About Charlottesville City, VA

If you're looking for Charlottesville area pick-your-own opportunities, there are some wonderful options. Always call before trecking out to the farm; these are family run businesses, and storms as well as weddings and funerals can impact open times!

In the Free Union area, the Berry Patch offers a peaceful setting for picking yummy blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries, 3035 Pevine Hollow, Free Union, VA 22932. Phone: 434-963-0659.

Open: Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, from 8 am to 12 noon; Thursday, from 5pm to 9pm. Directions: To get here from Charlottesville, follow Barracks Road west (which turns into Garth road) about 4 miles to Free Union Road at the Hunt Country store. Turn right and go about 3 miles to Free Union. Bear left on Millington road for 1/3 of a mile, then bear right on Wesley Chapel road, and follow the signs 3 miles to The BerryPatch. Click here for a map and directions.

In Crozet, Chiles Peach Orchard offers the pick-your-own option, and they have a store full of whatever's fresh (already picked) and homemade frozen yogurt and fresh peach ice cream! In season, you'll find peaches, nectarines, apples, cherries, strawberries, as well as pre-picked melons and vegetables. 1351 Greenwood Road, Crozet, VA 22932. Phone: 434-823-1583.

Click here for current open hours, days and dates. Directions: Click here for a map and directions.

Critzer Family Farm is a favorite spot for locals to pick vegetables, strawberries, and peaches in season. Located in the Afton area, they are open until Nov 1st. 9388 Critzer Shop Road, Route 151, Afton, VA. Phone: 540-456-4772.

Directions: 250 west 16 miles to foot of Afton Mountain. Left on Route 151, 1 mile on right. From Waynesboro, 250 east, 7 miles to foot of Afton Mountain. Right on Route 151, 1 mile on right. From Wintergreen, 10 miles north on 151.

There are many more opportunities, and there's a website just for pick-your-own, with farms separated out by locality. It's called, PickYourOwn.org and it's a great resource!

The Charlottesville Writing Center has developed into an important Charlottesville resource for writing and literary pursuits. Throughout the summer, the Center is offering a weekly series, its Summer Creatve Writing Camp, this summer focusing on "the mystery".

From the Charlottesville Writing Center:

Nothing quickens the pulse faster than a good mystery, which is why millions of readers surrender themselves to the page-turning exploits of their favorite sleuths. Mystery is an expansive genre, welcoming amateur detectives, intellectual puzzlesolvers, police officers, private eyes, lawyers, spies, even average folk caught in a web of suspense.

For more information, find the brochure uploaded at the Center's blog, Charlottesville Writing Center: Everything Having To Do With Writing In Charlottesville And Central Virginia.

The numbers are out, the graphs have been produced, and it's all pretty much not very interesting. Charlottesville area real estate sales are down 6% compared to the same period last year. Prices have continued to slide ever so slightly in both Albemarle and Charlottesville, but the good news for Louisa and Orange is a huge jump in prices (both areas saw a large volume of foreclosures, and we can hope that these price increases show an improvement). Following are the real estate homes sales figures for the first half of 2011, provided by Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors...

Do you know the Woodhayven neighborhood in downtown Charlottesville? It’s located in North Downtown, accessed from two points along Park and Rio; Woodhayven is just 2 miles from the historic Charlottesville Downtown Mall. The neighborhood is a very nice, affordable neighborhood in the downtown Charlottesville area, with homeowners who are happy to own large lots, enjoy green spaces and wide streets that are not heavily traveled, and they know and enjoy their neighbors. In fact, while reviewing past sales in the neighborhood, I came across the following comment in the remarks section of a home which sold recently on Elizabeth Avenue…

“This neighborhood is as good as it gets -- friendly neighbors who all look out for each other, like how it used to be.”

I can’t speak for anyone else, but that’s the kind of thing I like to hear when I’m learning about a new neighborhood. In fact, I’ve just listed 626 Elizabeth Avenue, and our biggest problem has been the owners accepting that moving means leaving their wonderful neighbors!

Woodhayven is made up of only four streets: Holmes, Elizabeth, Agnese, and Lili. You can easily reach the neighborhood via Park to North to left on Holmes. My favorite access point, however, is via Agnese off of Rio, just down from Melbourne. Regardless of how you look at it, though, you have easy access to Pantops and I-64, the University of Virginia, and Downtown Charlottesville from one end, and then a hop skip and jump to 29 north from the north entrance at Rio. Woodhayen offers the best of all worlds, it seems… the city and employment at your finger tips, but once home, you’re able to enjoy a quiet, walk-able neighborhood.

Currently, the City of Charlottesville is replacing the public sewer, so there is construction mess on Holmes; it will be completed in the next couple of months. That location, however, is the site of the Rivanna Trail, which follows the Meadow Creek in this area and runs behind the homes located on Elizabeth Avenue, including our new listing at 626 Elizabeth Avenue, which we’ve just put on the market $223,500, a great Downtown buy by anyone’s standards.

SEARCH for homes in the Woodhayven neighborhood, located in North Downtown Charlottesville

Visit the website for 626 Elizabeth Avenue

I recently told a client who is moving from Minnesota, "the land of 10,000 lakes", that there are no natural lakes in the state (or Commonwealth) of Virginia. This fact had been relayed to me by a geologist client many years ago while we were looking at a home that was sited beside a lake. In turn, I have relayed the same fact to others. Oooops. After all these years, I find out it is a fib. (Apparently, Maryland is the only state to have no natural lakes.)

I decided that I would do my Zero to 60 post about public lakes that are located close to Charlottesville, and while doing so, I discovered that there are two natural lakes in Virginia after all.... Lake Drummond and Mountain Lake. Lake Drummond I know well, as I have had the privilege of boating on the lake many times. My husband's family lived along the inter-coastal waterway in Chesapeake, and a favorite day trip was going through the Dismal Swamp Canal into Lake Drummond. It's very shallow, but very pretty and somewhat odd. Wikipedia describes it...

Scientists think the Great Dismal Swamp was created when the Continental shelf made its last big shift. The whole swamp has peat underneath. Several theories exist on the origin of Lake Drummond. Scientists believe the Lake could have been created by the impact of a meteorite, due to its oval shape. This meteorite would have been as large as the ones that are thought to have made the Carolina bays. Other people believe the Lake was made by a big underground peat burn about 3,500 to 6,000 years ago. Native American legend talks about "the fire bird" creating Lake Drummond.

The Dismal Swamp itself is fascinating; this website provides a wealth of information, Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.

The second natural Virginia lake is another oddity. It's called Mountain Lake, located in Giles County near Roanoke. I've never heard of this lake, but the Mountain Lake Hotel was the site of much of the filming for the Patrick Swayze film, "Dirty Dancing". Wikipedia describes the lake,

The lake is estimated to be about 6,000 years old, and geologists believe it must have been formed by rock slides and damming. Cold underground springs feed the lake and rarely allow the temperature to rise above 70 F (22 C) on the surface and 46 F (5 C) 50 feet (15 m) below the surface. Because of narrow channels and openings in the lake bottom, the level has a history of changing dramatically depending on the water flow through these channels. It is more than 100 feet (30 m) deep when full.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading a May 2009 article from The Virginia Pilot by Diane Tennant, "Mystery of two natural lakes in Vriginia". While both of these lakes are worth visiting, they are not "day trip fodder" from Charlottesville.

As for Zero to 60 Charlottesville... Following is a list of lakes in and around Charlottesville, Virginia. Some are great for skiing, some for swimming; most of the lakes on the list have good fishing. During these hot summer summer days, they all provide some sort of relief and relaxation...

(photo by Terren in Virginia on Flickr, "Chris Greene Lake")

• Lake Anna
• Lake Barcroft
• Beaver Creek Reservoir
• Briery Creek Lake
• Chris Greene Lake
  
• Lake Fairfax
• Lake Manassas
• Mint Springs
  
• Lake Orange
• Pelham Reservoir
• Rivanna Reservoir
• Lake Shenandoah
• Sherando Lake

It's about the many interesting and fun things to do, see, and learn in and around Charlottesville, within 60 miles.

CLICK HERE to view all "ZERO TO 60 CHARLOTTESVILLE" places!