I was inspired by my friend Melissa Gilliam aka MilliGFunk, and this post, Grace in Small Things, sharing what readers love about St. Louis, Missouri. I decided to put the question to my own community of Charlottesville, Va.
Here are some of the small things we love about Charlottesville:
- Marco and Luca dumplings
- The view coming down 250 from Pantops
- Beer Run
- The Whale Tails
- Walking on the grounds of UVa
- Number 904 at Saigon Cafe
- Seeing people you know
- Dogwoods in the spring
- Connecting with dogs’ siblings via social media
- Dog friendliness
- Being able to pick apples, ride a horse, float a river or hike the Appalachian Trail within a short drive
- Outdoorsy feel
- Big city offerings in a quaint small town
- Azaleas in full bloom in May along the 250 bypass
- The hike to Bear Fence Mountain in Shenandoah National Park
- Walking the downtown mall
- Having lunch (or even better WINE) outside on the downtown mall
- The fact we still have bookSTORES
- The independent coffee shops
- The Festival of the Book
- Pie Fest
- The VA Film Festival
- The Chocolate Festival
- Knowing the name of your mailman
- Food: specifically tons of amazing local restaurants, local farms and farmers markets and CSAs, most of the population loving local and shunning chains… I don’t know what I’d do without Spudnuts, Bodos, Beer Run, Mas, The Nook, Sticks, Christians, Horse & Buggy, Relay Foods, the Saturday market…all our awesome, awesome local businesses
- Iconoclastic bagel shops that won’t slice more than 3 bagels per order and will look at you like a space alien if you mention the word “toasted.” 🙂
- Any given day of the week, half the town is in a coffee shop. Love a bustling morning office
- Local eggs and other great local groceries
- Support for entrepreneurs. This town makes most things possible!
- That despite the first snow of winter there were musicians playing outside at the Downtown Mall
- Public observation night at UVa observatory
- Cafe Con Leche from Cafe Cubano
Another reader had a “like,” and a question: “I like the fact that, even in the midst of a traffic jam, it is a custom in Charlottesville to let somebody else merge into the stream of cars from the side, ahead of you. This little piece of civilized, polite behavior makes me feel good about my city. Tell me, is this common elsewhere, or is Charlottesville unique in this feature?”
What do you think?