Through some unknown mechanism, Mathews County was nominated last year as one of America’s Coolest Small Towns by Budgettravel.com.

The word got out, people could vote online once a day, and Mathews made it to the 15 finalists; and, even more cool, got enough votes to qualify as the nation’s fifth coolest small town.

This is great news for the county’s tourism push, and a tribute to people in Mathews—and their friends elsewhere—who voted with their hearts to gain this recognition.

So it is a disappointment, for both Mathews and for Gloucester which was also omitted, that the Virginia Tourism Corporation’s recent list of “22 Virginia Small Towns You’re Going To Love” included neither. The list did include Kilmarnock.

(And thanks to faithful reader Jay Black for giving us this tip.)

Both counties, as their economic bases have changed, have invested great effort into rebuilding Main Street (done and most attractive in Gloucester, ...