September 19, 2007

US & Canada | US | Virginia

Little Washington Goes Presidential

By Lauren Carter

Join the Inn crowd in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

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When their latest advertisements featured a woman inadvertently making the heart-shaped hand gesture of a street gang, Virginia’s tourism honchos may have blurred the line between lovers and fighters. But a more salubrious world greets you at the new Presidential Suite of the Inn at Little Washington. Guests visiting America’s “most celebrated Inn” can now be escorted by a personal butler down country roads to a butter-yellow cottage in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The 1899 property, set in its own private garden near the main house, is just 17 miles from the tiny town of Washington, Virginia, and was designed by Allan Greenberg — the same architect who polished up the Diplomatic Reception Rooms at the State Department.

For those seeking to retreat closer to big Washington, Virginia’s Hotel Palomar Arlington opens its doors November 1. Dressed in glass and steel, with an interior peppered with original artworks, including sculptures by local artist Mary Early, the Palomar sits on the Potomac, overlooking the D.C. skyline. With mini-binoculars offered alongside the L’Occitane custom bath soaps, the suites are perfect for lovers looking for some couple time without losing sight of the mean streets below.