THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 3, 1996 TAG: 9611040171
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Book Review
SOURCE: BILL RUEHLMANN
LENGTH: 77 lines
Natives seldom think much of their home turf.
Usually the refrain, from Wichita to the Wabash, is: Nothing happens here.
But, of course, as any journalist will never tire of telling you, everything does. And all the time. Journalists apply outsiders' eyes to insiders' savvy.
That fresh acuity informs the credentials of Sally Kirby Hartman and Ridgely Ingersoll, authors of The Insiders' Guide to Virginia's Chesapeake Bay - Including Virginia Beach, Norfolk and the Eastern Shore (Insiders Guides Inc., 480 pp., $14.95), now available in most area bookstores and museum shops.
Hartman, 42, public relations director for The Norfolk Foundation and a free-lance writer, came to Hampton Roads 11 years ago from Arkansas, where she earned a journalism degree and was features editor of Little Rock's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Hartman can't go out for groceries without coming back with interesting information.
January is the best month to spot humpback whales off the Virginia Beach shoreline.
Ingersoll, 36, is possessed of the same switched-on sensibility. Born in Virginia Beach, she prepared for a free-lance writing career by working as a waitress, surf-shop clerk, lifeguard, ranch hand, short-order cook and advertising editor, among other things. Ingersoll would be a good person to have along not only as a witness when news happens but as useful company when it doesn't.
If you're headed for a swim in the Chesapeake Bay, pack a jar of meat tenderizer in that beach bag. It's the most effective treatment for soothing the burn of a stinging nettle (jellyfish).
These two surf-smart scribes have turned out the definitive traveler's advisory to Hampton Roads and environs. It will also be of use to those of us who live here but haven't fully explored the many extraordinary possibilities of the place. Our area is not merely a movable feast, it's an outward-bound smorgasbord.
Did you know this port sends forth more cocoa beans and rubber than any other in the United States?
And what about the fact that Norfolk's Waterside marks Mile Zero for the 1,095-mile Atlantic Intracoastal waterway extending all the way south to Miami?
Not to mention that the region, with nine underwater thoroughfares, ranks second to Japan as world leader in traffic tunnels.
From the exotic tangle of the Great Dismal Swamp to the squared corners of bricky Colonial Williamsburg, from the wild profusion of False Cape State Park to the seagoing cities of Norfolk Navy Base, Hampton Roads is home for a kaleidoscopic constituency wide enough to include Capt. Nauticus, Dr. Madblood and Mr. Peanut.
The Insiders' Guide is arranged by topic, taking systematic core samples of our layer-cake location. There are history, the arts, sports, nightlife, ``kidstuff,'' parks. Day trips.
Like Phoebus.
Yes, the picturesque Hampton community at the Mallory Street exit off Interstate 64 West. Fabulous Phoebus. Gateway to Buckroe Beach!
Typically, Hartman and Ingersoll find fascination here - and communicate it irresistibly:
Along Mallory are some of the best eats and most unique shopping experiences just waiting to happen, and a stopover there is similar to being whisked back in history to a time when people were friendlier, life was slower and love was always in the air.
Locals are hard-pressed to reveal the secret that Clyde's, 723-9843, serves the coldest beer and best burger this side of Kansas; Victorian Station, 723-5663, in a charming Victorian home, not only offers a silky smooth quiche or chunky chicken salad but is one of the last remaining places on the face of the earth where you can linger over afternoon tea enjoying jam-lathered scones, tea cakes and open-faced sandwiches.
Even hard-nosed Insiders know that an afternoon in Phoebus is better than a month with a therapist.
Well, I'm sold. Think I'll just close up shop right now and take a little Insider's Guide mental health break. See you at Clyde's. MEMO: Bill Ruehlmann is a mass communications professor at Virginia
Wesleyan College. by CNB