Mark Addy Inn, a Nellysford, Virginia Bed and Breakfast

Guests often wonder how innkeepers come to the desire and decision to leave the traditional workforce for the hospitality lifestyle. According to our family history and throughout the past two centuries, hospitality was a way of living and was passed as a tradition from one generation to the next.

We are extremely fortunate to have inherited from various generations the joy of entertaining and in sharing our home. Much of what we know about gracious living and warm welcomes was learned from our previous generations, dating back to the 17^th century.

The privilege of being an innkeeper affords us a special opportunity to provide a safe and comforting atmosphere where guests can re-connect with traveling companions and maybe make new friends.

* Please note that we have a cat, a dog and a bird that live in the inn.

HISTORY of The Mark Addy Inn

(Reproduced in part from an article in ROADRUNNERS
Exploring the history and elegance of Nellysford BySylvia Shenk)

The original log cabin was built in the then-called Wintergreen Valley on 1000 acres in the 1840's by Charles Everett who also owned and built the Belmont Estates in Charlottesville. This successful entrepreneur and physician to Thomas Jefferson was one of the founders of the UVA Medical School. He and friend Thomas Jefferson would escape to what was then called Upland Manor for weekends of relaxation and sport. Charles Everett was childless but very much devoted to his nephew, John Coleman Everett, who he sent to medical school. John Coleman moved to the Philadelphia area and became a wealthy physician and slave holder. Although Charles Everett willed everything to him, he would receive only Upland Manor if he didn't free his slaves. John Coleman found it impossible to release his slaves during Civil War times, and he therefore only received Upland Manor. He married Nelly Martin who became the first Postmistress of the town of Lodebar which is now Nellysford, named for Nelly Martin. They built the current homestead on Upland Manor and added another room each time one of their seven children was born. It is an interesting aside that they are all buried at a small church on route 151 and that their descendants are still living around Nellysford and even visit the Inn from time to time.

The current owners purchased the Inn from John Maddox who bought Upland Manor in the 1990's with his mother, Joanne. And now for the current naming of the Inn...The grandparents of John Maddox were renowned for their gracious entertaining in the county. Their names were Mark and Adelaide hence the Inn was renamed the Mark Addy in an effort to replicate the gracious style of dining and entertaining of Mark and Adeline.

Leslie and Rafael (Rafi) Tal bought the Mark Addy in 2006 and have remained true to this tradition of hospitality and gracious entertaining. Rafi has thrown all of his energy and creativity into the meal presentation and the enhancement of the Inn itself. He and his wife Leslie are passionate about their endeavor, and it shows in the culinary masterpieces of the Fountain Room as well as the unique décor of the Inn itself. Perhaps the live, Red Lorid Amazon parrot who greets you from his cage as you enter the Victorian house is an indicator of the surprises that await you. If you like superb cuisine, fine imported wines as well as those from our local wineries, antiques, a combination of floral wallpapers, a mélange of décor in each room, all overlooking the Blue Ridge mountains, drop in on Leslie and Rafi Tal. But be certain to make reservations for dinner or your trip might be for naught.