Remington - Small Town USA
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8/7/2007
Remington itself hasn't grown much since I left it in my grade school days. I now live on the outskirts of town after many years of being away, commuting to Springfield. There really isn't much yet within Remington to bring you there except perhaps breakfast at the Deli, lunch at The Farmer's Wife, or the Farmer's Market on Friday afternoons.
There are a few more homes than there were 50 years ago, (there's a little over 700 people now instead of about 400) but most of the new housing is tract housing, each growing up around the town as separate communities. These are peopled by commuters to and from Northern Virginia, who do their grocery shopping in nearby Bealeton's Bloom grocery store, or trek to Culpeper's Safeway or all-night Walmart, or perhaps to the Giant or new Safeway in Warrenton.
There are two excellent hardware stores in Remington, but, the prices are necessarily a little higher than what you'd find at the new Home Depot in Warrenton or Lowe's in Culpeper. The few brave souls that attempt to start new businesses and regenerate "downtown," fold before very long due to lack of interest from the surrounding communities ... but they keep trying, thankfully.
The biggest boon for Remington would be to have a commuter train depot located there in one of the big old empty buildings idling by the railroad tracks. But, blue collar residents who drive pickup trucks to do their jobs understandably don't want to pay a gas tax to inable office workers to ride a commuter train to big paying jobs in Northern Virginia.
Unfortunately, there's not much to recommend Remington, including the poor water quality, unless you envision living in a small, pretty, former-farming community halfway between Charlottesville and Northern Virginia that is just waiting for an influx of new business and creative energy. Oh, and if you're interested in the Civil War ~ as there is a lot of history in the former "Rappahannock Station" town and surrounding area.
Juanita | Remington, VA