Northern Virginia is for. . . ……insiders.

I moved to Northern Virginia when I was 10. Coming from New York, I grew up thinking Northern Virginia was a quiet, friendly and boring place - perfect for families. Also, the food was terrible.

But times change.

Sometime around the Great Recession, people started flooding in. And they also flooded out. My childhood home became transient. The popular opinion is that Northern Virginians are cold and cutthroat, but it’s because so many people are nomads here. Swing a bat in Northern Virginia and you’ll hit someone who hasn’t lived here long and who doesn’t plan to stay.

It’s not that people are cold and cutthroats - it’s just that we’re all strangers in a strange land. Northern Virginia has changed - and none of us - natives or transplants - feel like we know this place.

Northern Virginia needs a defender. Rather than stay lost, I wanted to create a map for the new Northern Virginia and highlight our unique culture.

We are not D.C. In fact, we often take great pains not to go into D.C. And don’t even get us started on Maryland.

There are good, even great, people here. We have awesome events, history, and institutions. And there are even some good restaurants too!

What Northern Virginia lacks in continuity, it makes up for in dynamism. Northern Virginia is in the act of reinventing itself, and it’s an exciting time. Northern Virginia Insider is a guide for all of us - bringing the best from Arlington to Fredericksburg. We are all outsiders and now we can all be insiders.

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Please subscribe as we grow and create more content to cover everything in Northern Virginia - from Arlington to Fredericksburg.