THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 16, 1997 TAG: 9702130031
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: MILES TO GO BEFORE I EAT
SOURCE: BY STEPHEN HARRIMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LANCASTER COURT HOUSE, VA. LENGTH: 125 lines
THE GENTLE SNOW that was falling was gradually turning the slate roof on the little brick Clerk's Office across the road from gray to white in the fading afternoon light. From the front windows of Lancaster Tavern, where it was warm and cozy, the scene in this little courthouse village was like a Currier and Ives print.
It is one of those quaint rural Virginia county seats that has been little altered by time - like that of Isle of Wight in Southside, Charles City on the Lower Peninsula, and King and Queen and King William on the Middle Peninsula, to name but a few.
Driving along Virginia Route 3, you could miss Lancaster (pronounced LANK-uh-stur) Court House completely if you fell into a hypnotic doze. Thirty seconds and you're through it. That would be a shame. For one thing, you'd miss a very nice place to eat - which I'll get back to in a minute, once dinner's on the table.
Beside the Clerk's Office (c. 1797) is the slender marble shaft honoring those from this Northern Neck county who fell in the War Between the States. It was one of the first erected to the martyrs of the Lost Cause. Beyond the Clerk's Office is Lancaster House (c. 1798) housing the Mary Ball Washington Museum. A Lancaster native, she was George's momma.
Beyond that is the old jail, a serious piece of brickwork, complete with stocks, that speaks to the principles of law and order in the first quarter of the 19th century. Just a few buildings away is the 1860 Lancaster Court House.
Not much else here except a few modest dwellings, a couple of lawyer's offices and a real estate office where rich folks - ``come heres'' - mostly from Northern Virginia and the Washington area can come to look for waterfront retirement property.
Perhaps the oldest place in town is this Lancaster Tavern, although the nondescript, chocolate-brown clapboard siding belies its true age. The date on the modest sign - you have to be paying attention or you'll likely miss it - says 1790, but Lindy Grigsby, the proprietor, says historians don't all agree. It may date to about 1750.
Grigsby and her mother, Ann Parsons, renovated the place and reopened it in June of 1983. It's been a popular dining place for locals ever since - as it likely was in past centuries.
She says the two-story building with a basement was a tavern for about 150 years. The present two small, first-floor dining rooms are over what was a wine cellar and basement tavern. The tavern entrance originally was in the rear.
In subsequent years it was the long-time home of Oscar Chilton, the clerk of the court. He used to walk out his front door and into his office, which stood in his front yard until the state Highway Department decided to re-route the highway between the two buildings. Chilton had to move his front porch to the side of the house.
There's nothing fancy about the Lancaster Tavern or its fare - nothing that would remind you of, say, the 18th century ambience you might experience at one of the reconstructed Colonial Williamsburg taverns.
It's clean and neat, much as I imagine your own dining room is. There are oilcloth table coverings with cutlery and plates carefully laid out. Plain wooden chairs of random styles stand on time-worn bare wood floors awaiting guests.
A picture of George Washington - almost what you'd call a local boy - hangs on one wall beside an American flag propped in the corner.
It is rather ordinary, actually, much as it probably was in its previous life. In fact, in Colonial times the word ``ordinary'' was used more or less interchangeably with tavern or inn, denoting a place that served food and drink to ordinary people. Anyone who could pay was welcome.
The same goes for the Lancaster Tavern, and anyone could afford to pay this bill. Lunch is $6, dinner $9. The fare is whatever Lindy Grigsby decides to fix, and it's served family style: bowls and plates of various meats and vegetables fill the table. As much as you can eat. Just like the way you eat at home. If you're lucky.
You may be seated with strangers - there are only four tables - but you'll likely leave with new friends. It's that sort of place.
The night we were there, the starter was a tasty cup of chicken vegetable soup. That was followed by oven-fried chicken - it's actually baked, without oil, but it looks fried and Grigsby wouldn't disclose the details - baked ham, cut buttered corn, lima beans, chopped broccoli, pickled beets and a salad of lemon gelatin with mandarin oranges and green grapes.
And bread. Thick-sliced, homemade bread. Wonderful.
``It's a recipe I got from my grandmother, who I know got it from her mother,'' Grigsby says. ``It probably goes back farther than that.''
You're going to want to take some home with you. It's $2 a loaf, and ``It helps if I get 24 hours' notice, so I'll be sure to have enough.''
I can tell you that it makes very nice French toast the next day.
A simple chocolate pudding with whipped cream and nuts topped off this delightful meal. MEMO: TO OUR READERS: This is another in an occasional series on
regional restaurants, plain and fancy, that serve up food in such a
special way, that people will drive miles farther just to eat there.
Maybe you know of a place like this. Give us a call at 446-2949; we'd
like to check it out.
[For a related story, see page F7 of THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT for this date.] ILLUSTRATION: STEPHEN HARRIMAN
The 18th-century Lancaster Tavern on Virginia's Northern Neck serves
simple Southern fare in dishes and bowls from which you help
yourself.
ABOUT LANCASTER TAVERN
Getting there: From South Hampton Roads, take Interstate 64 west
to U.S. 17 north. At Gloucester you have a choice: (1) Turn into the
town of Gloucester and take Virginia Route 3 north, across the
Piankatank and Rappahannock rivers to Lancaster Court House, or (2)
continue on U.S. 17 to Saluda and take Virginia Route 33 east to
Route 3 and across the Rappahannock to Lancaster Court House The
latter is a slightly better road. Either way it's about 85 miles
from downtown Norfolk, about a two-hour drive.
Open: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday through
Saturday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday. Closed Monday through
Wednesday.
Menu: Simple Southern cooking, whatever the cook happens to
decide to fix. Served family style - that is, in dishes and bowls
from which you help yourself.
Price: Inexpensive - $6 lunch; $9 dinner for all you can eat.
Seating: 24 at four tables.
Dress: Casual.
Smoking: No.
Alcoholic beverages: No.
Reservations: Not necessary, but if you wish to make them you may
call (804) 462-5941. Do call if you want home-baked bread to take
home.