Things to Do in Centreville

Course architect Gary Player remarked that Raspberry Plain, once an 18th-century plantation, “was made for a golf course.” Inspired by this ideal setting, he dreamed up the links-style course at Raspberry Falls Golf & Hunt Club, whose meandering brooks, stone walls, and stacked-sod bunkers evoke Scotland, while its vista of the Catoctin Mountains remind players they’re in Virginia. Farther south, Augustine Golf Club's award-winning course rivals Raspberry Falls’ natural beauty with its distinctive par 4s sculpted by Rick Jacobson. Although the greens at Augustine declined for a few years, recent renovations have restored the course to its former glory, once again luring golfers to its babbling streams and forest.

These golf havens have more than picturesque views in common—they are two of six award-winning courses united by Raspberry Golf Management’s portfolio, which stretches from Virginia to Pennsylvania and skips over to Arizona. Gary Player’s design team for Raspberry Falls included Tim Freeland, who went on to design two of the firm’s other courses: Royal Manchester Golf Links, whose bentgrass fairways sidle up to the Susquehanna River, and Old Hickory Golf Club, a parkland-style course crisscrossed by Beaver Creek. The management company's other gems include The Legacy Golf Resort, where cowboys used to ride their rocking horses around a 7,500-acre ranch, and Bull Run Golf Club, which sprawls across more than 450 acres of meadows and woodlands at the foot of the Bull Run Mountains.

In 2002, Mike Southard took a leap of faith worthy of The Dukes of Hazzard. He left a career in the elevator industry and decided to pursue his true passion: stock-car driving. Southard launched Try It Racing and On Track Racing Experience, determined to share with others the thrill he had felt many times in the victory lane of late-model stock-car races. His business has grown from a few humble events and clients each year to a fully packed schedule at some of the country's longest running and most renowned racetracks. Some things haven't changed, however—you can still find Southard behind the wheel of the two-seat ride-along car, taking patrons around curves and straightaways at top speed.

Adrenaline fiends satisfy their cravings while driving or riding around tracks such as Orange County Speedway, where industry legends Jeff Gordon and Scott Riggs have burned their share of rubber. A professional photographer and in-car video cameras can capture the excitement at each event, memorializing guests' wide-open eyes, exhilarated smiles, and high-intensity games of I Spy.

Since 1973, skaters have been sailing effortlessly across Fairfax Ice Arena’s spacious, icy surface during public skate sessions, figure skating–lessons, and hockey leagues for all ages. At the family-owned arena, a staff of dedicated skating coaches guides students while calling upon experience from the St. Petersburg State Ballet on Ice, Disney on Ice, and the lesser-known On Golden Pond on Ice. The arena is open throughout the year, hosting a full hockey and figure skating–pro shop in addition to its Arena Café.

PGA instructor Kevin Hamluk tailors golf instruction to the individual swing habits and physical limitations of his students, demonstrating a successful approach that earned him a spot as a finalist in the 2012 Best Young Teacher awards from Golf Digest. Kevin works with his students to develop a dependable swing that fits their bodies and improves their ability to ward off feral flagsticks. Along with providing private lessons on the range, Kevin offers clinics that cover the full-swing, short-game, or putting techniques and online video lessons that involve students sending him videos of their swings for analysis, corrective feedback, and a direct line to casting agents.

Rivers are difficult to navigate without a watercraft or a fish tail, which is why the owners of Rivershore Charters launched their 50-foot pontoon boat, the Miss Rivershore, to provide customers an enjoyable way of experiencing the scenic Occoquan River. Accommodating up to 46 passengers, the Miss Rivershore floats down the Occoquan, a river banked by lush, flourishing greenery and stately homes, for private charters, fishing excursions, and bird-watching tours.

During relaxed jaunts downriver, as eagles, ospreys, and herons patrol the skies or trick raccoons into selling their valuables for a song, the ship's captain relates historical anecdotes and intriguing tidbits about landmarks. As fans of the local food scene, crew members also happily ferry passengers to and from riverside eateries and can serve beer and wine onboard.