Connecting Communities This Fall: Your Guide to Exploring Hampton Roads
Fall in Hampton Roads is mostly a state of mind.
The calendar says September. The stores say Halloween. Your morning says sweater. By noon, the sweater has been abandoned in the back seat because it is 84 degrees and apparently we got too confident.
Still, we believe.
We believe in crisp air. We believe in changing leaves. We believe that this will finally be the weekend we leave our immediate five-mile radius and do something besides visit the same Target.
This fall, goCommute is encouraging Hampton Roads residents to explore more of the region and reconsider how they get there. Not because every outing needs to become an elaborate transportation experiment, but because the way we travel affects what we notice, where we stop, and who we meet along the way.
Hampton Roads is not one place. It is a collection of cities, neighborhoods, waterfronts, campuses, business districts, and communities that are close enough to share a region but occasionally far enough apart that crossing the water feels like a formal commitment.
There is probably a neighborhood you have never walked through, a local business you keep meaning to visit, or an entire city you only see through your windshield.
Let’s fix that.
Choose your preferred fall mood and go explore.
Your Mood: “I Want to Be Near Water, but I Have Already Seen the Ocean”
We love the Oceanfront. We also acknowledge that the Atlantic Ocean is not the only water available to us.
Photo Credit: Unsplash.com/Richard r
Spend an afternoon exploring the Elizabeth River waterfront between Norfolk and Portsmouth. Walk through Downtown Norfolk, visit Town Point Park, or follow part of the Cannonball Trail, a self-guided route through hundreds of years of Norfolk history. You can also search for the city’s mermaids, which turns a normal walk into a scavenger hunt with significantly more nautical body glitter.
Then take the Elizabeth River Ferry across the water and continue exploring Olde Towne Portsmouth. Browse the shops and restaurants along High Street, walk the waterfront, or simply enjoy the novelty of reaching another city without entering a tunnel.
The ferry is transportation, but it also feels like an activity. This is especially useful if you are traveling with children, who do not need to know that you have successfully disguised regional mobility as entertainment.
Your Mood: “I Want Fall, Immediately”
Maybe the leaves are still green. Maybe the temperature is deeply disrespectful. That does not mean you cannot manufacture your own seasonal experience.
Pick a farmers' market, fall festival, outdoor concert, craft fair, or pumpkin-related gathering somewhere outside your usual routine. Invite friends or family and share the ride.
Carpooling to an event is one of the easiest ways to test a smarter commute in Hampton Roads. There is no complicated weekday schedule to coordinate. You need one group chat, one meeting location, and one person willing to accept that their vehicle will contain several beverages of an aggressively seasonal nature.
Sharing the ride in Hampton Roads also reduces the number of cars your group brings into crowded event parking. Instead of circling separately and sending increasingly unhelpful texts like “I’m near a tree,” you arrive together.
As a bonus, the conversation begins before the event instead of during the first 20 minutes, when everyone is still locating each other.
Your Mood: “I Want to Walk Around Somewhere Cute”
Excellent. Hampton Roads has SO many options.
Choose a walkable district and give yourself permission to wander without a detailed itinerary. Try Downtown Smithfield, Phoebus, Historic Downtown Suffolk, Hilton Village in Newport News, or Merchants Square and the surrounding Colonial Williamsburg Historic Area.
Park once, or use transit when it is available, and explore on foot. Stop at a coffee shop. Browse a bookstore or local shop. Find lunch somewhere you have never tried. Read the historical marker you have driven past 40 times without absorbing a single word.
Will you accidentally walk much farther than intended because someone said the next shop was “right there”? Possibly. Pro tip: Wear reasonable shoes.
Unsplash.com/fallon Michael
Your Mood: “I Need to See a Tree”
Fair.
Fall is an excellent time to explore Hampton Roads by bike or on foot because the temperature may eventually stop behaving like a personal threat.
Wander through Windsor Castle Park in Smithfield. Visit the Noland Trail in Newport News. Check out First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach, or a community park closer to home. Take a short neighborhood walk somewhere new rather than waiting until you have enough time, energy, and specialized equipment to become an Outdoors Person.
You do not need to complete an entire trail. This is recreation, not a test of character.
Your Mood: “I Want to Go Somewhere, but Planning Is Ruining It”
We understand.
Try Community Roulette.
Write down several Hampton Roads destinations, neighborhoods or activities you have not visited recently. Pick one. That is the entire planning process.
If complete randomness makes you uncomfortable, choose from three categories:
Somewhere you have never been
Somewhere you have not visited in at least three years
Somewhere you normally pass on the way to something else
Then look for one different way to make the trip. Invite someone to ride with you. Meet at a Park & Ride lot. Take a bus or light rail for part of the journey. Bring bikes. Park farther away and walk through the surrounding neighborhood.
You do not have to plan the most efficient day ever attempted by a human. The point is to break the habit of moving through the region the same way every time.
Unsplash.com/brett jordan
Your Mood: “I Would Love to Do This, but I Do Not Know Where to Start”
Hi hello, that is exactly why goCommute services are a thing!
goCommute helps Hampton Roads residents find commuter solutions that fit their actual trips, including ridesharing, transit, Park & Ride options, biking, and walking. ConnectingVA can help users find ridematches and track eligible trips, while regional transit tools can help you plan travel by bus, ferry or light rail.
These resources are often associated with the trip to work but learning how to navigate Hampton Roads differently can change more than your commute. Once you know where the ferry goes, which bus route serves your neighborhood, or how to reach a destination by bike, that option becomes available for errands, events, and weekend trips too.
Just choose one place and make the trip part of the experience.
This fall, visit the community across the water. Walk through the neighborhood you usually drive past. Bring a friend. Try the ferry. Stop at the small business you have been “meaning to check out” since 2022.
Hampton Roads is connected by more than roads, bridges, and tunnels. It is connected by the people who move between its communities every day.
Go see what has been right around you this whole time.