lghorse

Help with suggestions for accommodations for family of 4, 2 adults, 2 teens. Planning to spend 5 days in Williamsburg, VA area and then traveling by car...possibly to St. Charles. Don't really like Chain motels/hotels and not campers. Would like to stay 2 nights in the St. Charles area and looking for recommendations. Will then be homeward bound to Chapel Hill, NC. Thanks for your help!

obxgirl

lghorse, I don't think you'll find much else in the St. Charles, Waldorf, La Plata areas except chain motels. St. Charles in an unusual destination for 2 days unless you're visiting family or friends. They're suburb communities for the DC metro area. Closer to DC you'll find more interesting accommodations.

HuwMorgan

If you REALLY insist on a non-chain, on Route 301 are several motels on 1950s vintage that are, in effect, flop houses for men down on their luck or welfare moms with bastard kids. Rates are cheap but I wouldn't recommend them. The motels in question are relics of the pre-Interstate days when 301 was a vital north-south motor artery.

LN

Hi

If you are planning on coming to Southern Maryland I can try to help. The above posters are correct in saying that it is a bedroom community to Washington DC but there are some good antique shopping area in Charles County and I'll try to get back to you with some hotels. There are also some places you wouldn't want to stay in on Rt 301.

If you look at a map you can see that Rt 5 heads off to the right from Rt 301 and goes into Mechanicsville and other southern town. This area is known for some good antiqueing and also leads to the Amish settlements in Maryland. They're known around here for their great furniture making. Further south off Rt 5 is St Marys City where some of the earliest settlers to Maryland landed and an area where you can get some really good cooking! It's well known for its kale stuffed hams and pan-fried soft shell crabs. There's a settlement there you can tour but it's nothing of the size and knowledge that Williamsburg has.

Further north on Rt 301 - you can veer off again to Washington DC or head up to Annapolis MD. Both towns have great history and tours in them.

Bootman4U

And I thought the current political administration was going to eliminate all those folks in those "flop houses"...or perhaps that's where they SENT them to keep them out of sight!!!Bummer...

lghorse

oops...I may have been misled. Originally had planned to spend a week in Williamsburg, VA but then decided that 5 days would be enough. Wanted to travel (by car) about 2 hours, somewhere...to be near water (beach, lake, whatever) and be in a nice town. Originally was thinking of St. Michaels but seemed too far to go at this time. Someone suggested St. Charles... Maybe I should just open this to any suggestions... (not North Carolina because we have already done much in our home State)...where else in Maryland or Delaware?

LN

Hi again

St Charles is a small town near Waldorf Md and its in Charles county and it's NOT on the water. Maybe the place mentioned was Cape Charles which is just above the VA/MD tunnel from Norfolk headed up to Maryland. It is close to the water and if you came up on that route from Norfolk you would be near a lot of seaside towns - Wachapreague, assateague Island, Cape Charles, and on up to Ocean City Md.

Another possibility would be stopping in Virginia Beach - bet those teens would love that!

Perhaps you should check your map again and see how far it might be and where you might like to stop.

lghorse

LN: you are absolutely right in the area that I should be headed. Do you have any suggestions regarding any of these seaside towns and/or accommodations. I am safe to assume that towards the end of this trip featuring Busch Gardens, WaterWorld, etc. that my husband will be most content with a quiet seaside town featuring nice restaurants, a relaxed atmosphere and so on. I would love a teen friendly bed @ breakfast. Thanks again for your input!

HuwMorgan

St. Michael's is right across the bay from me near Bennett Point, MD. St. Michael's Maryland is a very pleasant but touristy town on the Eastern Shore. I like to eat at Michael Roarke's on the harbor. It is worth visiting a day or two. St. Charles (Charles County) is a rather dreary part of southern Maryland's rural sprawl between ugly, chain-store ridden Waldorf, and LaPlata, famous for a recent tornado that flattened part of it and, 138 years ago, site of where Dr. Mudd set the broken leg of the actor/murderer John Wilkes Booth.

HuwMorgan

Got an idea. Maybe you might want to head over to Cape Charles from Williamsburg, just over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel. State or national seashore, vitually unspoiled, a couple motels. Might be worth a day. Then you might want to travel north through the Delmarva Peninsula and spend the night at the Robert Morris Inn at Oxford, MD. Very scenic and the Morris has the best crabcakes in the world. Even James Michener said so.

lghorse

HuwMorgan: I definitely goofed on the St. charles vs. Cape Charles. thanks for the suggestion about Oxford but it appears to be about 4 driving hours from Williamsburg (per mapquest) and I wanted a shorter drive of about 2 hours if possible. The Eastern Shore of Virigina (Chincoteague, Cape Charles, etc) sounds nice and good driving distance...would you be familiar with this area and give any recoomendations? thanks!

obxgirl

lghorse, Realistically it's about 3 hours from Wmbg to Chincoteague...how wedded to the 2 hour drive are you? Chincoteague is beautiful.

Does it have to be a beach? Charlottesville and the mountain foothills are 2 hours from Wmburg. There's lots to see and plenty of non-chain accommodations. You could check out the environs of an ACC competitor!

LN

Hi again

Chincoteague is a beautiful, laid-back area and it's very close to a really good fishing area - Wachapreague. Both of these towns have their own little mom and pop motels and I doubt if they have any chain motels. If your hubby and/or kids like fishing they could really enjoy renting a boat at Wachapreague and the whole family could enjoy the the natural seashore at Chincoteague.

The eastern neck of Maryland and Virginia is a beautiful, quiet area. Do a search on Google for Chincoteague and Wachapreague and you'll find the fishing, the towns, the motels, the restaurants.

Have a great time!!

LN

hi again

Go to http://www.chincoteague.com for all the town's information (includes motels, b & B's, restaurants, everything.

HuwMorgan

You are right, ighorse. Oxford is about 4 hours from Williamsburg. Virginia's eastern shore was once described by Michener as the orphan of Virginia. It is a backwater, not built up. Lots of waterman types. Some pretty bad poverty spots. Most of the coast there has been bought up by conservancy groups, thus there is no resort like Ocean City, MD or Virginia Beach, VA. Worth a day trip and not much else.