Fun fact: Thomas Jefferson lived in Goochland County for much of his childhood and returned to visit several times as an adult.

Download this handy map of Goochland County.

❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️

After visiting Goochland County, our pack compiled the “Goochland County caNine List” to showcase our 9 favorite dog friendly “Spots.”

❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️

1. Goochland Drive-in Theater

4344 Old Fredericksburg Rd., Hadensville

A dog-friendly drive-in theater?

Oh heck yeah!!!

Amos and our foster dog Aretha are ready to watch the movie. Or so I thought.

Mack and I have fond memories of visiting drive-in theaters back in our younger days so a trip to the dog friendly Goochland Drive-in Theater topped our list. We were highly impressed with GDIT, from the customer service to the food and of course, the retro drive-in movie experience.

We read the Know before You Go page on GDIT’s website to learn all the ins and outs. For example, pets are allowed in the main screen section and in the Grove car viewing section, but not in the Grove lawn section.

View this post on Instagram

We bought a ticket online for the Grove car viewing section and arrived 90 minutes early. This gave us plenty of time to grab some grub and set up our truck bed for optimal comfort before the movie started.

Tip: Bring folding chairs, umbrellas, hoodies and more blankets than you think you will need.

Amos and Aretha are very cozy while waiting for the movie to begin. Maybe a little too cozy.

There was only one problem during our fun-filled evening. Our foster dog Aretha planned to critique the film, but both she and Amos dozed off soon and slept soundly through the entire movie.

❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️

2. Tucker Park

1300 Maidens Rd., Maidens

A trip to Tucker Park Tuckered us out.

Dogs and their human companions love Tucker Park for its location on the James River and its dog parks.

The park also provides visitors with a boat launch, but be forewarned. It’s rather steep.

What did we like best? The scenic trail and pedestrian bridge connecting this bisected-by-highway park

❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️

3. Sunset Grill

1601 Hockett Road, Manakin-Sabot

Thanks for the suggestion, Don Henley.

We actually did go down to the Sunset Grill. We enjoyed some great food and a fun, friendly atmosphere that made us feel like part of the pack.

Jake, our pack’s restaurant reviewer and gastronome extraordinaire, has more to say.

Jake: “The Sunset Grill is my new happy place. Everyone is so friendly—servers and customers alike—that we felt right at home during our visit.”

Jake: “The kitchen certainly knows how to make a great burger but the blueberry cobbler is a culinary masterpiece of scrumptiousness.”

We happily devoured our orders: cheeseburger, fries, and black bean quesadilla, but we were over the moon with the blueberry cobbler.

❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️

4. Goochland County Animal Shelter and Adoption Center

1900 Hidden Rock Ln., Maidens

Goochland County 3rd graders go on field trips to this animal shelter!

We were envious of the third-graders so we went on our own field trip to the Goochland County Animal Shelter and Adoption Center. Here are a few things we learned:

• Community commitment and perseverance resulted in this 14,000 square foot shelter which includes a spay and neuter clinic.
• Goochland Pet Lovers, a non-profit organization, pays the veterinary bills for the hundreds of dogs entering the shelter each year.
• Each Friday, the shelter posts a Fri-yay video on Facebook of Gooch’s Pooches. Here are some of the sweeties we met during our field trip.

Want to help? Here are a few ways to donate.

❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️

5. Gray Haven Winery

4675 E. Grey Fox Cir., Gum Spring

I keep thinking of fun words to describe Gray Haven Winery, the dog friendliest winery we have yet encountered.

Exuberant: our greetings by the winery’s resident dogs

Enchanted: my impression when I encountered the free roaming horses

Delighted: my feelings when I saw a resident horse welcoming visitors

Whimsical: to describe the koi pond

Eclectic: to sum up our entire experience. The winery also includes a humorous owner, nature trails,

and, oh yeah, wine!

❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️

6. Leakes Mill Park

3951 River Rd., West, Goochland

When we first arrived at Leakes Mill Park, we only saw a playground and athletic fields, but we soon found the trail, and what a trail it is. Not only is it part of a 9-mile trail network, but the surrounding forest serves as home to resident birds and as a hotel to migrating ones. Nearly 100 different species of birds have been spotted in this habitat.

The trail also serves as a scent-o-rama for visiting dogs.

❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️

7. Sports Page Goochland

36 Broad St. Rd., Manakin-Sabot

Jake: “We certainly didn’t have a problem finding a place to sit and stay on Goochland’s Sports Page’s gargantuan enclosed patio. Even better, the patio features several large screens so no worries about ever missing a sports event.”

Jake: “I can personally recommend the chicken quesadilla, the veggie wrap, and the onion rings which are deep fried to perfection. All pair nicely with a doggie bowl of ice water.”

❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️

8. Court Square

2938 River Rd., Goochland

Amos, our pack’s historian, has a few things to say about Goochland’s Court Square.

Amos: “Thomas Jefferson spent much of his childhood in Goochland County, and his influence remains in Goochland’s Jeffersonian style courthouse. Dabney Cosby, Sr., one of Jefferson’s protégés, designed this Roman Revival temple of local justice.”

Amos: “Visitors to Goochland’s Court Square see pretty much how it appeared originally in the 1820s, including a surrounding brick wall to deter curious bovines. However, today’s historic jail appears rather quaint without its once prominent gallows, whipping post and pillories.”

❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️

9. Kindred Spirit Brewing

12830 W. Creek Pkwy., Unit J, Richmond

How dog friendly is Kindred Spirit Brewing?

Photo from Facebook | Kindred Spirit Brewing

It’s so dog friendly that one of its brews, the One-Eyed Remi, is named in honor of the owner’s favorite 4-legged friend.

It’s so dog friendly that dogs are allowed both inside the taproom as well as on the patio.

View this post on Instagram

It’s so dog friendly that it holds special events to help homeless pets.

Photo from Facebook | Kindred Spirit Brewing

But most of all, it’s so dog friendly that it’s a great place to hang out with the pack on the weekends, listen to live music, and just chill out.

❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️

Thanks for the LOVE, Goochland County!

Goochland High School, 3250 River Rd., Goochland

❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️

P. S. We recommend the following audiobooks during your trip to Goochland County.

This tall tale takes the reader through the heyday of the narrator’s town drive-in theater and its grand finale.

---

Everything you ever wanted to know about the James River is compiled here in this audiobook.

---

Goochland County and the Tuckahoe estate feature prominently in this book about Thomas Jefferson’s early years.

❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾❤️