City: Williamsburg, VA

Category: Accommodations

Telephone: (757) 345-1776, (888) 838-1783

Address: 411 Prince George St.

Description: The building that houses the Fife and Drum—one block off Merchants Square—has been in the Hitchens family for three generations, ever since A.W. Hitchens built it to replace the general store and pasture he sold to what became the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in 1933. Granddaughter Sharon Skruggs and her husband, Billy, talked for years about turning it into a small inn—and in 1999, they got their chance. Their inn—seven rooms, two suites, and a nearby guest cottage that sleeps up to six—is tucked into one of the best locations in Williamsburg. It is less than 100 yards to the Merchants Square entrance to the colonial area, and only steps from some of the best restaurants and shopping. The inn is also packed with historical bric-a-brac, collected into a theme for each room. The William and Mary Room (overlooking the college) has Civil War artifacts like a preserved musket; the Cedars Room, named after the post-war Cedarcrest tourist house, has that home’s actual 1950s registration book. Fife and Drum also comes with “two innkeepers who grew up here,” as Sharon says. Guests get more than just insider recommendations of shops and restaurants—they get local color and stories. Like the time the Skruggs’ sons (then 8 and 9) dug up shards of pottery and other things that didn’t look like the usual backyard “treasure.” Turns out they’d discovered remnants of the Richneck Plantation, which has been part of ongoing CW archaeological research ever since. For all the history, the inn has the amenities of a hotel—high-speed Internet access in the common room, phones and cable TV in each room. The inn welcomes children over age six; children under 14 must stay in a room with an adult (two of the rooms sleep three). The inn is nonsmoking, and pets are not permitted.