A husband and wife restored Tappahannock’s Essex Inn to glory— then turned a cross-street historic home into a flagship fine dinery.
By Eric J. Wallace
Pushing through the red, oversized front door of Tappahannock’s recently renovated Essex Inn is like stepping through a portal to a bygone era. The grand, Greek Revival style manor dates to 1850, and new owners, Greg and Jennifer Huff, lovingly showcase its history through a cozy, museum-like array of 19th- and early 20th-century furnishings, paintings, light fixtures, wallpaper and more.
A spacious off-foyer parlor, for instance, boasts 14-foot ceilings hung with a 1920s wedding cake crystal chandelier that’s counterbalanced by original, wide-plank heart pine floors. Large, mullioned windows are ensconced by ornately layered trim and impressive gilt pediments. A remarkably preserved mahogany drum table perches on a Persian rug between brocaded camelback sofas. Flames crackle behind an Antebellum era cast iron grate in one of twelve original hearth fireplaces.
“We want our guests to feel like the past has come alive,” said Jennifer. The Essex Inn sits in the heart of a designated historic district that dates to 1680. Jennifer and Greg love to regale curious visitors like myself with tales of items’ provenance, the home’s former personages and the history-making events they lived through.
“It’s not something we push,” Greg said, “but if guests are interested, it’s fun to pour some wine and take them on a tour.”
The experience is highly recommended and part of what makes a stay at the new and improved Essex Inn so special: Virtually every antique four-poster bed, china hutch, wall sconce and wingback chair has a story. Many were purchased or donated from area estates or families after the Huffs bought the inn in 2021—and the couple delights in showcasing their collection.
Greg, a 55-year-old former gym teacher and swim coach, wears khaki chinos and a navy blue polo over an athletic build. He gestures at showpiece-grade objects with the animated excitement of a documentary historian.
“It’s a neat way to introduce the town and its evolution from an important Colonial and Civil War era port to today,” he said. The walkabouts also give the innkeepers a chance to connect with visitors. “I think it helps people relax and feel more at home,” added Jennifer, which boosts camaraderie during evening wine hours and three-course breakfasts that come with stays. “And you never know who you’ll meet,” she said, “or what you might discover.”
A question about an intricately painted, porcelain chandelier in the butler’s pantry, for instance, sparked an emotional revelation. The piece came from the Titanic-rivaling, German luxury cruise liner, Wilhelm II, which the U.S. seized then stripped at the start of World War I. A guest teared up and “told us his grandparents had immigrated to America on that boat,” said Greg.
The intimate interactions validate the couple’s decision to gamble their savings and chase a longtime dream of running a historic boutique inn. “We wanted to create something so unique and inviting visitors will want to come back again and again,” said Greg.
And spoiler alert: Gauging from a pair of 2025 visits, they’ve more than succeeded.
Funny thing is, the Huffs didn’t set out to intentionally purchase the Essex—much less found its cross-street sister fine-dinery, 1710 Tavern. Greg said, “dumb luck and stubborn persistence” helped them stumble onto a pair of “dream opportunities.”
The couple moved from Charlotte, North Carolina, to the Philadelphia suburbs in 2012, when Jennifer was promoted to a senior supply chain management role in Pfizer’s vaccine division. The job demanded two weeks of travel a month, so Greg focused on parenting and coached a fleet of local swim teams on evenings and weekends. The couple began to plot next chapters as their kids looked ahead to college.
“I loved my work, but being away so much was hard,” said Jennifer. Vacations around the U.S. and beyond had inspired a love for historic homes, inns, and B&Bs. “We’d mused about buying a big old house with some land, fixing it up, and spending our retirement as innkeepers,” she added. With the empty nest phase approaching, “we thought, ‘Why not now?’”
The Huffs’ set broad parameters: “Somewhere in the South that isn’t snowy or blistering hot,” Greg chuckled. He spent weeks combing real estate listings from northeast Georgia to Virginia for affordable fixer-uppers with a backstory. A getaway to the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula narrowed the search.
“We fell in love with the Colonial architecture, rural scenery and laidback, Chesapeake Bay vibe,” said Jennifer. Research brought a list of potential properties and return visits to tour them. “We’d actually bought a place, but the deal fell through within 24 hours of closing.”
The couple were devastated. “We had a contractor lined up to come in and start renovations that week,” said Greg. Frustrated, “we decided to find a house that worked for us personally and move anyway.”
Then their contractor called with a tip: The Essex Inn was for sale—and at a great price. “There were no listings anywhere online, not even a sign in the yard,” said Greg. So the Huffs paid a visit and knocked on the door. Talks with the elderly owner revealed the house, which was converted to an inn in the late 1990s, had been sliding toward disrepair. Then the combination of COVID and fluke storm damage brought foreclosure.
“We offered to buy the place as-is, then and there,” said Greg. The owner accepted and left pretty much everything beyond her personal belongings. “It was crazy how it happened, because we’d always assumed we couldn’t afford to buy a finished inn and would have to convert a place to suit.”
Initial excitement aside, the Huffs had their work cut out for them. A leaky roof had collapsed ceilings in all four upstairs suites, damaging floors, beds and décor. Paint and wallpaper were peeling throughout; bathrooms were outdated; there was no central heat and air; landscaping needed taming; carpets and furniture were worn—and the list goes on.
“But we could see the potential,” said Jennifer. “So we basically just worked our butts off nonstop” and overhauled both the main inn and four, cottage-style guest suites in an adjacent, stucco-over-brick rowhome that once served as enslaved quarters.
With improvements chugging along, the Huffs fixed their gaze on an abandoned home across the street. Research revealed the dilapidated structure dated to 1710 and was once a tavern frequented by Colonial town luminaries and visiting elites like George Washington.
“On one hand, it was an eyesore,” laughed Jennifer. On the other, the historic landmark had a storied past—and Tappahannock lacked a flagship fine-dinery and craft cocktail bar. The Huffs rolled the dice on an expansion in 2022, not long after the Essex reopened.
“We’d basically just run with the existing inn concept, which was great,” said Greg. Guests raved about the makeover and bookings were slammed. But the Huffs had looked forward to the creativity of a full buildout and longed for something “that was 100 percent ours from the ground up.”
The building that now houses 1710 required a herculean restoration. The stone foundation was unstable, floors were partially collapsed, electrical wiring was unsafe, “and that was really just the tip of the iceberg,” said Greg. He worked with familial volunteers like his son and brother, and a team of contractors to transform the space into a restaurant that places its legacy front and center.
1710 Tavern opened to a packed house in September 2023. The beautifully reconstructed interior pays homage to its roots with touches like original wide-plank flooring, cast iron wall sconces, fireplaces, exposed beams and rafters, lead glass windows and a handcrafted, Old World style wooden bar where a framed menu from the original 18th century establishment is on proud display.
Chef Jordan West builds seasonal menus that use local, farm-sourced ingredients to create “the kinds of dishes you’d find being served in the homes of [Colonial aristocrats,] but with a modern twist.” A seared lamb lollipop starter, for instance, is served in a pool of creamy butternut squash puree alongside crisped Idaho gold potato cubes and topped with a dollop of house-made salsa verde.
Veteran bar manager Mickey Slusser takes a similar approach to cocktails.
Menus boast nifty concoctions like a Cherry Bounce, which was a favorite of George Washington. “I got the idea from a seminar I took at Stratford Hall,” said Slusser, referring to the historic estate of Robert E. Lee. The drink is built around a 45-day, secondary fermentation that combines top shelf rum and bourbon with fresh cherries and sugar. The boozy syrup is then mixed with charged mineral water and offers a wonderful balance of sweet and bitter warmth that’s great for early spring.
1710’s ambience, over-the-top service, and delicious attention to detail have inspired a strong regional following and won accolades like a 2025 Best Of Virginia restaurant award.
“If you’d told me 15 years ago that Greg and I would own a boutique inn and restaurant one day, I’d have called you insane,” said Jennifer. But now that the Huffs are living that future? The innkeepers’ lives seem to fit like a custom-tailored glove.
Eric J. Wallace
Eric J. Wallace is an award-winning lifestyle journalist based in Staunton who has contributed to WIRED, Outside, Reader’s Digest, Atlas Obscura, Best American Food Writing, All About Beer and more.
