Virginia Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff [Paperback]

Sharon Cavileer (Author)

Book Description

Series: Curiosities Series | Publication Date: September 1, 2002

Take a tour through Virginia s most outrageous attractions! Virginia Curiosities is your round-trip ticket to the wildest and wackiest people, places, and things the Old Dominion State has to offer. Writer Sharon Cavileer has combed Virginia for one-of-a-kind gems that make her home state truly unique: You ll meet a pet ham that s one hundred years old You ll discover a restaurant in Triangle where patrons are treated like Marine Corps brass You ll find a Richmond grocery store where the in crowd dines You ll discover a roadside trailer in the middle of nowhere that offers top-notch seafood You ll visit the birthplace of Mr. Peanut You ll tour a museum that s strictly bedrooms You ll tee off at America s oldest golf hole And more! Whether you were born and raised in Virginia or are a recent transplant, Cavileer s home-grown humor will have you laughing out loud as she introduces you to the neighbors you never knew you had and takes you to the places you never knew existed right in your own backyard.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Globe Pequot; 1st edition (September 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762722010
• ISBN-13: 978-0762722013
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,012,779 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must for your next Virginia road trip, June 17, 2004

By 

Jason R. Tibbetts (Falls Church, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Virginia Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff (Paperback)

If you're reading this review, then you probably already know that there are dozens of books promising to show you interesting places around D.C. for weekend trips. This book is different. The focus is entirely on Virginia, and the listed sites aren't so much just offbeat or odd, but genuinely interesting. In fact, I learned so much about places I'd never even heard of that I want to plan a few trips just to see them.

As a pure travel guide, this book has serious limitations. The book is broken down by major geographical regions (Shenandoah Valley, Northern VA, etc.), but within each section, sites weren't presented in any useful order, which required a lot of flipping back to check the maps. Nor were there recommended itineraries, but that was forgivable in a book that's more useful for browsing than for searching.

There were several curious errors, such as the year of JFK's assassination (1963, not 1961). Whenever I find easy-to-spot errors like these, it makes me have serious doubts as to the accuracy of more important information, like phone numbers and addresses. Be sure to double-check these before planning your trip.

Overall, though, I rate this guide more highly than other, similar books, like the usual Off the Beaten Path and Fodor's guides. Those books tell you how to get to where you want to go, but this one tells helps you decide /where/ you want to go in the first place.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Virginia Curiosities, January 27, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Virginia Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff (Paperback)

An absolutely facinating book. I like to travel to unknown places within driving distance, and this book provides interesting insight on many places to visit right in my backyard. It is a easy read that is both entertaining and informative, and a must have for anyone who likes to learn about historic or cultural rich places to visit in Virginia.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Virginia Curiosities, November 28, 2002

By 

Donald C. Ellington "donybear" (Farmville, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Virginia Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff (Paperback)

As a Virginian and a traveler I find this little book informative, interesting and sort of like the "underground books" popular in lots of tourist destinations.

I've lived in Virginia all my life and most of the details and oddities in the book I had never heard before. This book is a delight and a must for Virginians who love the Commonwealth also a must for the tourist to Virginia who would like to see things off the beaten track, things that add greatly to your visit. Enjoy!