Let me show you around Charlottesville

Central Virginia is not just a place to live, it’s a place to love living.

Everything you could want is here. Target, Kmart, Wal-Mart and a chain restaurant smorgasbord vie for your dollar against boutiques, small businesses and a host of excellent, locally owned eateries from lunch counters to fine dining.

Here the mountaintop vistas of the Blue Ridge Parkway balance the peaceful pastures of the Ivy Creek Natural Area and both offer an alternative to the funky, neo-grunge of the Downtown Mall with its free Friday evening concerts and food from Oaxaca to Shaanxi.

Less than an hour away is a get-away walk through Shenandoah National Park, the George Washington National Forest or the Appalachian Trail. A few minutes away is a hide-away walk on the Rivanna Trail that nearly circles the city, providing a wild environment in a developed landscape.

World-class physicians are standing by to serve your medical needs, as are alternative healing providers. There are coffee shops and art in places you’d least expect. Here, there is history not just in books but in bricks, from Monticello and Thomas Jefferson to Montpelier and James Madison, with Ash Lawn-Highland and James Monroe as well.

You could get a case of bookworms by taking continuing education courses in the city and county schools, the University of Virginia and Piedmont Virginia Community College. You could train for a long-distance running race.

Go ahead, rock out at big-name concerts at the Downtown Pavilion and the John Paul Jones Arena. Get class at the remodeled Paramount Theater. Watch others sweat for your pleasure at UVa sporting events from Atlantic Coast Conference football and basketball to championship-caliber soccer, lacrosse and baseball teams.

There’s much to do in Central Virginia and that’s why Welcome is here. Let us guide you with vital statistics, events and things to do as you look for your place in this great place to live.

Welcome home.