Tourism in Mathews has picked up considerably over the past year, according to Mathews County Visitor and Information Center director Ann Miller.

"We’re really doing well," adding that the number of visitors to the center had shown a significant increase from November 2012 until now, she said.

Miller, who had a list of all of the recent visitors and where they reside, said that the number of people from out of the country visiting Mathews has also increased.

Just last week, she said a couple was visiting from England. "Each year, they said they take a map, she is blindfolded, and takes a pointer to the map. Wherever the pointer ended up is where they vacation each year," Miller said. "And they picked Mathews."

This couple raved about Mathews and how friendly the people are. "They said they definitely plan on coming back," Miller added.

In another example, she said a family stopped by a couple of weeks ago from Texas whose last name is spelled the same way as Mathews....