Originally owned by the Kanak Family, this historic property in Prince George, VA dates back to 1899. Through the years, the Kanak family built three homes, all which have been restored to their historic beauty with original hardwood floors and elegant finishes. The grounds also consist of ten barns and six silos, making this 13-acre farm your perfect picturesque, dream wedding venue. The property was purchased in 2018 by the McCormick family. They look forward to serving brides and grooms for years to come.

The Barns of Kanak offers both outdoor and indoor facilities that can accommodate up to 200 guests. Our package includes 12-hour access to the entire property and a month-of coordinating team. Our venue is also available for other events such as:

Corporate Parties/Events
Bridal Showers
Birthday Celebrations
Retirement Celebrations
Family/Class Reunions
Festivals

Kylie Hester
The Barns of Kanak | Client Experience Consultant
kylie@thebarnsofkanak.com

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Vineyard on Jefferson Davis Highway in Chesterfield takes shape

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Wonderful stories were submitted about meeting their “special” partners. On May 5, two stories were selected, one from Jennifer C. Grandstaff, who lives with her husband and family in Prince George County, and Carolyn D. Wheeling, who actually submitted her LOVE story on her 53^rd wedding anniversary, April 18. She and her husband have always lived in Chesterfield County. Their special evening at Swift Creek Mill Theatre was on May 11.

The Grandstaffs have been together for 30 years, married for 20 years, having met when she was 12 and both were students in Petersburg Public Schools. Their dates took them to Walnut Mall, Pocahontas State Park, White Bank Park, anywhere that was on the river, and finally they went to Prom together in 1994. They became engaged in 1997 at Annabelle’s Restaurant in Petersburg and were married in Chesterfield County on April 10, 1999. When asked about their life together now, Mrs. Grandstaff said, we reside in the rural area of Prince George County to enjoy the night skies, croaking frogs and crickets in the spring and summer, and enjoy our countryside walks to see the farms fields, and cows”. She added, home is the Tri-cities and surrounding area and Home is definitely where our heart is”.

Mrs. Wheeling said, “our whole life has revolved around Jeff Davis Highway”. Her story began in spring 1965 when she was 17, coming down Jeff Davis Highway from her waitress job driving a 1964 VW Bug, and she saw a red Plymouth Barracuda with a huge antenna on the back. “The car got my attention. We both stopped at the red light and our eyes met for a brief moment and the light changed to green. We pretended to “drag race”, of course I had no chance to win, but he let me win and followed me home”. Her friends identified the guy who drove that red Barracuda and they had a date three weeks later and soon were dating regularly. He proposed at midnight at a party at a friend’s house off of Jeff Davis Highway and they were married 9 months later at a little church at Willis Road & Jeff Davis. They even had a business in Chester for 20 years and she said her parents’ home and his parents’ home were both off of Jeff Davis, and their current home is just off of Jeff Davis Highway.

Guess where Swift Creek Mill is? It is located at 17401 Jefferson Davis Highway, South Chesterfield, VA 23834! Isn’t LOVE grand!!!

Don’t miss Swift Creek Mill’s next play, Savannah Sipping Society, which will be such a fun play to see. It opens on June 1.

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TASTINGS:

• $10 – Wine Tasting with a complimentary glass
• $15 – Wine & Cider with a complimentary glass

Lunch is served and the menu includes:  Soups, Salads, Sandwiches, and Tapas.

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When Lori and Kirk Thibault decided to tap in to the state and local wine market, they did just that — tapped in, literally.

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Say hello to the Metro Richmond Zoo’s newest additions: two super-cute pygmy hippos, Corwin and Iris.

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About a dozen 8- to 12-year-old kids spent their spring break last week getting a hands-on experience at Henricus Historical Park of what archaeologists do and how it helps us understand our past.

Among the activities at the annual Henricus Archaeology Spring Break Camp, according to lead educator Sarah Robinson, were mock digs in which park staff bury items that the campers then excavate using typical archaeological tools and techniques.

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TASTINGS:
$10 – Wine Tasting with a complimentary glass
$15 – Wine & Cider with a complimentary glass

Lunch is served and the menu includes: Soups, Salads, Sandwiches, and Tapas.

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Piedmont Hops, which produces hops from a third of an acre along Genito Road, has nearly doubled its number of plants since launching in 2013 and is planting the seeds for more growth, in line with the continued statewide growth of the craft beer industry.

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Henricus Historical Park is located on 32 acres along the historic James River and is only 20 minutes from Richmond. The living history museum is located at 251 Henricus Park Road, Chester, Virginia 23836. Contact 804-748-1611 with any questions. Visit www.Henricus.org to learn more.

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Their first restaurant was named Brothers Pizza, after Tony and his brother, but is now Sal’s Pizza. After another location was opened in Blackstone, Virginia, they came back and opened the Brothers Pizza location on Cox Road in Dinwiddie, and then Giuseppe’s a few miles away, owned by Tony’s brother. “We were born in Petersburg. It’s our home,” says Sal Buffa, Tony’s son, who remembers scampering around the original Brothers location as a child. Sal and his brother have inherited the management of the restaurants from their father and uncle. “We try and do a lot to give back to our community.”

Next, Sal opened Riptides, a trendy seafood restaurant in Chesterfield. The latest family venture, Joe’s Steak and Seafood in Dinwiddie, has already become a runaway hit with locals and tourists alike: their juicy steaks, fresh oysters, and succulent desserts are the talk of the county. When asked about the family’s propensity for becoming restaurateurs, Sal smiles and says, “It’s kind of fate, you know? We all grew up in the restaurants. I started working at Brothers when I was 13, and I was managing a restaurant when I was 19 or 20. I just always wanted to be like my dad.”

In total, the Buffa family has owned ten restaurants, as well as two food wholesalers called Sebastiano Farm Produce and the Buffa Italian Bakery, which freshly bakes bread for over five hundred restaurants.  Their most recent venture is the Cedar Heart Market, which is also on Cox Road. This full-service travel center also includes a small dining counter called the Chef’s Grille and prepares to-go lunches with as much care and attention to detail as any of the Buffas’ other enterprises.

All of the Buffa establishments epitomize high-quality food, friendly and competent service, and, of course, family values and the utmost dedication to their labor of love: serving their customers. If you visit any one of their fine restaurants, you too can feel like a member of the Buffa family.

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View pictures, videos, and learn new insights of Lincoln’s last weeks at www.walkinlincolnsfinalfootsteps.com.

Lincoln Timeline

President Abraham Lincoln visited the Petersburg area on three occasions: at the end of the Peninsula campaign (July 1862); immediately following the end of the opening assault on Petersburg (June 1864); and during the final push ending the war (March 24 – April 8, 1865).

Visit One

July 7, 1862 — President Lincoln and military party leave Washington on the Ariel to visit General McClellan and the Army of the Potomac at Harrison’s Landing at Berkeley Plantation.

July 8, 1862 — Lincoln arrives at Harrison’s Landing at 6:00p.m. He then reviews McClellans’ Army by corps and divisions until 9:00p.m.

July 9, 1862 — Lincoln talks with officers of the Army about military problems and records the results in a memorandum. He then leaves on the Ariel for the return trip to Washington.

Visit Two

June 20, 1864 — Lincoln departs Washington on the USS Baltimore at 5:00p.m.

June 21, 1864 — Lincoln lands at City Point (today’s Hopewell) and visits General Grant’s headquarters. He then meets a division of U.S. Colored Troops.

June 22, 1864 — Lincoln and Grant take a trip up the James River. The President visits Bermuda Hundred in Chesterfield County. He then travels up the Appomattox River to Point of Rocks in Chesterfield and tours the Bermuda Hundred defenses of General Benjamin Butler. Later, Lincoln boards the USS Baltimore to return to Washington.

June 23, 1864 — Lincoln returns to Washington.

Visit 3

March 23, 1865 — Lincoln, along with son Tad and wife Mary, board the River Queen and depart for City Point (today’s Hopewell).

March 24, 1865 — The River Queen arrives at City Point.

March 25, 1865 — Lincoln sees the smoke and hears the sounds of the 6th Corps picket line attack from Fort Wadsworth with his son Tad.

March 26, 1865 — Lincoln spends the day traveling up the James River visiting troops at Aiken’s Landing in Henrico County. The President rides by horse over muddy roads to visit a division of black troops. Mary Lincoln and Julia Grant follow in an ambulance wagon. Lincoln returns to the River Queen for dinner.

March 27, 1865 — Lincoln travels up the Appomattox River to Point of Rocks in Chesterfield County, where he visits wounded soldiers.

March 28, 1865 — Lincoln holds a conference with General Grant and others aboard the River Queen at City Point.

March 29, 1865 — Grant boards a train preparing to move his headquarters closer to anticipated hot spots at the western end of his siege lines. Lincoln sees Grant off then returns to Point of Rocks.

March 30, 1865 — Lincoln spends the day in the cabin of Lt. Colonel Theodore Bowers at City Point waiting on news of the war.

March 31, 1865 — Lincoln receives word from Grant that Union troops are now in command of the White Oak Road area in Dinwiddie County.

April 1, 1865 — Mary Lincoln goes back to Washington, while Lincoln receives word about the victory at Five Forks in Dinwiddie County. Lincoln is awakened around 2:00a.m. by a dream of his death.

April 2, 1865 — Grant sends Lincoln a telegram informing him about the complete capture of Petersburg, with 12,000 prisoners and fifty guns taken.

April 3, 1865 — Lincoln travels by train to the fallen city of Petersburg. The President leaves the train and rides by horse to Fort Mahone, where he weeps when he sees dead Union and Confederate troops from the April 2 battle. Lincoln then proceeds to the Wallace House where he meets with General Grant.

April 4, 1865 — Lincoln visits Richmond. The Capital of the Confederacy has fallen to the Union Army. He then spends the night on board the Malvern.

April 5, 1865 — Lincoln returns to City Point.

April 6, 1865 — Mrs. Lincoln returns to City Point and visits Richmond.

April 7, 1865 — Lincoln visits Petersburg again, arriving by train in the city’s Old Towne area. He travels by carriage to Centre Hill Mansion where he meets with General George Hartsuff.

April 8, 1865 — Lincoln visits the Depot Field Hospital at City Point and then departs for Washington.

Come take a walk through Lincoln’s Final Footsteps. This self-guided tour chronicles Lincoln’s historic time in the region.

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