Northern Neck Author Writes About Unique Area Houses On TheLocalAccent.com

On January 4, 2010, TheLocalAccent.com will begin a series by architect Steve Reiss on some of the interesting houses that dot the counties on Virginia's Northern Neck.

After completing a thirty-year career with a major firm in the Washington DC area, Reiss retired to devote his time to writing and consulting. He is now working on a book about Frank Lloyd Wright for University Press of Virginia.

In 2003, while paging through the Washingtonian magazine, Reiss saw an ad for a house in Irvington. He'd never heard of the Northern Neck. But he always thought he'd like a retreat in the country, so he drove out. He was hooked the moment he toured the house on Chesapeake Drive. "I immediately felt at home," he says. The plan to live in the city and visit the country was suddenly turned on its head.

Since moving to Irvington, Virginia in 2007 Reiss has been riding the roads of the Northern Neck on his bicycle. What he noticed on these expeditions fascinated him. "I found that I was looking at the history of American architecture right here on the Northern Neck," he says.

It isn't just homes that are considered 'historic' that interest Reiss. He believes many places, regardless of when they were built, have interesting stories behind them.

"People change houses, but houses also change people," Reiss says. "I want to give readers a sense of how this dynamic has worked."

Reiss's series will appear quarterly on The Local Accent.com, an on-line magazine focusing on the people and places of Virginia's Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula. To access Reiss's articles, or for more information about The Local Accent.com, visit www.thelocalaccent.com.