Thoughts on a vacation home in VA Northern Neck?

[Anonymous]

We are considering a waterfront vacation home in the Northern Neck. It’s in Weems, on both the Corrotoman and Rappahannock Rivers. It’s near Kilmarnock, Irvington & White Stone, not far from the Bay. Anyone have thoughts on the area? It looks beautiful and serene. Is there anything we should consider, from the perspective of those who have more experience?

[Anonymous]

Are you in DC? We live in DC and have a house in Irvington on Carter’s Creek. We love it, but it is usually a solid 3 hr drive, especially in the summer. The drive sometimes feels a bit long for a regular weekend. For 3 day weekends, it’s more reasonable. It’s beautiful and fun. The kids love it too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are considering a waterfront vacation home in the Northern Neck. It’s in Weems, on both the Corrotoman and Rappahannock Rivers. It’s near Kilmarnock, Irvington & White Stone, not far from the Bay. Anyone have thoughts on the area? It looks beautiful and serene. Is there anything we should consider, from the perspective of those who have more experience?

Weems is a nice area. My advice is to buy a boat as soon as possible and embrace the boating culture. Make sure your property can be accessed easily by boat (adequate water depth, etc.) Also understand that there are fewer choices and options for everything down there. Make sure you have a good internet provider (not satellite). Also, many businesses are seasonal and repairmen, plumbers, etc. often take days off during hunting season or fishing tournaments and are unavailable when you need them.

[Anonymous]

We own a waterfront home in Colonial Beach the last poster is SPOT ON. Colonial Beach is probably the only real city in Northern Neck. Help is really hard to get. All the trades are booked out and some aren't very good.

We bought in Colonial Beach because it's only 1.5 hours vs 3-4 hours. At that kind of drive you might as well be in Delaware or Virginia Beach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are considering a waterfront vacation home in the Northern Neck. It’s in Weems, on both the Corrotoman and Rappahannock Rivers. It’s near Kilmarnock, Irvington & White Stone, not far from the Bay. Anyone have thoughts on the area? It looks beautiful and serene. Is there anything we should consider, from the perspective of those who have more experience?

Weems is a nice area. My advice is to buy a boat as soon as possible and embrace the boating culture. Make sure your property can be accessed easily by boat (adequate water depth, etc.) Also understand that there are fewer choices and options for everything down there. Make sure you have a good internet provider (not satellite). Also, many businesses are seasonal and repairmen, plumbers, etc. often take days off during hunting season or fishing tournaments and are unavailable when you need them.

Thought of a few more things ... buy a whole house generator b/c you will lose power frequently and without one you will have no (well) water.
Line up a local handyman/painter/landscaper who you trust and can call on to check on your property after storms and clean up trees, debris, etc.
Make sure you either winterize your property (turn off the water) or install a water leak detector with auto water shut off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are considering a waterfront vacation home in the Northern Neck. It’s in Weems, on both the Corrotoman and Rappahannock Rivers. It’s near Kilmarnock, Irvington & White Stone, not far from the Bay. Anyone have thoughts on the area? It looks beautiful and serene. Is there anything we should consider, from the perspective of those who have more experience?

Weems is a nice area. My advice is to buy a boat as soon as possible and embrace the boating culture. Make sure your property can be accessed easily by boat (adequate water depth, etc.) Also understand that there are fewer choices and options for everything down there. Make sure you have a good internet provider (not satellite). Also, many businesses are seasonal and repairmen, plumbers, etc. often take days off during hunting season or fishing tournaments and are unavailable when you need them.

Thought of a few more things ... buy a whole house generator b/c you will lose power frequently and without one you will have no (well) water.
Line up a local handyman/painter/landscaper who you trust and can call on to check on your property after storms and clean up trees, debris, etc.
Make sure you either winterize your property (turn off the water) or install a water leak detector with auto water shut off.

Sounds like one GIANT headache.

[Anonymous]

This is all really helpful! Thank you! For water depth re boating, how deep is generally deep enough?

[Anonymous]

Looks like the internet provider is Atlantic Broadband. Anyone have any experience with them? Would need to have our two kids on virtual school while we work when there for a long weekend or whatever, so high-speed Internet is a must-have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is all really helpful! Thank you! For water depth re boating, how deep is generally deep enough?

Depends how big your boat is!! Seriously... depends on sailboat (need deeper water) versus power boat. For power boats, it also depends on size of boat (draft) and type of propulsion (outboard, i/o, jet boat, etc).

i'd think 4 feet depth at low tide should be good for all but the big sailboats.

[Anonymous]

The jellyfish are terrible down there by mid-summer if your family likes to swim/tube/ski.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looks like the internet provider is Atlantic Broadband. Anyone have any experience with them? Would need to have our two kids on virtual school while we work when there for a long weekend or whatever, so high-speed Internet is a must-have.

Are you sure AB has already run cable to your Weems neighborhood? If yes that is great. Many folks down there are still dependent on satellite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The jellyfish are terrible down there by mid-summer if your family likes to swim/tube/ski.

This. Also, be aware that the river can flood. My sister has a house down there and while it's beautiful, it floods every year (they are on a very level lot). She loves it though, and I'm envious of her second home during COVID!

[Anonymous]

All of this is super helpful! Welcome the good the bad and the ugly!! Anyone know if InstaCart from the Food Lion is an option down there for real (looked like it from the InstaCart website, but not sure I trust that)?

We are more kayakers, crabbers, and fishers than tubers at the moment, so hoping the jellyfish won’t be a huge problem. If anyone has any feedback on kayaking would love to hear! House we are considering is next to a shallow cove in the river so looks like it should be good for kayaking there at least.

Also, anyone have experience getting medical services down there? Stitches for little things, broken bones, or bigger (with the pandemic, should figure this out on the front end).

[Anonymous]

We have a house in Colonial Beach also. I am surprised the CB is a dump poster hasn’t swooped in yet! We love it. We aren’t boaters (that is what friends are for) but more kayakers and crabbers. We take the kayaks out to check our crab pots and have the fishing versions so do that too. Lots of places to find. Westmoreland State park is amazing. People are friendly but definitely island time down there. We had a great electrician who we finally just gave him a key since he clearly couldn’t keep a schedule.

There is an urgent care on King George we have used but medical care is really in Fredericksburg. Not sure about Instacart but in CB there is a guy who delivers everything from your grocery order to take out. Other areas may have that too. If you find yourself down there it is well worth poking your head into Hall’s. The best privately owned grocery store around. It is so easy to get to and they are expanding the bridge which means the place will take off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of this is super helpful! Welcome the good the bad and the ugly!! Anyone know if InstaCart from the Food Lion is an option down there for real (looked like it from the InstaCart website, but not sure I trust that)?

We are more kayakers, crabbers, and fishers than tubers at the moment, so hoping the jellyfish won’t be a huge problem. If anyone has any feedback on kayaking would love to hear! House we are considering is next to a shallow cove in the river so looks like it should be good for kayaking there at least.

Also, anyone have experience getting medical services down there? Stitches for little things, broken bones, or bigger (with the pandemic, should figure this out on the front end).

I'd be shocked if Instacart was an option and the Food Lion in Kilmarnock is the third choice supermarket (behind Tri-Star and Walmart).

Rapphannock Hospital in Kilmarnock is your nearby hospital (member of Bon Secours Health System) It has 35 beds and is fine for minor issues. Richmond and Fredericksburg are better for more serious health issues.