According to Daniels, Chester traces its history to the 1850s when it was established -- along with Ashland in Hanover County -- as a railroad depot. It later evolved into a summer vacation spot for Richmonders.

The local high school, named after Colonial Virginia Gov. Thomas Dale, was founded in 1906 as Chester High School. In 1917, it was renamed Chester Agricultural High School, then given its present name in 1942. It was moved to its present site in 1964.

Today, the village center boasts a mix of old and new shops and a community spirit that locals say is second to none.

One Chester draw is Sibley's Bar-B-Q on West Hundred Road. For the past eight years, Sibley's has been the spot to fill pork barbecue hankerings. That's evident, especially at lunchtime, when the place is packed.  "We're just growing and growing and growing," Charlie Sibley said of his business.  He could just as easily have been speaking about Chester.

According to Chesterfield County figures, Chester has 22,000 residents; that figure is an increase of about 3,100 since 2000. The county defines Chester's boundaries as Great Branch Creek and Branders Bridge Road to the west, state Route 288 to the north, Interstate 95 to the east and Timsberry Creek to the south. In the middle of all that are two Chester institutions -- Worrell's Barbershop and French Garden Antiques, both on Old Hundred Road.  Worrell's has been in the community for more than 50 years, in several locations.

For 43 of those years, Jesse Garman has been behind the barber chair, scissors and straight razor at the ready, giving haircuts to many of the same clients for decades.  "If you don't gouge [people] on the price of a haircut and give them a good haircut, they'll come back," Garman said.

The walls of his old-time barbershop are decorated with stuffed squirrels he hunted himself and Confederate memorabilia.  But don't look for a telephone in the shop. You won't find one.

Not far up the road is French Garden Antiques in a building that once housed a drugstore and a doctor's office.  Chester native Angela Lepore owns the shop.  "I'm excited," she said about the growth she sees. "I love the downtown area [feel] of Carytown and what Fredericksburg has done. I think Chester needs that."

If your tastes are more down home and less 19th-century European, then The Country Store on Winfree Street is worth a visit.  What started as a meat market years ago is now a wood-frame store that smells of fragrant candles and potpourri.  And if the scent of a fine wine or a crisp ale is more pleasing to your nostrils, then stop by The WeekEnd Brewer.

On West Hundred Road just west of The Country Store, the shop is the "largest malt and juice distributor in central Virginia. . . . We draw [customers] from about 100 miles or more," said Bob Henderson, who runs the business with his wife, Jeanne, and Mr. Cody, their rescued Yorkshire terrier.

For as little as $100, kits to make beer and wine -- the shop produces several award-winning varieties -- can be purchased.  "A lot people do it for the hobby. It's a rewarding craft when you make something with your hands."  And home brews and blends are ready in just a few months, he said.

Across the way from Daniels' real estate office is Truby Motor Company on Old Hundred Road.  Truby has been in that location, in one form or another, for 84 years. The current owner, Bedford D. Woodard Jr., remembers when it was a Plymouth and Chrysler dealership.

When franchise rights became an issue in the late 1950s, it was converted to an auto repair shop, said Woodard, a short, stout man whom folks call "Junior."  "So I just took it over, and I've run it as a garage and service station ever since," said Woodard, 72, who has owned Truby since 1960.

He and his wife, Claudie, met in elementary school. They raised a family in Chester and continue to call the once-sleepy, now bustling, community home.  "I liked it 30 years ago a whole lot more," Claudie Woodard said. "You don't get to know anybody anymore because they move in and out so fast."

Today, younger generations of the Woodard clan do much of the work at Truby, which once was a parking place for engines of a volunteer fire company.  "I've got arthritis now, so I don't do much anymore, just a little piddling," Bedford Woodard said, sitting in a worn chair inside the Truby office.  He isn't as spry as he once was, but a business card he hands out tells of livelier days.

Among his accomplishments listed are "Wars fought . . . stud service, tigers tamed, bars emptied . . . "

His stories are tame compared with those shared by men who meet every morning at Gulliver's Crossflite Restaurant on Centre Street, near Country Style Ice Cream.  The crew counts about 10 members, all who qualify for senior-citizen discounts.  They're mainly southern boys, with a few northerners thrown in for good measure.  Membership is by invitation, and the only way members are added is when one dies.

For as long as anyone can remember, the group has gathered -- the meeting spot has changed at least three times -- to discuss everything from local politics to gardening tips.

Roger Polhemus is the crew's token nudist.  "People say 'Roger, what do you do in the wintertime?' I tell them, 'We're naked, we're not stupid,'" said the 81-year-old Polhemus, a member of the White Tail nudist resort in Ivor, who hasn't had much recruiting success among the breakfast club.

"It's a place that's much maligned, but it's really not that bad. The thrill of seeing somebody naked lasts about two minutes."