![]() ![]() The visitor center has a tour map that details a lake tour, a spring blossom tour, and a Virginia gardens tour. Three gazebos and plenty of benches entice you to relax, take your time, listen to the birds sing. Each season brings a new look, though spring outdoes herself with daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, irises, and azaleas. Smooth paved trails wind around green lakes and grassy hills, exploring mature woods, open fields, and flower gardens. Meadowlark Botanical Gardens were designed to preserve the beauty of rural Virginia, right in the heart of Vienna. If you don’t have the time to get out into rural Virginia, never fear. ? Village Market Blvd., SE, Leesburg, VA Meadowlark Botanical Gardens Meadowlark alit / Northern Virginia Regional Parks A conche, by the way, is a machine that works out any last grittiness of the cocoa bean, creating the chocolate’s smooth, fine-melting. Glassed windows allow you to watch chocolate being made. The desserts, as expected, are heavenly: Jivara (whipped chocolate ganache with chocolate cake), Manjari (Madagascar chocolate mousse with chocolate creme brûlée), and the to-die-for Brownie Popcorn Sundae. You can buy chocolate, eat chocolate (beef sliders with chocolate BBQ sauce, cocoa nib rubbed diver sea scallops), sip chocolate (chocolate vodka cocktail, Conche martini with creme de cacao and milk chocolate ganache), or simply just enjoy the overall chocolate ambiance. This chocolate-theme boutique bar/bistro and candy shop in Leesburg feeds your addiction in every way possible. ? Lorton, VA 22079 The Conche Chocolatey goodnessĬhocolate lovers beware. It’s a fascinating look at a historical footnote, a pondering of what might have been-not to mention, just a beautiful place to spend an afternoon. Who today knows that he was the one, in fact, who wrote the Bill of Rights for Virginia-from which Thomas Jefferson heavily cribbed when writing the Declaration of Independence? Yes, Mason started off his document with this: “That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights…namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.” Sound familiar? His home, just south of DC, is a beautiful, tree-shaded estate, open to visitors. ![]() He was deeply involved in the politics of the emerging country, but in the end was lost to obscurity. ? 9518 Workhouse Rd., Lorton, VA 22079 Gunston Hall George Mason’s Gunston Hall A new museum showcases this important history. As an aside, women suffragettes are among some of the prisoners who were held here, back in the 1920s, including Dorothy Day. There’s even a Chef’s Table, where you help prepare the meal and then enjoy it with new friends. There are tasting clubs (from Mexican to Korean to Savannah), mixology classes, cabaret shows, glass workshops … Yes, it’s for artists first and foremost, but just think about the cool date night you could plan, or friends’ night out. You can stop by to see artists at work-and buy their artwork. Once a prison, the Workhouse in Lorton has been transformed into a hive of studios for artists (including my watercolor instructor, Gwen Bragg, with whom I’ve studied for years). ? 105-107 S Fairfax St., Alexandria, VA 22314 Workhouse Arts Center The restored prison / Wikipedia The wooden drawers are labeled with such curious ingredients as “Dragon’s Blood” and “Gum Gambir.” As you can imagine, there’s a huge Harry Potter birthday fest on his birthday, July 31. You need to go upstairs, to the dark and musky manufacturing room, seemingly straight out of Harry Potter. But that’s not the real reason why this historic boutique is on this list. The shop is preserved with original shelving, pots, jars, and journals. During the Civil War, soldiers flocked here to purchase “hot drops,” a cough medicine containing paprika and alcohol. This was the place to come for tinctures, elixirs, cleaning products, and groceries, all sold under one roof. ![]() George Washington himself knew the family-run Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary in Alexandria, which operated between 17. Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary The Harry Potter-esque manufacturing room Here are some gems that resident Virginians might not even know about. But they are missing out on a wealth of sights and activities in the Commonwealth. Washingtonians love to make a fuss about having to cross a river to reach Virginia-and some make that an excuse to never come. ![]()
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