For lovers

Virginia honeymoons keep your memories close to home

By Erika Howsare

Brides- and grooms-to-be, times are tough. We understand if you are looking over your wedding budget, contemplating high fuel prices and a shaky economy, and cutting the fat on everything from garters to gardenias. As for the honeymoon, you very well might nix the three-week African safari, but if you ask us, it’s a big mistake to skip the trip altogether.

A honeymoon comes as a much-needed rest for a newly married couple. Once you’ve made it through the marathon of planning, rehearsal, ceremony and reception, you’re gonna be exhausted—and going right back to work on Monday will be the last thing on your mind. Stay close to home for your honeymoon and you’ll not only cut down your carbon footprint, you’ll eliminate that whole “plane ticket” line in your travel budget.
In honor of the not-so-exotic honeymoon, we went poking around Virginia in search of three great honeymoon options. And we found them with no problem at all.

Mountain highs
What better place to kick off a new marriage than the timeless landscape of Virginia’s mountains?Think of it this way: These ridges are some of the oldest in the world, worn down to nubs by a gazillion years of erosion, but they’re still there and as lovely as can be. Not a bad metaphor for a lasting relationship.

More importantly, there’s lots to do. Start your planning with Bath County, where you’ve probably heard of the biggest attraction: The Homestead. It’s a big old resort, built in the late 1800s on a site that had been used as a getaway long before that. Natural mineral springs have made people think “vacation” when they see this place for—no joke—9,000 years.

How will you spend your time here? Well, there’s a slew of potentially romantic activities offered through the Homestead: horseback and carriage rides, sunbathing near the mineral-spring swimming pool, hiking along waterfalls. Depending on your tastes, you might also find paintball, fly-fishing or falconry “romantic”—and we surely don’t need to explain why a super-comfy bed in a luxury room deserves that adjective. Lounge around in rocking chairs on the big, Southern-style porch and indulge the fantasy that the rest of married life will also be this pleasant. Did we mention the spa or the destination golf courses?
If your tastes are simple, and/or your budget is thin, there’s a lower-cost Homestead honeymoon that’s no less wonderful. Splurge on a dinner or a breakfast in the big, red-brick resort building, but spend your nights in a reasonably priced and completely charming cabin at nearby Douthat State Park. These were built during the Depression and are both rustic and tasteful—think artistically folded towels in the bathroom and real log construction. They have fireplaces, too. Forge a nurturing bond by cooking breakfast together in the cabins’ kitchens.

Douthat has other familiar state-park features too: campsites, hiking trails and a very nice lake. When you pop over to the Homestead for a dose of luxury, you can stop along the way to soak in the Jefferson pools: magical enclosed warm-springs pools where natural light illuminates your tranquil soak. The only catch—the fact that gentlemen and ladies have separate poolhouses—serves as a reminder that a good marriage includes time alone for both spouses. Or that once in a while, there’s an advantage to being in a same-sex relationship.

Getting just a wee bit bored in paradise? Hop in the car and travel south, poking around either in forested hollows (if you take the mountain route) or antique stores (if you follow the Shenandoah Valley). The Crooked Road is a destination all to itself, albeit a very long and skinny one—the route between Rocky Mount and Breaks, two small communities that bookend a string of places hospitable to mountain culture and music. Especially music. This route is all about old-time, traditional country, and bluegrass—undeniably romantic genres.

You’ll have more fun along this route if you find things like banjos and the Carter Family fascinating, but even if you don’t, it’s an introduction to a different part of the state, and a more settled alternative to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Yodel a tune about your sweet country home as you wind your way back toward Charlottesville.

Shore thing
There’s something about water that says “honeymoon”—think Alaskan cruises and Thai beach getaways. Well, Virginia’s anything but landlocked. The section of the state called “The Necks” is a series of alternating rivers and peninsulas that bleed into the enormous Chesapeake Bay. It’s a region of long, low vistas, very old cities and that salt-air smell that makes you want to loll about on the sand, savoring the prospect of a life free of wedding-planning duties.

The fancy place to stay in the Necks is The Tides Inn, which sits on its own little peninsula near the town of Irvington on the Northern Neck. It’s fairly modern in style, having been built after World War II, but it’s a good place to indulge in a quite ancient pursuit: boating. Depending on your chosen vessel (canoe, yacht, or a no-skills-required paddleboat), you can get out there on the glassy blue of Carters Creek, the Rappahannock River, or the bay itself. Squint at the sun and pretend you’ve just married into an old Virginia family and that you’re departing by steamer for a yearlong honeymoon in Europe.

Wouldn’t that be nice? Well, so are fine dining, full moon cruises and all the spa treatments you can squeeze into your busy marital schedule. If The Tides becomes a little too otherworldly, thank your lucky stars that you aren’t stuck on a 10-day cruise, and return to reality (but only halfway) in the historical city of Portsmouth, one of the more charming towns among those that cluster around Hampton Roads.

If you wanted to go to New Orleans but couldn’t afford it, Olde Towne Portsmouth (yes, Es and all) is a fine substitute for the French Quarter: block upon block of historic houses, dripping with charm and, in some cases, doing business as B&Bs. Get a room with a fireplace and a huge antique bed and pretend to be George and Martha Washington, or whatever it is that gets you going. Or just sign up for a lantern tour and explain that it’s your honeymoon: The tour guide and the rest of the group will think it’s cute when you hang back and snog while they discuss Benedict Arnold. The restaurants and shopping aren’t bad here either, and you can take a pedestrian ferry over to Norfolk, should you be moved to tour a battleship (the U.S.S. Wisconsin) in honor of all the superior conflict resolution skills you and your sweetheart will soon develop.

All right, honeymooners, let’s stop beating around the bush: Here in the Necks, you’re only a short drive from Virginia Beach. Get on down there for some fried calamari, parasailing and rampant light-beer ingestion. Or maintain your dignity and head for The Cavalier, a 1927 hotel with a bit more in the “class” department than your average beach motel. Either way, the ocean is near: timeless yet changeable—just like your love.

Release the hounds
Closest in character to our own dear Albemarle, yet different enough to merit the trip, is the so-called Hunt Country that lies in Northern Virginia west of D.C. You’ll recognize the winery-studded landscape, the sense of history and the Blue Ridge skyline, but somehow the proximity of the nation’s capital flavors the place differently than what we’re used to at home.

Base yourselves first in Shenandoah National Park, where the presence of black bears is less of a threat to your tranquility than the presence of other tourists. What’s a couple in love to do? Get a room!—specifically, at one of the park’s two big lodges, Skyland or Big Meadows. There’s a sweetly retro appeal to a national park lodge, as though you’re vacationing with Yogi Bear. Still, the dining room at Skyland promises “sustainable menu selections”—how very au courant! Take a hike on the Appalachian Trail, drive slowly along Skyline Drive, and enjoy the views from up here on the ridge: Just like your new spouse, they reveal more the longer you look.

From here, head north and east toward Middleburg or Leesburg, two of the well- preserved towns that anchor Hunt Country. Time it right, and you can watch horse races or take stable tours. Those of you who don’t live and breathe horses can arrive in time for Leesburg’s First Friday gallery walk instead. There’s a whole variety of things to do around here, and a lot of them involve what’s known as “living well.” Start off by just admiring the huge estates that line the roads, but leave time for house tours and antique shopping (both by way of inspiration for your new household). Should you be seized by the desire to augment your trousseau with a bunch of Burberry scarves or Coach bags, the Leesburg Corner Premium Outlets should do nicely. And there’s always the chance that you’ll make friends with Robert Duvall or another local celebrity-in-residence.

If it’s not possessions you seek, but experiences, the wine country around Loudoun County will deliver a full glass, so to speak, with a dozen wineries where you can do tours and tastings. Toast your dearest with a Tarara Cab, a Breaux Jolie Blonde, a Swedenburg Riesling, or all three! You can be the designated driver one day, your sweetie the next. See how satisfying it is to compromise? Pick up some bottles and stash them away for future anniversaries.

As long as you’re in the neighborhood, you might as well pop over to Washington and get a taste of big-city life. If the capital city makes you think about filibusters or Jersey barriers, drop that mental image and focus instead on what’s romantic in this city: moonlight walking tours of the major monuments, river cruises on the Potomac, and fireside dinners at the 1789 Restaurant in Georgetown. The ultra-modern Hotel George in downtown D.C. will get your marriage off to a stylish start, and it’s guaranteed to look different than whatever antique-packed B&B you’re likely to land in outside the Beltway.