Welcome to The Chesapeake Inn

Welcome to our website – we are so glad you are here! We are Gari and Matt, and we bought the Chesapeake Inn about a year ago – yes, in the middle of the pandemic. We invested in the inn because we believe in the importance of getting away, of taking a break – a retreat from the chaos of daily life. Our little house in Urbanna was that for our family for years – the place where we opened the door, dropped our bags, and let out the breath we didn’t even know we were holding. We want our guests to have the same feeling. We truly want the Chesapeake Inn want to be “your retreat by the river!”

To reach that goal, we have spent the last year revitalizing every part of the property. We have redecorated and renovated all of our guestrooms to give them a coastal elegant feel. We raised the ceilings, added a chandelier to every room, and employed a mix of vintage and modern furniture – our goal is to provide beautiful rooms . . . where you can still safely put your bare feet and border collies on the furniture. Every room has original art, and its own character.

We renovated the common areas too: we took up the enormous asphalt parking lot and replaced it with a large Greenspace and a pea gravel driveway, much better for the environment and more beautiful too. We replaced a rarely used banquet room with a Lobby/Living Room all our guests can enjoy, added a yoga studio, and are finishing a unique conference room. The property also includes a wonderful restaurant – the Half Shell Grill - open 7 days a week which features fresh seafood.

Outside, we added all the toys we thought our guests would enjoy using in Urbanna – we bought new kayaks (kayaking here is wonderful!), added bikes, an adult tricycle and a tandem bike, and of course kept the inn’s surreys which are fun and accessible for everyone!

And our approach has affected our amenities and pricing too. We don’t charge any extra fees – we believe our customers are our guests, and the very last thing we want is to have a guest surprised by a bill. So unlike many other hotels, we don’t charge extra fees. Not for our kayaks or our bikes or printing. And we don’t have a mini bar; we give our guests snacks and waters so you’ll have something to snack on if you’re hungry.

Personalized hospitality is our core principle, and we will do absolutely everything we can (within the law) to give our guests what they need and what they want. We won’t promise that we have thought of everything – but we will promise that if we haven’t thought of something, we will climb mountains to make it happen for you – if not during this stay, during your next. We believe the perfect retreat depends on the guest, and we are here to make it happen. If you need peace and quiet, your perfect weekend may include a mug of delicious coffee on our Greenspace, a meditative walk in Urbanna’s quiet streets, time in Waterman’s Park on the River and a sole yoga practice in our own studio. If you crave adventure, your perfect weekend may include kayaking on the River or the Urbanna Creek (did you know there is a sunken civil war ship?), lunch at Merroir (ten minutes outside of town) and maybe renting a boat of your very own. On the other hand, if you brought your children, we might suggest taking the trolley, playing a round of mini golf and enjoying a scoop or two of ice cream. And we might mention that just in case you need a distraction we have a library of toys designed to keep any cranky small person occupied (did we mention we have six girls so we have lots of experience with cranky small people?).

The Chesapeake Inn isn’t a “regular” inn – but then again, you aren’t regular either. You are special, and deserve the very best – and we want to give it to you.

Gari Lister & Matt Gobush
Owners, the Chesapeake Inn