James Monroe Museum

Culture

Where Lee surrendered to Grant, April 9, 1865; reconstructed village around the McLean House parlor.

Culture

Center-of-town double-track CSX mainline with trackside cafes and the historic Amtrak station running right through Main Street — a magnet for railfans.

Culture

More than 7,500 artifacts and oral histories reconstruct the fishing settlements and hunt-club communities abandoned on Virginia's barrier islands after destructive 1930s hurricanes. Many exhibits are upstairs without elevator access, though a virtual tour is available.

Roadside Americana

The Parkway's engineers refused to blast through mountains except when there was no other way -- this 630-foot bore is the *only* tunnel on the entire 217.5-mile Virginia section, making it a genuine oddity on a road famous for going around things, not through them.

Culture

Victorian railroad-boom town on the National Register with turn-of-the-century architecture lining its streets, plus a free public bay beach at the harbor.

Food

1947 walk-up custard stand with the original Electro-Freeze machines, on the National Register of Historic Places; seasonal (mid-February through the Sunday before Thanksgiving).