Occoquan

Today a quick outing with friends to a little town called Occoquan in Virginia. Great lunch at a small restaurant called 'Cock and Bowls' (am not making this up, I swear!) and a stroll through the town's many little boutiques and antique shops, dashing from store to store -- mainly to avoid the bitting temps in the low 30s. I'm now the proud owner of an authentic Irish cap, which I just had to make "french" by wearing it with the bill turned backwards. :)

Quick facts about the town: Occoquan means "at the end of the water" and was named by the Dogues Indians, who lived close to the river because of an abundance of fish and the ease of traveling by canoes. The town sported a tobacco warehouse (it is Virginia after all) as early at 1736 and, in 1836, it had one of the first cotton mills in Virginia. The first commercial ice storing house in the area was built there too; the ice was harvested in the winter and stored for later shipment to Washington. Funny how I take my fridge's ice dispenser for granted... :)