• About the Show
  • Awards
  • Contributors and Staff
• Regular Features
  • Crummy But Good
  • Nature
  • DC Arts Best Bets
  • Travel
• Special Productions
• Archives

Thanksgiving at a Country Inn

Over the hills and through the woods we go—but not to grandmother’s house to celebrate the holidays. Nowadays, lots of folks—grandmothers among them—are opting out of the kitchen when the family gathers. Instead they are sitting down at a country inn to enjoy a festive meal without the hassle of preparing for it or cleaning up.

It’s a popular new twist on the traditional observance of Thanksgiving Day, which is Nov. 24 this year. Advance bookings are said to be very strong.

Most of the inns I’ve included here offer mid-day dining. Head out to the country in the morning, and return home by early evening. Reservations are required; most inns are charging a fixed per person rate; and roast turkey is on every menu.

Virginia

Ashby Inn, Paris (540/592-3900). Occupying a restored 1829 house, the 10-room inn sits on a lane of lovely old homes with the Blue Ridge Mountains as a backdrop. Turkey with all the trimmings or a choice of fish or entrée. $50 per person/$25 for children. Seating at noon, 2:30 and 4:30 p.m. Less than an hour away.

L’Auberge Provencale, White Post (800/638-1702). The 14-room inn, built around a stone farmhouse, is tucked between an orchard and an herb garden. It is a taste of France, reflecting the owner’s origins. Traditional turkey dinner or dishes from the regular, innovative menu. $87 per person. Seating at noon, 2:15, 5 and 7:15 p.m. One-hour drive.

Keswick Hall at Monticello, Charlottesville (434/979-3440). A 48-room country hotel in the wooded outskirts of the city, Keswick enjoys the style of an Italian villa. It is perhaps the region’s most elegant lodging. Seating for a served dinner is booked already. But a Thanksgiving buffet with all the trimmings is offered from noon to 3:30 pm. $63 per person; half-price for children. A little more than two hours away.

Four & Twenty Blackbirds, Flint Hill (540/675-1111). The restaurant (no lodging) occupies an old house in a tiny village in Virginia’s rolling hill country. Turkey with all the trimmings is the day’s menu. $65 per person. Seating noon to 6 p.m. Just over an hour away.

Willow Grove Inn, Orange (800/949-1778). The gracious 1778 plantation house sits atop a hill overlooking 37 acres of gardens and pastures. A full Thanksgiving dinner is served family style, with the added twist that you carve the turkey at your table and take home the leftovers. $50 per person. Seating from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. A little more than two hours away.

Maryland

Antrim 1844, Taneytown (800/858-1844). The inn occupies a stately plantation home set in the middle of 24 acres of formal gardens. A six-course dinner features the traditional Thanksgiving menu or a choice of seafood, beef or lamb entrée. $65 per person. Seating at 1:30, 2 and 2:30 p.m. One hour away.

West Virginia

Hillbrook Inn, Charles Town (800/304-4223). An Olde-English-style manor house cascades down a wooded slope looking like something out of a fairytale. The seven-course turkey and trimmings dinner includes alcoholic beverage. $145 per person. Seating at 4 p.m. Less than two hours away.

Delaware

Inn at Montchanin Village, Montchanin (800/269-2473). This 21-room luxury retreat drapes down a landscaped hillside in the heart of the beautiful Brandywine Valley. Dinner at its whimsical restaurant, Krazy Kat, features turkey or a choice of entrees from the regular menu. The fixed price had not yet been set when I checked. Seating 2 to 7 p.m. A two-hour drive.

Shenandoah Hikes

Most visitors to Virginia’s Shenandoah National park tend to see its famous views from their car windshield as they wind along Skyline Drive. But you have to get out of your car to really appreciate the park’s beauty. In truth, Shenandoah is a hiker’s or walker’s park, where 500 miles of mapped and maintained trails take you up to craggy rock peaks for spectacular panoramas or deep into shaded hollows following the paths of tumbling streams.

Fall—that is, just about right now—is an excellent time for a Shenandoah hike. The sweaty heat is gone, and so are the pesky bugs. And with the trees now denuded of leaves, the vistas open up beautifully. Here is a selection of easy to moderate day hikes. The park’s northern entrance at Front Royal is about 60 miles away. Mileposts listed below begin at the entrance.

Shenandoah Homestead. If the park’s history interests you, consider a hike on the Fox Hollow Trail (Mile 4.7 at the Dickey Ridge Visitor Center). When Congress authorized Shenandoah in 1926, about 450 families still farmed small, mostly worn-out plots on its slopes. Many people sold out and moved to resettlement communities at the foot of the mountains. But others were evicted plot by plot. This one-mile wood and meadow loop introduces you to one of these mountain families, the Foxes. For four generations, beginning in 1837, they farmed 450 acres here. The trail to their home site drops gently down the mountain past a huge pile of rocks, a symbol of the labor required to cultivate this unpromising homestead. It passes the family cemetery and a small cold spring, the farm’s water source, which still bubbles from the ground.

An Ancient Grove. Maybe the park’s least strenuous trail, the Limberlost Trail (Mile 43) is a beautiful 1.3-mile loop that leads to a grove of ancient hemlock trees. Some of these venerable giants are as much as three feet in diameter and have stood 350 to 400 years. Paved with crushed greenstone, the trail is wheelchair accessible. At one point, a boardwalk and bridge cross a swampy area, and benches dot the route.

The Muscle Stretcher. Very popular, the1.5-mile (round trip) Dark Hollow Falls Trail (between Miles 50 and 51) will test your legs and lungs. This one drops sharply from Skyline Drive alongside Hog Camp Branch, a cascading stream that forms several pleasantly scenic pools before plunging 70 feet down a series of rocky steps. It is the closest waterfall to the drive. Hiking down can seem effortless, but watch for tree roots and half-buried stones. Climbing back up is the challenge.

On the Big One. The Appalachian Trail, which parallels Skyline Drive the full 105-mile length of the park, is easily reached at several overlooks. It is mostly level and well marked. Simply walk north or south into the woods for as long as you like—an hour, maybe—and then turn around and walk back out again. Beahms Gap at 28.5 miles provides access to the trail. You can reach the trail again at Pinnacles (36.7 miles).

Stride for the Summit: You can, if you are not the really energetic sort, easily stride up Stony Man Mountain Nature Train (Mile 41.7), a relaxing round trip of a mile and a half through oak and pine woods. The goal is the “forehead” of Stony Man at 4,010 feet. From this rocky ledge, a fine view of the Shenandoah Valley spreads out far below, a miniature land of acorn-sized farmhouses and fields you can hide with a thumb.

For Shenandoah information: 540/999-3500. The Dickey Ridge Visitor Center remains open for the year through Nov. 27, but is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays this month. Pick up a guide to more park trails at the visitor center.