1. Meet Suffolk’s Most Famous Resident, Mr. Peanut
The Planters Nut and Chocolate Company opened in Suffolk in 1912, and not 30 years later the city had earned the coveted accolade “Peanut Capital of the World.”
A statue of Mr. Peanut stands at the corner of Main and Washington streets, and the Planters Peanut Center is one of Suffolk's most popular tourist attractions. Wonder how much of that peanut brittle actually makes it back home to friends and family? Our guess, none.
2. Suffolk Is Also Home To A Very Nutty Festival
The Suffolk Peanut Festival is far and away the city's biggest annual event. It attracts upward of 125,000 visitors, which is quite a bit higher than the town's population itself.
It's got it all including a parade, rides, games, music, a motorcycle rally, a demolition derby, a peanut butter sculpting contest, the crowning of the Peanut Queen, and everyone's favorite festival feature: food, glorious food. Shrimp, chicken wings, barbeque, and of course all the goobers you can chew.
3. The Great Dismal Swamp Isn't As Gloomy As It Seems, We Swear!
In fact, it offers over 100,000 acres of outdoor recreation, including canoe paddling, fishing, birdwatching, and wildlife spotting. Catfish and warblers, and bears, oh my!
4. Things That Go Bump In The Night
As with many older cities, Suffolk boasts a fair share of spooks. The Suffolk Division of Tourism sponsors the Legends of Main Street ghost walk, where costumed guides escort brave visitors to spectre-ridden sites including the Old Nansemond County Courthouse, Riddick’s Folly and Cedar Hill Cemetery.
Be sure to bring a camera, an EVP recorder, and possibly a spare pair of undies. Speaking for spooks and spirits…
5. Get Some Liquid Courage At The Haunted Hotel Turned Baron’s Pub
What better way to top off a ghost tour than by a visit to a (sort of) haunted pub? Several residents of the Suffolk Towers apartment building, once the 1920's-era Hotel Elliot, have reported being disturbed by invisible, yet unruly, hotel guests who are evidently still refusing to check out.
Baron's Pub, on the building's ground floor, has spirits of the liquid variety and burgers that are quite monstrous...and frighteningly delicious.
6. The Local Farmers' Market Is Fun For The Whole Family
The Suffolk Farmers' Market has a plethora of produce, all fresh and locally-grown, as well as baked goods, dairy and poultry products, jams and jellies and honey and all that good farmers' market-y stuff.
If you're trying to shop with a toddler in tow, however, you'll most likely appreciate the numerous Family Fun Days throughout the season where they entertain the kiddies with face-painting, music, crafts and cute, pettable farm animals.
Now you can at least get the kiddies to stop complaining when you drag them along to the market—when it comes to convincing them to eat all that zucchini you bought, though, you're on your own.
7. O'doodleDoo's Has The Silliest Sounding, But Best-Tasting, Donuts In Town
O'doodleDoo's is the only donut shop in Suffolk that makes its sinkers fresh every day. They're hand-dipped, hand-decorated, and oh-so-yummy.
The rotating menu of over 200 flavors makes it next to impossible to narrow down your choice to just a dozen, much less one. If you go there a couple times a week, though, it should only take you a few months to try them all!
8. Mad About Plaid
Craving some good old fashioned comfort food? Head to the the Plaid Turnip where they serve “comfort food with a twist.”
Thier oh-so tempting menu includes fried green tomato parmesan, Hawaiian bread french toast and an “Irish sundae” stuffed potato. Desserts come courtesy of their sister sweet shop, called (what else?) The Plaid Cupcake.
9. Suffolk Is Techno-Fabulous
Suffolk's high-tech industry began booming in the 1990s, spurred by the presence of the U.S. Joint Forces Command facility. While JFCOM may be gone now, Suffolk is still home to major tech industry players including Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and the Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center.
10. Big Boys Play With War Toys
JCOM's facilities were not left to stand empty, either—they're now occupied by Naval Network Warfare Command, the NNWC Global Network Operations Center Detachment, Navy Cyber Defense Operations Command and Navy Cyber Forces.
Suffolk is also home to the Joint Staff Joint and Coalition Warfighting Center, so Suffolk still retains the title of “Pentagon South.”
11. Ndulge Your Soul
Eclectic Soul Cuisine, they call it, but while the menu has a few unusual items like a breakfast of fried herring and potatoes, they also cover the basics of Southern cooking: fried chicken, ribs, mac 'n' cheese, black-eyed peas and sweet potato pie.
Urbanspoon and Yelp reviewers rave about everything Ndulge has to offer, and with good reason, the food is heavenly here. The only complaint anyone had to make is that they're closed on Wednesdays, but even culinary angels deserve a little time off.
12. Mile High Entertainment
The Virginia Regional Festival Of Flight, as the name implies, brings small aircraft from all over the area to the Suffolk Executive Airport each spring.
There's a competition for show planes of all varieties including the homemade, the antique, the classic, and even restored war planes.
Stunt pilots from Tiger Airshows perform death defying feats of aeronautical acrobatics, and there's even a car and motorcycle show for more down-to-earth attendees who prefer not to have their heads in the clouds.
13. The World (Or At Least Your Dinner) Is Your Oyster
Ersters, in the old Tidewater dialect that you'll still sometimes hear around the region, are a coastal Virginia staple.
The very best way to experience their slimy goodness is at an oyster roast, and Suffolk civic organizations and churches including North Suffolk Rotary, C and H Ruritan Club, the Chuckatuck Ruritan Club and Ebenezer United Methodist Church host these throughout the year—months with an “R” in them excepted, of course.
14. You Can Channel Your Inner Fred Astaire Or Ginger Rogers At Two Step Tidewater
Two Step Tidewater is the go-to place if you want to learn how two can tango. Or waltz, or swing, or samba.
In addition to dance classes, they also offer monthly Saturday evening social dances complete with refreshments and an introductory lesson in case you need to brush up on your footwork to avoid stomping your partner's tootsies.
15. Drivin' That Train
Speaking of trains, Suffolk used to be a big railroad town. At one point it was an interchange for lines including the Norfolk and Petersburg, Portsmouth and Roanoke, Atlantic and Danville, Atlantic Coast and Virginia Railway.
Now the city doesn't rate so much as an Amtrak whistle stop, but the glory days of its railroading past live on at the Suffolk Seaboard Station Railroad Museum.
16. Vintage Tavern Offers The Best in Seasonal Southern Cuisine
Vintage Tavern are downhome locavores, offering gourmet goodies with a southern slant. Their seasonal offerings include items such as a soft shell crab BLT, pork belly with green tomato sauce, lavender crème brûlée and chocolate-covered peanuts with whiskey caramel. The Tavern's annual Pork 'n Pinot Party pairs a selection of wines with a variety of pork products, including charcuterie and wild boar, as well as fresh fish and the ubiquitous oyster.
17. Spooky Southern History
Historic Cedar Hill Cemetery, built circa 1802, is home to a bronze monument to the Confederate dead as well as a fountain once used to water hearse-drawing horses.
The cemetery offers periodic lantern tours throughout the year, and the Nansemond River Garden Club has published a brochure detailing the symbols found on some of the elaborate Victorian tombstones and monuments. The cemetery closes at dusk, though, so no spooky midnight scavenger hunts allowed.
18. Get Your Palate Tipsy At Von Vivant Wine & Brew
Ok, so you've got the pork and pinot pairing down, now you're up for a real challenge – at Bon Vivant Wine and Brew, you can learn what wines and beers pair best with each variety of Girl Scout cookie! The market offers classes, tastings and dinners, as well as the area's best selection of craft brews and fruits of the vine.
19. Fish Are Jumpin'
Throw a line in the water at Bennet's Creek, Lake Drummond, Lake Cohoon, Crane Lake and numerous other local fishin' holes. If you're in luck, you could soon be dining on striped bass, perch, bluegill or even, umm, crappie. Yep, despite the less-than-appetizing name, it's actually quite tasty if you roll it in crumbs and fry it – but then again, what isn't?
20. Start Salivating Now
Harper's Table has bacon tacos. Yes, tacos. With bacon. That you can wash down with a Blue Mountain Lager. Seriously, what more could you possibly need?
What, you want dessert, too? Ok, how about brown butter cake with roasted apples and maple ice cream? Oops, gotta go, just drooled all over my keyboard.
21. In Summertime, The Livin' Is Easy
Easy, yeah, and also free, as in lots of free entertainment. Ebenezer United Methodist Church hosts a community-wide July Fourth celebration, and the fun continues throughout the season with a free Friday night concert series at Constant’s Wharf Park and Marina and Bennett’s Creek Park.
In August, Suffolk's award-winning National Night Out celebration brings all kinds of free fun, food and giveaway goodies to parks and community gathering spaces all across the city.
Feature Image source: Suffolk Peanut Fest via Facebook 
