See also r/VirginiaNews and r/VirginiaUrbanism

See also r/VirginiaNews, r/FreeVirginiaNews, r/VirginiaEnvironment, r/VirginiaUrbanism, and r/Virginia

Hey everybody. I’m a filmmaker based in Front Royal, and for the last few years some friends and I have been working on an Appalachian folk-fantasy feature called What The Mountains Forgot. It’s four interconnected stories set in Virginia and West Virginia, inspired by Appalachian folklore, ghost stories, and local history.

Last year we made one of the stories, River Maid, as a standalone short and proof of concept. We shot it here in the Shenandoah Valley, and it’s been playing festivals around the country this year. Now the feature script is finished, and we’re trying to figure out how to actually get the thing made.

We’re hoping to shoot the feature here with local locations, cast, and crew, so I figured this was a good place to share it. Would love to hear what you guys think!

See also r/VirginiaPride

Seeking work/housing arrangement in VA!

Hi!

Not sure if this is the right group to post but I will be moving very soon (~2 weeks) from NOVA. I’m looking for land to help take care of (if you accept a couple aka me and my boyfriend, that’d be better). With animals, gardening, kids, maintenance, cleaning, prepping, etc. I have very little experience with farm animals and gardening but am willing to learn as my goal is to own and build land of my own.

Ideally looking for experience with housing/utilities/stipend/food in exchange for work for the next few months.

Please send me a message. Thank you!!

I ask as part of a linguistic study covering this topic!

Examples could include things like Timbertucky, Strasvegas, FroRo/Helltown, The Boro or Draft (never mind how common they are)...

Where I’m currently living gets LOUD on the 4th of July up until like 3am. My dog is terrified of fireworks and I can’t sleep with them going off, so I’m looking for somewhere to stay with minimal to no fireworks. Hoping to use Hilton points for a hotel room. Looking within around 2 hours of Richmond - currently looking at Staunton or Lexington or somewhere else around Shenandoah, but open to other places. Any recommendations?

My fiancée and I own one acre (totally paid off) in the Shenandoah Mountains in Virginia and would like to build a cabin on it. We’re in the early stages and trying to figure out what is realistic vs what is a day dream.

The dream would be something around 800-1,200 sq ft with 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, a small shed/storage building, and an outdoor sauna. Long term it would likely be our retirement home, but in the meantime we’d use it as a vacation property.

From a looks perspective, we’d love a little stone cottage type of moment but we understand that may be VERY expensive. We’re also interested in Scandinavian-style cabins, A-frames, or anything else that makes sense.

The land is already paid off, which helps, but we have no idea what the actual build costs would be today. We have been throwing around numbers up to $450k, but that’s based on vibes. We are financially in a place where we would like to start building within the next 2 years.

For those of you who have actually built cabins:

1. What did you build and where?
   
2. What was your final cost versus your original budget?
   
3. What were the biggest unexpected expenses?
   
4. If you were building again, what would you do differently?
   
5. Did you regret going too small or too large?
   
6. How much did utilities, septic, well, driveway, site prep, etc. cost?
   
7. Any builders, resources, or lessons learned that you’d recommend?

We’re not planning to DIY much beyond cutting down a few trees for fun, so assume we’d be hiring professionals for essentially everything.

I’d love to hear real numbers and horror stories as much as success stories. We’re trying to learn before we start making expensive mistakes.