Neighbors and storekeepers gather their mail and pause to gossip on weekday mornings at the post office on Main Street.

 

Located between Farmville and Petersburg, between Richmond and South Boston, Blackstone seems to have found a niche.

 

Chester traces its history to the 1850s when it was established -- along with Ashland in Hanover County -- as a railroad depot. It later evolved into a summer vacation spot for Richmonders.

 

Located about an hour northwest of Richmond and 30 minutes west of Fredericksburg, Lake Anna is the second-largest freshwater lake in Virginia, with more than 250 miles of shoreline.

 

In Old Towne Petersburg, antiques dealers walk to work with coffee from Java Mio in hand. Local artwork hangs on restaurant walls. And the Friday night informal bar crawl, starting at The Brickhouse Run and ending at Dixie Diner, has become legendary.

 

While there is plenty to see in Manakin-Sabot, some of the area's most curious attractions are rooted in the past and can be found only in history books or shared by local history buffs.

 

Residents refer to Church Hill as the center of the universe, sitting at the top of the city and overlooking downtown. The area was Richmond's first historic district, with ties to Patrick Henry. It's also a measure of revitalization and change in the city.

 

These days, commerce in this rural yet developing county -- the courthouse is just shy of 40 miles west of Richmond's downtown relies on corn meal for homemade bread rather than moonshine.

 

Smithfield, the self-described ham capital of the world, is about a 90-mile drive from Richmond. On the way, going east on state Route 10, you'll pass the turn-offs to Bacon's Castle and Hog Island.

 

Bowling Green is a seldom-talked-about place along U.S. 301 that thousands of people drive past every day but only a few stop to visit.

 

Gordonsville, about 25 miles east of the Blue Ridge Mountains, was once a stopping place for travelers. It sits at the intersection of U.S. 15 and U.S. 33. The town's name is tied to the Beale family, which operated a tavern there.

 

Bon Air, where people have come to expect the unexpected. Located just outside the Richmond city limits, Bon Air is a village community that through the years has maintained its historic charm.

 

Meet the crabby sisters of Urbanna. Catherine Via, 77, and Beatrice Taylor, 65, have been catching peeler crabs and selling them out of a little gray shack here by the pier for more than 30 years.

 

While the village of Ettrick is best known for Virginia State University -- the first fully state-supported, four-year institution of higher learning for blacks in the United States many say its quaint atmosphere has kept many residents here for years.

 

From Amish furniture to homemade wind chimes to wedding-cake fudge, there's lots in store for those willing to make the hour-plus trek southwest of Richmond to Farmville.

 

It may be only 4 or 5 miles outside Richmond, but this community -- along Williamsburg Road, from just east of Airport Drive to Seven Pines -- always has had a soul of its own.

 

Tourists, bargain hunters, lunchers mingle with people tied to the history of the city.

 

Welcome to the village of Mechanicsville, home of mom and pop barbershops, bakeries, grocers, jewelers, dry cleaners and druggists.