Charlotte Moss | A Flair for Living

Travel Scrapbook : A Weekend in Virginia

I always look forward to going home to Virginia. My most recent trip was three days and three cities this Autumn.

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Traveling to Charlottesville, I visited Monticello. My visit ended most graciously with a lunch for four in Mr. Jefferson’s greenhouse. After a morning of history and culture…I chose an afternoon of commerce! I went to visit my friend Kenny Ball’s antique shop on Ivy Road. Kenny, unfortunately, wasn’t there as he was in New York running the NYC marathon that weekend. Whenever I am in Charlottesville, I always find time to visit – and I always find something – or in this case somethings. I found a brass and leather tray table, a red Moroccan leather box, a large pair of tole planters and a French Empire Chest.

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After Monticello, off to Somerset to see the farm of a friend – a leisurely visit amongst enormous boxwoods in the shadow of tall white pines and walnut trees. A restoration in process – I can’t wait to see their progress every step of the way. We talked through the cocktail hour over icy martinis, then I was off to the Downtown Grill in Charlottesville to have dinner with family.

Saturday afternoon I headed to Richmond down I-64 awash in golds, ambers, russets and reds as the maples painted the roadside. I have not been to Richmond for a while and I was very eager to get back to Kim Faison’s shop on Grove Avenue.

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Layers of furniture piled high, mostly French and Italian, cabinets full of delft and Faience…. I spied a pair of Empire arm chairs, a pretty French settee, a Spanish Samovar and a small and shapely Italian hall settee.

You can not do antiquing in Richmond and not go to Kim’s store. An antique gene and finely tuned eye must run in the family. Her mother Caroline Faison has a shop in Greensboro, North Carolina. And when I was in Kim’s store this particular Saturday, her son Ben Cochrane was minding the store – three generations.

That evening I went to a cocktail party – my school reunion. It was a walk down memory lane, full of laughs, with a background of Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Gladys Knight & the Temptations – the best dancing music EVER. A trip to Starbucks the next morning, and back on the road to Irvington, Virginia.

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Carter’s Creek is where my sister lives by the water. A river view from every window – a postcard of Virginia. Leaves turning under the warm Virginia sun, neighbors’ sailboats gliding by – the banter of Canadian geese was the only thing interrupting the silence. Martha took me on a tour of the area…a trip to the “riv-ah” – the Rappahannock – and then to visit Comer & Co., where Alison Drake opened up early so I could shop. Comer & Co. is a brand new store in Kilmarnock, the new ‘go to’ for antiques, decorative accessories, great paintings and watercolors, lamps, books, fragrance, etc. Among my purchases was a bookstand where my own book was being displayed, a leather wing chair, an Empire chest, a gilded mirror, some creamware, a blackamoor, and…Woops! Gotta stop there – the rest are Christmas presents!

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