Straddling the Virginia and North Carolina border and with more than 112,000 acres of wetlands, woods and water, they offer days of possibilities — boating, fishing, hiking, wildlife photography and bird watching. The place has the bonus of history as thick as its vegetation: Native Americans found safety there from the invading English, just like the enslaved African Americans who escaped there and built communities. The swamps also hid bootleggers and their stills during Prohibition.
51 things to do while living in — or visiting — the Hampton Roads area
Take a selfie with the desiccated carcass of the World’s Oldest Ham at the Isle of Wight County Museum.
Drink local craft beers at Benchtop and Smartmouth or rare Belgians at the Birch, taste local gin and bourbon at Reverend Spirits or try rare wines at Grandiflora Wine Garden. If you’re still not satisfied, you can stop by more local craft breweries at The Veil, Elation Brewing or Reaver Beach — all within about a mile. Pictured is a Bradford watermelon-infused farmhouse beer called Jouble Jeuce at Benchtop Brewing in Norfolk.
Find a washed-up sea creature you can’t identify at Grandview Nature Preserve and Factory Point in Hampton. (Stay away from marine mammals and sea turtles, which are federally protected, dead or alive.)
Then give up and take the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel (the M&M) instead only to get stuck in more traffic. The surrounding water scenery is pretty, though. The ongoing expansion of the HRBT and the gigantic machinery at play is fascinating, too. You might find yourself hoping for a traffic backup just to watch.
After kayaking, end with a cocktail on the deck of Blue Pete’s restaurant.
Straddling the Virginia and North Carolina border and with more than 112,000 acres of wetlands, woods and water, they offer days of possibilities — boating, fishing, hiking, wildlife photography and bird watching. The place has the bonus of history as thick as its vegetation: Native Americans found safety there from the invading English, just like the enslaved African Americans who escaped there and built communities. The swamps also hid bootleggers and their stills during Prohibition.
The Lions Bridge at the Mariners’ Museum and Park is located in Newport News.
The show has become a local tradition after being in production for more than 80 years. Find out what happens when the English attempt to set up house in someone else’s house.
One day in 1863, under the flowing arms of the tree, African Americans gathered to hear the reading of President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which freed many enslaved Blacks throughout the South.
This scene is of the Lone Sailor statue and the Battleship Wisconsin at Wisconsin Square in Norfolk.
Remember to wash your hands before getting ice cream. Pictured, Saydee Stiles, 9, hugs a goat at Bergey’s Breadbasket.
The area’s past fills hundreds, if not thousands, of books. In 1619, Old Point Comfort was the spot where the first Africans to land in a British North American colony were traded — a precursor to race-based slavery in the colonies. Fort Monroe came to be after the War of 1812 and has a legion of stories from presidential visits from Abraham Lincoln to Harry Truman to writer Edgar Allan Poe. Fort Monroe has become a residential community with beaches, a marina and restaurants.
While at Fort Monroe, find the Algernourne Oak and picnic on the parade field.
Find the cell where Jefferson Davis, the former president of the Confederacy, was jailed after the Civil War. Also learn the role that the famous Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman played there after the war.
You can also try the local ham from one of the Western Tidewater shops that sell it.
Find the eight hog statues in Smithfield, each painted by a local artist.
Take a stroll or walk your dog down Duke of Gloucester Street.
Here’s a view of port Dahlgren gun in a treatment tank at Batten Conservation Complex in the USS Monitor Center wing at The Mariners’ Museum and Park in Newport News in 2012.
On Wacky Wednesdays, everyone with a street-legal ride is welcome to ruin their car.
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel is a certified modern marvel. And the ocean view isn’t so bad either.
Jerrassic Park at the Military Aviation Museum in Pungo features 13 prehistoric creatures in a park-like setting.
An unusually quiet moment at Brown Dog Ice Cream, where a line often stretches out the door.
A photo of original buildings and aircraft used by the Wright brothers is superimposed over a current photo of the memorial site in Kill Devil Hills. It’s also the site of the brothers’ historic first flight.
Newport News Shipbuilding’s main gantry crane, “Big Blue,” is the largest crane in the Western Hemisphere.
Legend has it that it arrived here with the Revolutionary War. Town code prohibits them from being plucked and collected.
The Commodore Theatre in Portsmouth is considered by many to be the place to see major films like “Titanic.” Long lines for tickets are a common sight.
Pictured is the front entrance at the Great Bridge Battlefield and Waterways History Museum and Visitor Center.
This statue of Pocahontas is outside the Gloucester Courthouse and is home of the Daffodil Festival.
While at the beach, grab a cup of clam chowder at Yorktown Pub or visit the other waterside restaurants with a beach view.
Bacon’s Castle was built in 1665 and is the oldest brick dwelling still standing in North America.
Pick your choice of freebies or discounts in any given week — $2 beers, bobblehead giveaways — at a Norfolk Tides game.
Folks often stop at Lotus Garden Park off Sandbridge Road in Virginia Beach to photograph the pale yellow native American lotuses that are growing in Ashville Bridge Creek.
It may be best to visit the Cape Henry Lighthouse on a cooler day (officials will close the tower when the heat index reaches 125 degrees). It was built after the American Revolution, and was the first federally funded one in the new nation. It was replaced in 1881.
The sun rises over the Virginia Beach Fishing Pier.
The center is also NASA Langley’s Visitor Center. Plenty of “ohhs” and “ahhhs” take place here.
Find an open-air spot — a picnic table or your porch will do — get a bushel of steamed crabs, make a tablecloth of old newspapers and have a box of Old Bay seasoning handy. ‘Nuf said.
From Lynnhavens to Ruby Salts to White Stones, the Chesapeake Bay oysters can be found throughout Hampton Roads.
Two people watch sunrise from an Oceanfront lifeguard stand in Virginia Beach.
From left Reuben Golderos, Kenny Hicks and Eric Waugh guide a 1940 M16 Multiple Gun Motor Carriage Half-track onto a rail flat car at the U.S. Army Transportation Museum at Fort Eustis. The World War II vehicle came from the U.S. Army Museum Support Center in Anniston, Alabama.
Whether at a casual turo-turo hot plate spot like Maymar, a bakery like Glory’s or Angie’s, or a sit-down restaurant like Only at Renee’s, take advantage of one of the best Filipino dining scenes in the country. Pictured is Filipino pepperoni bread at Glory’s Bakery in Virginia Beach.
Raymond the mule, right, stands with three mares on a sand dune at mile marker 16 on Swan Beach in Corolla, North Carolina.
Colonial Williamsburg reenactor Amanda Doggett stands as guests begin to enter Kimball Theatre during a local premiere for the third season of AMC’s Revolutionary War drama, “TURN: Washington Spies.”
Suffolk isn’t called the “Peanut Capital of the World” for nothing. The smell of roasting peanuts wafting from the Planters Peanut Center at 308 W Washington St. in Suffolk tempts passers-by.
If you love wildlife and being out in nature, head over to the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in Manteo, North Carolina. Check out the bears and other wildlife — at a distance — that roam the 154,000-acre refuge.
Yock is available at Yock Noodles Nook in Norfolk. Yock melds Chinese and Black soul food traditions.
Join in on the fun at festivals — jazz, wine, quilt, water lanterns, kites, sand sculpture — there’s one of some type each summer weekend in Hampton Roads. Above: Crowds make their way past a sand sculpture at the Neptune Festival in 2019 held at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront.
The Vanguard Brewpub & Distillery, the region’s only brewstillery, occupies the Hampton Armory building near downtown Hampton, minutes from the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel.
Pictured is salsa and white sauce at El Azteca in Norfolk. White sauce, or “salsa blanca,” is a Virginia contribution to Mexican-American cuisine whose versions were first made at El Toro and Plaza Azteca restaurants in Norfolk and Virginia Beach.
Pictured is an example of a garden from The Doors, Porches and Gardens Tour in Historic Olde Towne Portsmouth, a self-guided walking tour.
