Kellogg Bed & Breakfast
644 Monroe Ave.
Cape Charles, Va.
757-331-2767 or http://www.kellogghouse.com

As I step on the half- moon entranceway under the Kellogg House B&B’s regal portico, innkeeper Mary Ann McDevitt immediately opens the door, fresh faced and smiling like an old friend. We exchange pleasantries, and then she pops the question: “Would you like a glass of wine?” Immediately, I know I’ve found my kind of B&B.

I follow her to the comfortable, compact kitchen, and we talk about the 1928 colonial revival built by Eusebius Milton Kellogg, a businessman who prospered in Cape Charles during the turn of the nineteenth century. His ice plant supplied the railroad with the frigid necessity for shipping seafood and produce.

I quickly glean that the Kellogg House is intended to be an alternative to the Victorian B&B experience. The hip décor is a mix of old and new. Furnishings and accents are used sparingly, allowing the house’s beautiful bones to take center stage. As we sit sipping wine by the warmth of the living room fireplace, I can’t help but notice the French saying inscribed on the mantel. “What does it mean?” I ask my hostess. McDevitt smiles and then translates for me: “To our God, faith, to our friends, our hearth.”

The Innkeeper With small-town coastal New Jersey roots, McDevitt longed to “get back to the water, get back to peaceful” after a stint in D.C., where she restored a house in Georgetown. She discovered Cape Charles on the Internet, but it was the intact historic architecture of the Kellogg House and its rural setting that convinced her to fulfill a lifelong dream of becoming an innkeeper. “I would call my friends in New York City and stick the phone out the window while the birds were singing and say, ‘This is what my morning sounds like, how’s yours?’” she says.

The Rooms The three-story, 6,000-square-foot structure could have included more guest rooms, but McDevitt opted for an intimate experience for her guests. The second floor holds the inn’s two bedrooms, divided by an ample landing, actually the separate bed chambers of the original owners. Romance took decades to take root here, I think to myself as I walk into my room, The Kellogg, once the original owner’s domain. In a room the size of most suites, his large cedar closet with glass doors remains, but the light aqua walls and soft peach duvet cover with muted floral pillows ease both male and female sensibilities. The four-poster queen-size bed was designed by McDevitt’s favorite salvage company, Burt & Zelda’s of Portsmouth, who created it out of vintage porch columns, while the headboard was made from the back of an antique couch. All the B&B’s beds are sweet-dream inducers, with feather-topped mattresses and 400-thread count Egyptian cotton sheets nestled under down comforters. 

The Kellogg Room has a shower, but being the solo guest, I was also invited to try out the Virginia Room‘s cast-iron tub. A queen-size sleigh bed and antique armoire complement fuss-free accommodations in Mrs. Kellogg’s former retreat. The Virginia Suite combines the Virginia Room, an adjoining sitting room with comfy loveseats and an enchanting sleeping porch bedroom. With a surround of windows and a private outdoor veranda embraced by an eighty-year old crape myrtle, it’s like sleeping in an elegant tree house.

Special Touches Who said B&Bs should only provide breakfast? With my hostess, I shared evening aperitifs along with a superb New Zealand Chardonnay wrapped in the warmth of the grand fireplace. After five years as a wine importer, McDevitt prides herself on serving only the finest vino, along with gourmet munchies at 5 p.m. I savored minted feta spread and homemade pepper jelly along with a baby portobello crostini. Guests also benefit from her Felix Unger sensibilities. The self-confessed neat freak changes duvet covers and shower curtains after every guest, and, lest a germ survive on her sinks, has small toothbrush rests in every bathroom. The toiletries, Molton Brown and Deep Steep products, are actually worth “lifting.” My favorite was the spearmint body polish, which revived my tired tootsies.

What’s for Breakfast A bouquet of red tulips welcomes me at the glass-topped dining table, gleaming with gold charger plates. Refreshing, too, is the tropical fruit cup with kiwis and mangos. I ask McDevitt to join me, as many of her guests do, and, like comfortable pals, we enjoy our gourmet breakfast sans shoes or makeup. Sinful is the raisin and cinnamon French toast with creamy warm gorgonzola filling, topped with sautéed pears and a side of locally made country sausage. In summer, the screened porch is the perfect breakfast spot. 

Diversions The beach is only six blocks away. And there’s plenty of architectural eye candy in Cape Charles. The downtown’s handful of eateries includes the Cape Charles Coffee House and Kelly’s Gingernut Pub, a great place for dinner or just a cold one. An intriguing contrast to the Victorian old town is Bay Creek Resort and Club’s modern marina and shops to the north and two championship golf courses just south.

Romance Factor With just two bedrooms, fellow guests are few, and the huge first floor offers plenty of places to steal away. Starting in April, Beethoven’s 5th Symphony will play over speakers at the beach each evening at sunset.

What It’s Going to Cost:
$195 per room or $225 per suite. Open April through December, with no minimum stay required.

Donna Bozza writes from her home in Cape Charles, Va