Photography By Kirsten Beckerman
When I learned that none of our travel writers could fit the trip to Irvington into their schedules, I camouflaged my glee and turned on my best imitation of pitiful, afflicted Brer Rabbit. “Oh, OK, I guess I’ll have to go.”
Yee, ha! This means two peaceful days in Irvington, which, in my opinion, is one of the region’s most well-suited destinations for hard-core relaxation. The appeal of this tiny Northern Neck town, besides its positioning on dozy Carters Creek and its charming Victorian buildings, is its manageable pocket of worthy attractions. Here, there aren’t eight museums that you feel obliged to trudge through or ten restaurants worthy of trying or even five antique stores that mustn’t be missed.
Irvington has approximately two varieties of everything typically found on a high-maintenance traveler’s must-have list: an elegant dinner venue, an interesting museum, a fashionable boutique, and a stylish place to bed. That’s all I could want for—and as close to a vacation as I’ve come to in sixteen looong months. All that was left to do was round up Lizzy the cat sitter, pack my suitcase, and stop at the market on my way out of town for a bag of (gluten-free!) ginger snaps for the four-hour trip (you need more than patience to chew on while making your way through the sea of traffic lights along 301).
One of the things that I find most interesting about Irvington is its connection to the Eastern Shore of Maryland, the hub of my family’s roots. Irvington, population 673, was settled in 1891 by homesteaders who migrated from the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia in search of a place to make a living from the Bay’s then-abundant, edible resources. (The town, in fact, was named for Marylander Capt. Levin Handy Irving, who left Dames Quarter in Somerset County in 1872.) Even back then, it was a shockingly sophisticated little town, linked to the international port of Baltimore by steamers, which docked at Carters Creek Wharf eight times a week en route to Norfolk. The town attracted the upper crust of Baltimore and Washington, D.C., as a summer resort, made even more desirable by its 600-seat opera house, skating rink, dancing pavilion, abundance of shops, and beachfront hotel, where guests could rent bathing suits for fifteen cents each.
Two events led to Irvington’s premature fall: In June 1917, much of the town was destroyed by a fire set by two Germans (who, the same day, also set fire to nearby Tappahannock) after the editor of the town’s newspaper, the Virginia Citizen, made some disparaging remarks about their homeland. Then, by the late 1930s, the advent of the car stabled the steamers, disconnecting the town from its influx of citified visitors and their demand for creature comforts.
It wasn’t until 1947, when the Stevens family opened the renowned family resort, The Tides Inn, that the outside world again descended on Irvington. The high-end destination, a la The Greenbrier, was pretty much the only reason outsiders knew the town existed. But the most powerful wave of its revival wouldn’t happen until some forty-eight years later, stirred up by a six-foot-three-inch-tall hurricane named Bill Westbrook.
Westbrook is the reason for Irvington’s modern-day commercial appeal. In 1995, the Tennessee native bought the abandoned circa-1890 Chesapeake Academy (notable alums include Edwin Leland James, former managing editor of The New York Times, and Willard James, a past president of Hollins University). He transformed it into The Hope & Glory Inn, a dreamy getaway that has earned gushing kudos from the likes of Travel & Leisure and National Geographic Traveler. While the schoolhouse portion of the inn houses seven plush and petite shabby-chic rooms, the biggest draw are its six cottages, sprinkled throughout the rear acreage. The décor comes complete with linen slip-covered, marshmallow-like couches, ruggedly elegant painted furniture, and every romantic touch imaginable—including a communal outdoor shower and clawfoot tub made private by a towering fence, with the mood set with framed mirrors, strings of Christmas lights, and a metal sign at the entrance that reads “Don’t be afraid to love.”
“We have a saying: If you can’t fall in love here, you simply can’t fall in love,” jokes Dudley Patteson, who helps me get settled into cottage No. 5. Nearly two years ago, he and his wife, Peggy, a long-time part-owner of the inn with Westbrook, took ownership of the establishment.
My bags unpacked, I grab a quick dinner at The East Room (the more elegant of the two restaurants within The Tides Inn) with its general manager, Gordon Slatford. Over a tasty meal of Virginia diver scallops, the native Londoner explains that Irvington is about to be hit by some serious development. Next spring, The Tides Inn is planning to break ground on sixty-five condos located on the site where the Tides Lodge now stands (directly across the river). The inn also plans to develop 400 residential lots along its off-site 18-hole golf course, The Golden Eagle. “The developments will nearly double the population of Irvington while still maintaining the quaint village atmosphere,” says Slatford. I can’t help but wonder if the villagers, the majority of which are retirees, are welcoming all this growth with open arms…
“During the time of the war, we were down at the heel, so it was a godsend to Irvington to have The Tides Inn,” explains Frances Simmons, a fourth-generation resident, who was the first waitress ever hired at the resort. (Her late husband, C. Jackson Simmons, authored the book, Irvington: An Album of Its First Generation, which is available at the Steamboat Era Museum.) “But now I worry about over-development and issues like water quality and pollution. People who move here like the ruralness of this area. But too many people will destroy anything as far as country life is concerned. I hate to see anything that’s been so perfect for so long destroyed by people who don’t have the love for it that we do.”
The next morning, I’m awakened by the not-so-soothing sounds of Alberto, the first tropical storm of the season. The torrential downpour puts a damper on my plans to explore Irvington by bike; luckily indoor pursuits, like the local museum and the smattering of shops, are just steps away.
After a plate of scrambled eggs and the best cheese grits this side of the Rappahannock, I make my first stop the Steamboat Era Museum. I browse photos and artifacts of those massive wooden crafts, like the Potomac, Northumberland, and Richmond, which once ferried the well-heeled to Irvington. The exhibit “The Bay at War: A Story-telling Exhibit,” (on display through December 1), tells the tales of the Chesapeake during the Civil War, a time when pirates, gunboats, and smugglers stormed the local waterways.
Itching for some quality shopping time, I make my way through the cluster of stores along Irvington Road. Before Westbrook built the artfully designed “strip mall” of five picket-fence-encased boutiques and opened the town’s second restaurant, Trick Dog Café, Irvington was tourist attraction-challenged. “I’ve lived here twenty-six years, and I’ve seen Irvington change dramatically in the last eight,” says Jeanne Ward-Smith, owner of The Dandelion. “I used to be one of the two only businesses here. But the dynamics of the community changed when Westbrook came to town. It took people a while to get used to the change, but they’ve enjoyed the benefits. Prior to that, it was all about The Tides Inn or visiting the nearby town of Kilmarnock.”
My two-hour-long retail therapy session reveals a wonderful truth about Irvington: It would seem that the town’s revival is being led by a host of young come-here go-getters, who jumped at the chance to get a piece of Irvington’s potentially sweet economic pie. “The biggest hook for us was opportunity; it was larger than we realized,” says architect Randall J. Kipp, who moved here nine years ago from Minneapolis with his wife, Alison Drake (she and resident Mariah Pollard started the farmers market six years ago). “The average age of the locals is beginning to get younger. Irvington has all the opportunity to be a wonderful place, and there’s a willingness of the people living here to make it happen.”
Now that the rain has subsided, I return to the inn to swap my car in for one of their beach-cruiser style bikes and wheel over to check out the town’s newest stir, White Fences Vineyard & Winery (yet another venture brought to you by Westbrook and local real estate developer Jimmy Carter). You can’t miss the place: Standing sentry at the foot of the driveway are two twenty-five-foot-tall corkscrews (a la Claes Oldenburg). I find vineyard general manager Mark Hollingsworth, thirty-four, and his wife, Phoebe, thirty, hard at work pruning grapes while managing to keep their three boys from drowning each other in a mud puddle they’ve created with the hose. At the six-acre, French-style vineyard, the local couple is growing four varieties of grapes (Merlot, Chambourcin, Vidal Blanc, and Cardonelle) and sell the tasty finished product at their on-site wine stand. “The first day the wine was released, we sold twenty-two cases in about four hours,” says Hollingsworth, who adds that plans are in the works for a vineyard complex, encompassing a winery, conference center, wedding venue, and even a bridal suite.
Nestled behind their fields is Westbrook’s and Cater’s latest venture, the Tents at Vineyard Grove. Most of the sixteen carpenter Gothic cottages, which stretch throughout more than forty woodland acres, are privately owned, but some are available for weekly and biweekly rentals.
On the way back to the inn, I pedal past Victorian homes, farmhouses with wrap-around porches, and watermen’s cottages, which still define the land-scape. While the thirty-something movers and shakers continue to trickle into Irvington, gradually returning the town to its steamboat-era success, the town has coveted its sense of charm and antiquity. Fishermen and sailors still work and play on the waters of Carters Creek, much like they did two hundred years ago, although Flying Scotsman have taken the place of log canoes, and fiberglass deadrises fill the gap left by the antiquated bugeyes. “Irvington has had a renaissance of a small town, but it hasn’t been re-created in any kind of cookie-cutter vernacular,” says Westbrook, who’s also planning to build nineteen homes behind the Trick Dog Café. “And it still has plenty of charm.”
Locals’ Guide to Irvington
Be of Service Catch an 8 o’clock Sunday morning service from June 4 through September 3 at Historic Christ Church, a restored 1735 chapel built by colonial Virginia’s most powerful planter, Robert “King” Carter. 804-438-6855 or http://www.christchurch1735.org.
Cool Cruises Every Friday evening, The Hope & Glory Inn offers a two-hour long Friday night crab cruise and Saturday afternoon cocktail cruise aboard the forty-two-foot Faded Glory, a 1952 Bay deadrise. The Tides Inn hosts lunch, cocktail, dinner, and full moon cruises aboard its 127-foot historic yacht, Miss Anne. The Hope & Glory Inn, 804-438-6053 or hopeandglory.com.; The Tides Inn, 804-438-5000 or http://www.tidesinn.com.
Stomp if You Love Wine Celebrate the harvest at White Fences Winery & Vineyard on September 2 at the second annual Irvington Stomp. Get juiced for a celebrity grape stomping competition, hay rides, hot air balloons, corn maze (in the shape of a wine bottle), live music, barbecue, and more. 804-438-5559 or http://www.irvingtonstomp.com.
Open Air Affair Browse the Irvington Farmers Market, held the first Saturday of the month from April through December. Shop for local produce, seafood, cheese, baked goods, and locally made crafts. Irvington Commons behind Chesapeake Bank on King Carter Dr. 8 a.m.-noon. 804-438-6391.
When You Go
The Hope & Glory Inn has seven rooms and six cottages, all decorated in the shabby-chic style. (You can also rent a few of the Tents at Vineyard Grove through the inn. the sixteen, two-story Gothic revival cottages are available for weekly and bi-weekly rentals and sleep up to six). 65 Tavern Rd. 804-438-6053 or http://www.hopeandglory.com.
The 106-room waterfront The Tides Inn also offers a 9- and 18-hole golf course, 4 tennis courts, in-house spa, 2 outdoor swimming pools, 60-slip marina, and kids’ program. For pet lovers, they offer 18 dog-friendly rooms. 480 King Carter Dr. 804-438-5000 or http://www.tidesinn.com.
EAT
Trick Dog Café, with its East Side-meets-Irvington atmosphere, is the spot in town for chi-chi fare. New owner Robert McRaney is keeping patrons happy with a revised eclectic menu. 4357 Irvington Rd. 804-438-1055 or http://www.trickdogcafe.com.
Chef Greg Vanderpool prepares Saturday evening “Dinner at Our Chef’s Table” suppers at The Hope & Glory Inn. Meals are prepared at the inn and serve up to sixteen guests. 65 Tavern Rd. 804-438-6053 or http://www.hopeandglory.com.
The Tides Inn offers two eateries, the more formal East Room, with an upscale menu of seafood dishes, and the smart-casual Chesapeake Club, which serves light fare. 480 King Carter Dr. 804-438-5000 or http://www.tidesinn.com.
The Local is the café where, well, the locals go for coffee (served every way imaginable) as well as breakfast, paninis, wraps, salads—and even sundaes. 4337 Irvington Rd. 804-438-5884.
SHOP
There’s nothing cookie cutter about the women’s fashions at Avolon, a boutique that showcases super-hip clothes and accessories. 4341 Irvington Rd. 804-438-6793 or http://www.shopavolon.com.
Khakis keeps Irvington’s men in fashion, with offerings by Lacoste and Barbour. 4345 Irvington Rd. 804-438-6779 or http://www.khakisofirvington.com.
Green thumb types will feel right at home at Chatfield’s Gift Shop, with its assortment of garden-themed gifts. 4353 Irvington Rd. 804-438-9999.
It’s not just the cool culinary gear that makes Time to Cook a fun shop, it’s the in-store kitchen, where owner Hatley Bright teaches cooking classes and demonstrations. 4349 Irvington Rd. 804-438-6691 or http://www.timetocook.net.
The Dandelion carries almost 200 lines of clothes, as well as lots of accessories and shoes. 4372 Irvington Rd. 804-438-5194 or http://www.thedandelion.com.
At The River Cottage, you’ll find everything for the waterfront home, from Pine Cone Hill linens to kayaks. 4283 Irvington Rd. 804-438-9007 or http://www.therivercottage.net.
PLAY
Check out the Steamboat Era Museum and learn all about the mighty boats that once plied the waters of the Bay. 156 King Carter Dr. 804-438-6888 or http://www.steamboateramuseum.org.
Take a spin on Carters Creek with the help of Premier Sailing School, the sixth largest sailing school in the nation. Courses are also available for children and teens. 480 King Carter Dr. 804-438-9300 or http://www.premiersailing.com.
