Leesburg Baltimore HonFest
of Alexandria. Founded in 1749, Alexandria’s old town section Fell’s Point are lined with old warehouses that have been
offers a pleasing mix of cobbled streets, gracious row houses, converted into stylish shops, restaurants, bars and supper clubs
upmarket shops and the Torpedo Factory Arts Center, where specialising in everything from rock to jazz.
you can watch artists at work in more than 80 studios. Stay for Arty types should head for the Mount Vernon district, where
lunch or dinner and mix with the locals. a wealth of cultural attractions includes the excellent Walters
Funky Baltimore is fashionably retro. It’s the hometown of Art Museum, the Peabody Conservatory of Music and the
fi lm director John Waters, whose work includes cult movies such Joseph Myerhoff Symphony Hall.
as Serial Mom, Cry Baby and Hairspray. As with Waters’ fi lms, While Baltimore’s main tourist area, the Inner Harbor, boasts
the harbour city cherishes its Fifties-style diners and quirky more than 100 waterside restaurants and cafés, it’s also worth
Americana. allowing time to meet the locals in some of the city’s many
But it doesn’t merely cling to the past. It enjoys pushing neighbourhood bars. A vast choice includes brew pubs, sports
the boundaries and experimenting. The cobbled streets of bars and upmarket cigar bars.
The city also enjoys pushing the boundaries with a
fl amboyant programme of brash and outlandish festivals and
SMALLER CITIES parties. They don’t come any more kitsch than HonFest every
● The Mighty Midget Kitchen in Leesburg, Virginia, has been
June, when bouffant hairstyles, cat’s-eye glasses and fl oral
named top BBQ in the DC metro area by AOL City’s Best poll,
housecoats are the order of the weekend on the streets of the
while Fredericksburg is reckoned to be the
city’s Hampden neighbourhood.
most haunted city in the US.
Historic Annapolis may be best known as the sailing capital of
● Luray is famous for eastern America’s the US but it is also a vibrant centre for arts
largest caverns, where music is played
and culture. The Chesapeake Arts Centre
on a stalactite pipe organ and
and the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts are
carillon concerts originate from the
Luray Singing Tower.
major venues for drama, opera, ballet and concerts,
while Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre presents an
● The seaside town of
annual season of “theatre under the stars” at the Old Shaw
Chincoteague gets national
television coverage every July when
Blacksmith Shop.
wild ponies are swum across from The city is also home to more than 20 art galleries
the island of Assateague for a colourful
specialising in paintings, pottery and photography.
‘pony penning’ festival.
Jugglers, clowns and mime artists are among the street
● In Maryland, Havre de Grace boasts a new arts and
entertainers roaming the three-mile long boardwalk every
entertainment district, Arts by the Bay to add to the area’s rich
summer evening in the seaside playground of Virginia Beach.
waterfront community, while costumed interpreters in quaint
Free concerts are also staged on four oceanside stages.
historic St. Mary’s City tell stories of the state’s early years,
celebrating its 375th anniversary. Cumberland, gateway to the
The Verizon Wireless Virginia Beach Amphitheatre features a
Appalachian mountain resorts, is best known for its frontier
bumper programme of top acts such as Elton John and Sheryl
and transport heritage and has scores of specialist shops and
Crow, while the resort’s many nightclubs cover everything from
galleries.
jazz and country to reggae.
● Picturesque Ellicott City is a former Quaker settlement that Nearby, Norfolk’s Chrysler Museum of Art houses a collection
includes a railroad museum, antique shops, art galleries and fi ne
of more than 30,000 objects spanning almost 4,000 years
dining among its attractions.
of art history. The outstanding collection of glass includes
16 www.capitalregionusa.org
CRU09 pp14-17 City Lights.indd 16 6/11/08 11:55:17
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