Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Neighbors



These past few days have been chock-a-block full of interesting news articles about our plum crazy interesting little neck of the woods here in the Tidewater area of Virginia. In addition to yesterday's story about live blue crabs clickety-clacking all over Interstate 64, we also had a "light plane crash" in Gloucester (nobody was injured).

Last but certainly not least there is this:

Daily Press
By Matt Sabo
11:25 p.m. EDT, October 22, 2009

MATHEWS - Rumors may or may not prove true, but property deeds don't lie.

The hot topic lately around Mathews is that Tom Cruise and his wife, Katie Holmes, have forked out $16 million for "Green Plains," a 643-acre estate on the North River with a seven-bedroom brick mansion.

It's certainly not beyond the realm of possibility. Presumably the man whose movie credits run from "Top Gun" to "Mission Impossible" to "Jerry Maguire" has the money.

He's also no stranger to these parts, having filmed the 2002 movie "Minority Report" in nearby Ware Neck — across the North River from Green Plains in Gloucester. Locals say he fell in love with the area and Ware Neckians count Cruise as a friend.

"They call him by his first name," said Donna Vaughn, who runs Nuttall Country Store in Ware Neck. "Apparently he was very friendly with everybody."

He even signed a photograph of himself and director Steven Spielberg that hangs in the store: "Every town in America should have a store like this," Cruise wrote.

But, sorry, TomKat watchers: No purchase has been made.

That's not to say Cruise isn't sniffing around Mathews, and specifically Green Plains.

__________________________________________

CBW's unnecessary editorial remarks here.

Mathews is no stranger to famous people owning or possibly owning or not owning but looking or not looking and not owning or considering but not really considering owning property in the county.

(Dear 11th Grade English Teacher, Mrs. McD., I do not hold you responsible for that embarrassment of a sentence which required color coding to decipher. You did an excellent job of teaching. Some of us, however, lost all ability to censor stray thoughts and punctuate thanks to being stressed out parents over the age of OLD.)

Regarding Tom "sniffing around Mathews" hopefully he will not do so at low tide on Queen's Creek or on a sweltering, humid day at the dump.


The End.


p.s. Do you know anything about famous people/celebrities owning property in Mathews? If you're not from here, do you have celebrities in your midst? If not, what favorite celebrity would you want to call your neighbor? (Meg cannot say Harry Connick, Jr. She has to pick someone else. It's a long, highly competitive story.)

14 comments:

Occasional Kate said...

I miss Mrs McD. She was a wonderful drama teacher. I have to tell my brother about this story since he works for the guy who would be TomKat's "neighbor". Of course, they're typical guys, so neither of them would care, but still! My best celebrity story is from a 7th grade field trip with Judy Rowe to the capitol building in Richmond, and us girls were waiting for the restroom, and across the way Doug Wilder came out of an elevator and said hello to us.

Annie said...

I once sat next to a popular (Australian) singer on a plane (Johnny O'Keefe)..he just went to sleep! (me being me, didn't know who he was until later!!!
Various famous people have lived around the suburb, including Aussie cricketers, the owner of a famous jewellery store down the road, and an ambassador around the corner. No-one to write home about really. Probably more people I don't even know about.

Perhaps, with your permission, we could all move in with you (or camp with the fiddlers crabs) when Harry moves in next door...I presume that means he would be staying with your parents?

Failing Harry (sigh..I know I'm too old)..I don't know...mmm..decisions decisions...I think I'll have to get back to you! I'll let you know!

Noe Noe Girl...A Queen of all Trades. said...

I dont know anyone in Mathews but down the road a piece from the Big Woods lives Big Hair Envy! She's a famous hot chocolateer!

Meg McCormick said...

They call him by his first name?

I love small town newspapers.

mom x 2 said...

Ummm, I don't know anyone famous, or live next to anyone famous, although I do work with a lady who lives down the street from Chris Brown. Not that, THAT is something to be proud of, but I guess he is famous.

See, I can ramble too :)

Daryl said...

Being a New Yawker and someone who had worked in the 'biz' and has friends who work in the 'biz' and whose husband when he isnt Toon'ing works in the 'biz' I can name names, babe, I can name names. I will just name one now. Bernadette Peters. She is my BFF's sister and often, okay ONCE, she did this once, okay and I have been dining out on it ever since, refers/refer'd to me as her 'other sister'. I bet she knows Harry

Mental P Mama said...

Harry Connick Jr. lives here in Fairfield County;) That guy who was trying to extort money from David Letterman lives near me. How's that?

Pueblo girl said...

My neighbour once got talked about a lot for painting his house exterior lime green, sky blue and lilac. Does that count as famous?

Actually, I'm the famous neighbour around here. A few years ago I went to a bar in the local village, and the man serving, having established that I was English and assumed I was a tourist (I suppose), started telling me about another English woman who lived further up the valley. He told me how long she had been living there, what her job was, and how she came to be living there. I must have been even slower than usual, because it was a while before I realised he was talking about me. And it's quite usual here for people to say, on first meeting me, "Oh, so you're the English woman..". We're talking major backwater...

abb said...

No thoughts on that one. Pretty happy living my mundane little no-celebrity-filled life.

WV: dicaspel, I screwed up and now my WV id clionde.

foolery said...

I told you this already, so forgive me, but Cal Worthington lives in Orland. You kind of have to be from California to know Cal, but if you type his name into YouTube you'll get the idea. AWESOME.

Otherwise, Orland is celebrity-free. I think we're celebrity repellent, actually. Perhaps we could bottle it for sale?

Country Girl said...

You know, the whole Tom Cruise thing isn't such a bad deal. Although Mr. Cruise is not really my cup of tea, I think he actually loves the area (according to what I've read). He's been all over the world and you know what it's like when you come to a place and immediately you know . . . you just know that there's something magic about it? I think that's what it is. I don't think he'd be such a bad neighbor, actually.

Anonymous said...

John Lennon did own a house in Mathews in the late 1970s. My parents went there once--my mom was teaching for Mathews Co. at the time and John Lennon got a tax break for letting the county use his property for special events. He, sadly, was not home.

Chesapeake Bay Woman said...

Kate- Wow, it's great to hear from others who have knowledge of the area. Speaking of Mrs. Rowe, I saw her last night at the Gwynn's Island Civic Center. What a wonderful lady. Thanks for commenting.

Annie-You have quite the line-up of impressive people living in your suburb. Perhaps we should schedule an Aussie BLog Fest...2012? 2010 is going to be in Mathews again; 2011 might be at TS Annie's Missouri place, but as it stands right now 2012 is unspoken for. That will give me enough time to get my passport, which I've been meaning to renew for thirty thousand years now.

NOe Noe-CAn't wait to read BHE's post on the chocolate party. And also can't wait to see you Friday night.

Meg-If you can believe it, that is not even the local/local paper, it's a regional paper that includes more of the urban areas. Usually Mathews is hardly ever mentioned, this time it was front page.

momx2 - Isn't Chris from Tappahannock? I have a friend from work who knows of him too, she lives in that vicinity.

Daryl, we have to talk. I'm going to kidnap BHE and we're taking a train to NYC as soon as possible. Give Harry a heads up...

MPM-OK, that does it. Big Hair and I will need to discuss coming up there when we meet on Friday night to talk about Oyster FEstival.

Pueblo Girl-Now that is impressive. That's a great story..would make a good blog post (hint hint).

TSA-No celebrities in Cayman? Plus if you're anywhere near MPM then by default you're near Harry which means make up the guest bedroom because here I come!

Foolery-Grandma J. knows who Cal is (and by the way she has the same crud you're trying to recover from, it sounds like - been sick for days now). Good idea on the repellant. Maybe it will work on fiddler crabs too.

CG-I agree and it would be sort of nice having someone local who could advise us on the Blog Fest movie, too.

Anonymous-Yes, I'd heard about Lennon/Yoko Ono owning property here. There was also a place rumored to be owned by Magnum P.I. (whatever his name is), but somebody said once on here that wasn't true. Wouldn't it have been something if John had been there when your parents visited? Now you have me curious as to who your mother is. Anyway, thanks for commenting and contributing.

Survived Tuesday. Slowly but surely we're plodding through the work week. Have a great evening.

Meg McCormick said...

I'm totally in for that trip to MPM's neck of the woods to stalk, I mean glimpse, my Other Husband Harry. Hey, CBW, will you take a photo of us together? Thanks, you're a peach!