Walking in Belvedere

Every day my sons and I go out walking in our neighborhood. Belvedere is a new development, so there are many houses under contruction, which means a lot to look at. I love watching the new homes go up. At first they spring up out of nowhere. Once framed, the progress seems to pause as subcontractors work on the interior. Later the exterior progresses once more, blossoming into a beautiful future home for a future neighbor.

At first I was alarmed at some of the houses. I had loved the houses that had been completed when we first started to consider the neighborhood. Once we moved in it seemed as though they were building "frankenstein" houses. Luckily the builders and architects have more imagination than I have. Each home, once completed, has complemented the neighborhood well. Sometimes just one finishing detail is the difference between a monstrosity and a beauty.

This Labor Day Weekend Nick & I took advantage of a little extra time and explored the trails here at Belvedere. On Sunday we walked down the road toward the manor house. Just before the old house we veered to the left on a road that goes down to the sewer access. I know, this doesn't sound pretty, but all you see of the sewers are a few manhole covers. This runs parallel to the railroad tracks, at one point going down a steep embankment. At the bottom of the embankment you meet up with the Rivanna Trail. We turned left and walked until we found a short spur taking us to a lovely little shell covered beach by the river. We had hoped to swim, but the Rivanna is always low by this point in the summer, so we were out of luck. Instead I rested on a perfect sitting log with the baby while Ezra threw rocks in the water an Nick chased after him.


On Monday we started on the same road. This time we took another road to the right, again meeting up with the Rivanna Trail. We turned right and walked on a gorgeous wooded trail which took us behind Dunlora. Eventually we connected with the Dunlora Farm Road, and came upon their community garden. Here we saw sunny open fields with bales of hay. We continued on the trail and ended up walking all the way to Pen Park. We found a shady spot, threw out our blanket, and enjoyed the snacks we had brought. Ezra found a huge pile of dirt. According to him it was a real "mess!" Dad, who had joined us on the walk, made use of a bench overlooking the river, while Nick joined Jacob and me on the blanket.


I am so happy to find the trails here in Belvedere so beautiful, secluded, well maintained, and best of all, easy to get to! The convenient connection to nature adds a very special element to our new neighborhood.