On the trip, we stayed at The Inn at Meander Plantation – an 18th century Virginia plantation house converted into a Bed & Breakfast inn. Their claim to fame in addition to the beautiful home is the food in their kitchen – they have outstanding dinner service (which you do not have to be a guest at the inn to partake of) consisting of locally grown produce and meats, using traditional regional recipes, paired with Virginia wines.

Dinner and breakfast are served in the manor house dining room. The current kitchen is housed in the ell behind the main house, and the original kitchen has been converted into a two-story suite. The original slave quarters are also converted into two guest rooms.

We had the two rooms in the former slave quarters. Now very cozy and charming, you could tell that these rooms were far more primitive inside than the main house rooms, but also by extension that these were luxurious in comparison to the general housing for slaves. These must have been the rooms for the families of the slaves who worked in the house, not only because of the quality of the construction but the proximity to the main house and kitchen (only a few yards removed from the kitchen building). The cooks would probably have lived in the room above the kitchen, and the maids/house-servants in this house.

Meander Plantation is very pet-friendly and dogs are allowed in the outbuilding guest rooms and suites. Mom and dad have this little mixed-breed terrier-esque dog named Tess who they bring with them whenever they travel, so we got the two adjoining rooms in the slave cottage to accommodate the dog. The plantation has a big golden retriever who is very friendly, and Tess would go play on the lawn with the Golden.