THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 6, 1996 TAG: 9610030187
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 23 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARY ELLEN RIDDLE
CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 82 lines
It's not uncommon to leave the Roanoke Island Inn with the smell of rosemary on your hands. A brush through innkeeper Ada Hadley's herb garden takes care of that. Mementos of a stay here include delicately colored hydrangeas, a small zinnia tucked behind the ear or snippets of lavender clutched exactly where Hadley presses them.
Each day, Hadley walks through the inn's garden to the pond and scatters food for the goldfish and koi. In the shadows of the towering white house - the oldest section dates back to the 1860s - she collects plants and flowers, bringing them back to the laundry room to place in vases.
Off go the withered leaves, keeping the healthier parts. ``Whimsy, very whimsy,'' Hadley says as she fixes the pretty bouquets for her guests.
This is a small part of what Hadley does each day while running the seven-room inn. ``With innkeeping, you have to have many hats,'' she says in her lilting Canadian accent. ``I have no difficulty doing what needs to be done. If it's climbing to repair an unrolled blind to cleaning toilets.''
But at this moment, she is thinking about those bouquets. A bit of white would set off the green and purple foliage, she muses, as she fusses over the flora.
Hadley sets out for a second trip around the grounds. Autumn is in the air - ``a blue sky Newfoundland kind-of-day,'' Hadley says.
``Well, my dear,'' she says, ``I don't think we're going to find white today so we'll just use the green.'' She makes a last-minute grab for red berries hanging high in the brush, her raven hair hanging Rapunzel-like below her waist.
Six days a week, sometimes pulling 14- to 16-hour days, Hadley is on duty. Her day includes signing guests in, setting out pastries, doing dishes, helping chambermaid Barbara Clendenning make beds, doing laundry and caring for inn owner John Wilson's 93-year-old grandfather, Delton Wilson.
Whether she's tending to Delton or her guests, Hadley's specialty is providing comfort. This includes singing ``Amazing Grace'' and ``Let Me Call You Sweetheart'' to Delton each night as she prepares him for bed and making quick runs to the store for guests' special requests, like hazelnut cream for coffee.
``Saint Ada, I call her Saint Ada,'' John Wilson said. ``She takes care of everything and she's absolutely wonderful. The guests love her.''
Hadley started working for John Wilson in May 1991. Initially hired as housekeeper, within a few weeks she was accepting more and more responsibility. ``By the second season, Ada was doing it all,'' Wilson said.
Hadley's former jobs include working in upstate New York for the late Colleen Dewhurst, who appeared on television as Murphy Brown's mother. Hadley also ran the home of the late Joe Layton, former ``Lost Colony'' director and choreographer.
It seems as if 44-year-old Hadley has always been tending house.
``I started cleaning military homes in Plattsburg, N.Y., at 13,'' she said. ``They had white glove inspections so it had to be done right. My father was in the Air Force. He'd brag on how well I could clean. Word got around. Everybody wanted me to clean their house. I grew up doing that.''
There have been times when she has hated the tasks she does so well.
``Sometimes I did,'' she said. ``While other kids were playing games, going to the movies, riding around, I was busy cleaning.''
Today, warm thank-you notes from guests hailing from the world over fill an album Hadley keeps at the inn. From Easter weekend until the inn closes as winter nears, guests are greeted with a cheery ``Hello, my darling.'' Upon check out they hear, ``All right my love, and do come see us again soon!''
Children are welcome at the inn and Hadley has so many repeat customers, she's even become a godmother to one special little Virginia boy.
As she makes the rounds at the inn each day, moving through the seven guest rooms to kitchen to laundry, the garden and Delton's place, she carries a portable phone on her hip.
A note always hangs on the lobby door explaining where she can be found.
While chatting in the garden, she hears a rap on the kitchen window. The milkman smiles from behind the pane. Hadley bustles to the kitchen and shakes the hand of a new man on the job.
``Well, welcome aboard,'' she says. ``Are you hungry? Oh Buddy, what about my creams? Thank you, you know how to take care of me!''
Ada Hadley ought to know. For taking care is her specialty. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARY ELLEN RIDDLE
Ada Hadley's specialty is providing comfort for the folks who check
in for a stay at the seven-room Roanoke Island Inn. by CNB