Home
Description
This week on Tidewater Talk, we covered a wide mix of Coastal Virginia stories, from another round of flash flooding in Norfolk to West Nile virus turning up in mosquitoes across multiple Virginia Beach neighborhoods. We also talked through a headline-making lawsuit involving a former Norfolk police officer and her privacy complaint against the department, and then shifted into one of our favorite lanes: the strange and memorable corners of local history. This week’s “Strange and Odd of Tidewater” spotlight was Portsmouth’s long-running Winter Wonderland animatronic Christmas display, a community-loved holiday attraction with roots going back decades and a story that includes fire, restoration, and a second life at the Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center.
We also shared the latest local forecast, with comfortable mid-80s temperatures, storm chances building later in the week, and an eye on two tropical disturbances in the Atlantic. To wrap things up, we swapped a few Tidewater tips for the weekend, including Maker Fest Portsmouth, the East Coast Surfing Championships, a “dive-in” screening of Finding Nemo at Ocean Breeze Waterpark, and Moth Night at Norfolk Botanical Garden. Plus, we dropped a new local history trivia clue centered on the Great Dismal Swamp.
Where in Tidewater
- In 1763 a young George Washington rode down here, looked the place over, and called it a glorious paradise. Then he and eleven other Virginians started a company to drain it, cut it up, and sell it off. It did not work. Two hundred and sixty years later it still has not worked.
- The oldest hand-dug waterway still in use anywhere in this country runs right along its edge, twenty-two miles of it, dug by enslaved workers standing waist-deep in mud between 1793 and 1805. And there is a five-mile ditch cut straight through the middle of this place that still carries Washington's name.
- For about two hundred years, people who had freed themselves from slavery lived out on the dry islands in the middle of it. Whole communities, some of them born out there and never leaving. Archaeologists have dug up their cabins. Today the whole thing is a national wildlife refuge, a hundred and twelve thousand acres, and the line between Suffolk and Chesapeake runs right through it.
News
Description
Brodie and Co cover free ADA beach wheelchairs at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront and Sandbridge, a fourth shift for Norfolk Fire Rescue, a beachy clean at Lafayette Park, and the nine to two vote on the Virginia Beach golf course.
Strange and Odd heads to Suffolk, where Mr. Peanut was drawn by a thirteen year old for five dollars.
Where in Tidewater answers with the World's Oldest Edible Ham at the Isle of Wight County Museum in Smithfield, and Co sets a new one hiding under the same roof.
Plus the Wells Theatre, Atlantic Comic Con, and the Norfolk Waterfront Jazz Festival.
If you're in Coastal Virginia, this is your weekly mix of local news, odd history, and things worth leaving the house for.
Where in Tidewater
- It shares the exact same "roof" as the 1902 World's Oldest Ham, sitting in a neighboring display case.
- It is even older than the ham, dating all the way back to 1890. It was originally grown by a farmer named A.B. Scott, but was pocketed and dated by the very same peanut merchant, P.D. Gwaltney Sr., to use as a marketing tool for his business.
- Like its ham neighbor, it has also been featured by Ripley's Believe It or Not! and was recently 3D-scanned by anthropologists so people around the world could study its historic wrinkles.
News
Description
This week on Tidewater Talk, Brodie checked in with Co while fighting through a summer cold, and we still packed the episode with plenty of local updates from around coastal Virginia. We talked about the sudden flooding in Norfolk’s Ghent neighborhood, where a highly localized storm dumped inches of rain in just a few hours, and we highlighted Norfolk’s new free Norfolk 101 Citizens Academy, an eight-week evening program that gives residents an inside look at city services, public safety, utilities, and more.
For this week’s Strange and Odd of Tidewater, we dug into the wild history behind Naval Station Norfolk: the world’s largest naval base was built on the grounds of the failed 1907 Jamestown Exposition at Sewells Point. We explored how abandoned fair infrastructure helped create the base and how several state pavilions still stand today on Admiral’s Row. We also shared a few local tips for the week ahead, including the Soulful Vegan Festival at Mount Trashmore, a wellness festival in Suffolk, a Surfers Healing benefit at Atlantic Park, Josh Groban with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and Neptune’s Coastal Craft Beer Festival. We wrapped with a new clue-based segment for listeners to solve before next week’s episode, and celebrated hitting our 80th episode.
Where in Tidewater
- There is something inside this building that was made in 1902, and it is still, technically, edible.
- It wears a brass collar. It has been in Ripley's Believe It or Not three separate times. And it was once insured for five thousand dollars.
- You'll find it in a 1913 bank building on Main Street, in a town whose name shows up on more American breakfast tables than any other town in Virginia.
Tidewater Tips
- WTCSB Community Day
- Soulful vegan festival mount trashmore
- Oceanfront Concert Series: Watchhouse
- Beach Blanket Cinema
- Oceanfront Fireworks
- Mid-Atlantic Black Farmers Market
- Neptune's 11th Annual Coastal Craft Beer Festival
- Josh Groban with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra
- Naval Station Norfolk Bus Tour (ties to today's Strange and Odd)
- Fyre Festival
Description
This week on Tidewater Talk, we covered a mix of local news, seasonal updates, and Tidewater trivia. We talked about the USS Nimitz making its final visit before decommissioning in 2027 and reflected on how ships can take on a personality of their own for the people who served on them. We also highlighted Virginia's tax-free weekend, including deals on school supplies, clothing, hurricane preparedness items, and select energy-efficient products, plus a fascinating ODU project: a remote-controlled tick-killing rover being tested to help reduce tick populations on local trails.
We also dug into one of the region's strangest stories: Lake Drummond, the natural lake sitting high in the middle of the Great Dismal Swamp, known for its dark red tannin-stained water and rich local lore. To wrap things up, we shared this week's weather outlook: hot, humid, and mostly dry after a slight midweek rain chance, and a roundup of local happenings, including Summer Bash at Mount Trashmore, the Boss Babe Market at COVA, the new free historical village on the Dismal Swamp Canal Trail, the Oceanfront Concert Series, Beach Blanket Cinema, The Wreck of the Dictator, and a free Celtic performance at Zeiders.
Tidewater Tips
- Summer Bash at Mount Trashmore
- Boss Babe Market at COVA Brewing
- VBGigs Presents Scotland and the Celtic Isles at Zeiders
- Free Historical Village on the Dismal Swamp Canal Trail
- Oceanfront Concert Series: The 502s
- Beach Blanket Cinema: Zootopia 2
- The Wreck of the Dictator
- Yorktown Market Days
- Oceanfront Concert Series: Watchhouse
- Oceanfront Fireworks