Romantic Virginia: More Than 300 Things to Do for Southern Lovers

Truth in Advertising: New Book Romantic Virginia Proves Virginia Really Is for Lovers Since 1969, when the Virginia Tourism Corporation began using "Virginia Is for Lovers" as its official slogan, the Old Dominion's tourism revenues have increased from $809 million a year to $12.9 billion. On an average day, more than 5,000 visitors seek information at one of the state's welcome centers or at the Virginia Tourism website. No statistics exist as to how many of those 5,000 a day are, in fact, lovers, but one assumes they constitute a significant percentage. With that broadly defined demographic in mind, Andrea Sutcliffe has written her new travel guide, Romantic Virginia. "The purpose of this book, " Sutcliffe writes, "is to offer a hand-picked selection of activities, destinations, restaurants, and lodgings that will especially appeal to couples. Romantic is more than what appeals to starry-eyed honeymooners." Unlike most travel guides, which are organized by geography, Romantic Virginia is organized by interests - arts, festivals, outdoor activities, sports, history, restaurants, and lodgings. Interspersed are highlights of unusual attractions such as Virginia's surviving drive-ins (movies and restaurants), ghost tours, whale and dolphin watching off Virginia Beach, and two Virginia caves that are popular sites for weddings. Sutcliffe has also liberally sprinkled the text with "Romantic Getaways, " packaged recommendations for dining, lodging, and activities in 14 Virginia cities and regions. Even native Virginians may not know that the Old Dominion offers Shakespearean plays performed among the ruins of the 19th-century Barboursville mansion and on the grounds of a 500-year-old Tudorhouse shipped from Lancashire, England, to Virginia piece by piece in the 1920s. Visitors who soak in the living history of Williamsburg or Yorktown might be surprised to learn about the annual jousting tournaments that have been held at Natural Chimneys since 1821. Romantic Virginia tells how to book a James River cruise on Richmond's Annabel Lee riverboat or on one of Charlottesville's Bateau River Explorations, which use the flat-bottomed colonial-era barges favored by farmers taking their crops to market. "If you've never gone whitewater rafting, sailed on a tall ship, walked through an old-growth forest, or tapped your feet to bluegrass music in an old country store, then why not try?" Sutcliffe writes. "If you do it together, you'll double the fun, and that is truly romantic."