcomes the public each fall to help harvest the chestnuts from its more than 1,500 trees.
The family-run orchard also hosts an annual Chestnut School—to be held this year on October 29—to teach potential commercial growers the ins and outs of raising the sun-loving tree. Chestnut School, $450.
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