Chesapeake, VA woodworking sites?

[Matt Meiser]

I'll be in Chesapeake, VA next week for work. Are there any must-see woodworking sites in the area that I might be able to hit after work?

[Tom Sweeney]

If it were me I'd come down with a real bad 72 hour bug & head to Corolla & chill on a hamock with a coupla cold ones for a few days - It's only a couple of hours away if that :D

Barring that, our feerless leader isn't too far away from that area. He must know of some good sites down that way. Keith - Aaron?

[Bobby Hatfield]

Matt, when you find something, post it so I can copy it for the next time I visit the kids, I may need to get away for an hour or so, or maybe pick up something. If I find anything, I'll post. Will email son for info.

[Bill Sampson]

Matt, don't know what your time schedule is, but it would certainly be worth the time to visit the 18th century cabinate shop in Colonial Williamsburg. It is about an hour west on I-64 from Chesapeake. They have several finished pieces in the shop and they are currently working on some tables, a carved head board and a harpsichord. There is also a company called "Blue Ridge Hardwood" in VA Beach that is close to Chesapeake. Located at 5111A Witchduck Ct. Enjoy your stay in VA. Bill Sampson

[Keith Outten]

Matt,

Sadly there isn't much in Hampton Roads to see as far as woodworking goes. Colonial Williamsburg has some cool stuff if you like to visit the past. Norfolk and Virginia Beach have a couple of decent tool stores but nothing like Woodworkers Supply or anywhere in their league. We sure could use a good quality tool supply and equipment dealer in our neck of the woods. I normally go to Richmond or make the drive to North Carolina if I intend to do some serious shopping. Of course I use the Internet frequently.

If your interested in history now thats a different story. we have it all in Virginia. I live on the edge of the historic triangle of Yorktown-Williamsburg-Jamestown. The Monitor/Merrimac battle was here, the Greatest Shipyard in the world, the largest Naval Base, Fort Monroe and the Casemate Museum....etc. Hampton Virginia (my hometown) is the oldest continiously settled city in America with Nasa Langley, the Aerospace Museum and plenty of names you would recognize if you like to cruise the old graveyards. A good friend of mine is the great great grandson of John Wilkes Booth. Richmond still has plenty of the old southern families with names like Lee and Jackson still around.

Woodworking stores are rare, other than Lowes and Home Depot.