What's Good Franklin Virginia?!

For as long as I have lived in the Hampton Roads or Sem Fi Sem, I’ve made a clear effort to make regular trips to each of the seven cities. Norfolk, Ptown & VB being the most common, followed by Suffolk, Newport News, Chesapeake & Hampton.

I’ve still not been to Poquoson but, I did make it to Franklin aka Southampton County recently! Just like all the other spots I’ve had the pleasure of visiting this year, I was once again blown by just how much there is to do. A cute downtown with family mom n pop restaurants, museums on both the local art scene and regional agriculture as well as a river walk park with a beautiful view of the local lumber mill.

Franklin or Southampton County is literally a 45min to an hour drive from Norfolk [depending on how fast you drive]. You’ll take 58 West, pass a couple of cornfields, a cow or two, and before you know it, you are there!

We left early morning with snacks in tow because we knew our first stop was some grub at Fred’s. A family joint that has as much architectural charm as it does family history on the walls. After crushing a plate of eggs, bacon, and grits [with sugar] we set off on foot for some exploration.

Walking past a handful of shops and boutiques, we ended up at Storehouse Coffee, a proud black-owned coffee shop! Waking in I was stoked to see the artist Clayton Singleton’s art hanging on all the walls and an impressive library of books for adults and kids. The kicker here is every customer gets to take a book of their choice home!

After a few games of Connect 4, we chose our books, chugged the rest of our lattes, and set out for more adventure. A tour of the Southampton Agriculture and Forestry Museum with bonus Lionel Train exhibit followed by tours of retailers selling Southampton County’s cash crop… PEANUTS! I’m talking about 3 different spots but the one that stood out the most was The Vine by HUBS Peanuts! Located in an old Farm Fresh Building, The Vine is a local gathering spot jam-packed with a cafe, ice cream, local beer, and wines as well as games and activities like shuffelbaord & a GIANT Battleship board. It’s a relatively new build out but they have a lot of plans for community activation and events to include a collaborative dinner with Commune and the Crop Foundation.

After getting hooked up with a month’s supply of peanuts we set out for some dinner. Conveniently for us, my good friend Nic recently opened up the newish restaurant Serve! A full-service restaurant offering American classics like cheeeesy Mac n Cheese, Crab Cake and Chicken Dinners but, also some new tings like their Coca Cola Glazed Pork Chops!

Food babies and all, we waddled our way out the door and b-lined right for the riverwalk park to well… walk this food off before we made our journey back to Norfolk. The best part about the trip was, we didn’t have to drive hours and thousands of miles to get back home… we were still home in the 757!

Looking for a perfect weekend getaway or perhaps a bit of a “staycation”, add Franklin to that list, fam!