About Us

The Chesapeake Inn is owned and operated by Gari Lister and Matt Gobush, with lots of help from their amazing team and occasional help from their six internationally adopted daughters and their beloved border collies, Chessie and Callie Kate.

meet gari

Gari believes in laid-back luxury, fun and magic:). As our day to day leader, she is responsible for the Inn’s coastal elegant design and its emphasis on true personalized hospitality.  She also is the eye behind Ballgown Barefoot, our very own home decor and gift shop.

Gari grew up traveling and always loved hotels — she had very clear views even as a six year old on what makes a good guest room, and will readily admit that those early views affect her designs. But before following her dream of owning and running a hotel, she followed her parents’ footsteps and used her Wellesley and George Washington University degrees to practice law in D.C.  She spent 20 years practicing antitrust litigation until in 2011 she “retired” to spend more time with her girls and focus on coaching and supporting other struggling adoptive families.

Along the way, Gari tried a wide variety of ways to handle the stress of daily life — everything from redecorating to yoga to shopping to life coaching (both regular and with horses) — and found that often the best answers were simple: taking time away from daily life, being in nature and reconnecting to her heart.

At the Inn, her goal is to provide her guests with a stay that is luxurious, relaxed, and even fun. Ballgown Barefoot came out of the same appreciation for life’s perfectly balanced.

When she’s not at the Inn, Gari can probably be found partnering with one of her horses in an equus coaching session, reading with a couple of cats on her lap, or, yes, redecorating a room:) She offers Equus coaching sessions to guests and locals whenever her schedule allows.

meet matt

Matt is Gari’s partner at the Chesapeake Inn (and in life!) – his unofficial title is all-around “Mighty Man” from a job Gari unknowingly “volunteered” him for when they were first dating over 20 years ago.

He met and married Gari after moving from the Midwest to D.C. to attend Georgetown University.  Matt’s career in strategic communications has taken him from the White House and Capitol Hill to corporate America, where he spent nearly 20 years working as a speechwriter for a big multinational company, including for ten years in Texas.  He recently returned to public service and works weekdays in Washington for commission studying the war in Afghanistan

In his spare time (what little there is!), Matt volunteers with his church, writes for a foreign policy journal, plays the guitar, runs road races (slowly!), and follows his beloved Washington Nationals baseball team.

our mission

We bought the Chesapeake Inn in July 2020 (yes, we went a little Covid crazy!) because we believe in the importance of getting away, taking a break – and having 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, and we have renovated the property to make it a relaxing yet elegant place where our guests can unwind, breathe, and reenergize.  We truly want the Chesapeake Inn to be “your retreat by the river!”

meet the team

Meet The Team
Rachel Valadez
Rachel Valadez

Rachel can be found at our front desk almost everyday of the week, but when she is not working she is usually spending time with her best friend Avery. Rachel and Avery share an apartment and a dog (named Bailey) and they spend most of their free time together going on adventures. Rachel is a huge foodie, loves traveling to other counties, and loves meeting new people! Rachel is a graduate of Christchurch school and is currently attending the University of Maryland majoring in Eastern Asian Studies. When the dynamic duo is not together, Rachel can be found spending her free time with her family, enjoying delicious food, or listening to K-pop music!

Avery Walden
Avery Walden

Avery started with us shortly after Rachel - She is surrounded by her big family and is local to Deltaville and Urbanna. When she is not working at The Chesapeake Inn or Buoys and Gulls Preschool, she likes to go on runs, and hang out with her friends and family. Avery graduated from Christchurch school and is now attending Southern New Hampshire University majoring in communications and minoring is business. After college - Avery hopes to work in medical sales and start traveling the world.

Liz Courtney
Liz Courtney

Liz is the Inn’s most important asset – she keeps everything sparkling clean and in order, and she always, always has a smile and a listening ear for our guests. Of everyone on our team, she’s actually been at the Inn the longest – she has worked at the Inn since 2016. She’s also our de facto AV expert – Liz is the only member of our team who can always fix the televisions!

Liz adores her family, especially her grandchildren who she spoils rotten. When she’s not at work she’s often eating at her favorite restaurant Captain George’s or Golden Corral in Williamsburg. She loves walking, going to thrift stores and taking road trips; and when she is not working at the inn, Liz has a house cleaning service on the side.

Debra Silva
Debra Silva

Debra helps Liz keep the Inn clean and fresh, and she’s also our “Jill of All Trades” around here. She has volunteered to drive more than one guest in a pinch, and we’ll confess, she’s even driven our kids to school, too! When she’s not at the Inn, Debra is a busy mom to four fabulous kids. Her biggest passion (after her family) is not terribly hidden – she loves wrestling, and spending time at home with her dog Oreo.

Elisabeth Gobush
Elisabeth Gobush

Elisabeth can sometimes be found at the front desk, but she also helps around the back office as needed. She attends Christ Church School, rides horses, does Model UN, and serves as an acolyte at her church. When she’s not at the Inn or at school, she’s probably listening to One Direction or hidden away reading. The Waterman’s Park is her absolute favorite thing about Urbanna, but she loves taking her younger siblings to the playground too. At the Inn she loves hanging out in the Garden and riding the tandem bike. And Elisabeth can’t wait to start driving the Moke!

Viktorija Gobush
Viktorija Gobush

Viktorija is finishing 8th grade at St. Clare Walker Middle School, where she is part of school government and the National Junior Honor Society. She loves Taber Park, and is excited for the new town pool to open. She also loves kayaking and hanging out at the town marina, or really anywhere she is close to the water. She volunteers with the Urbanna Cat Project and is almost always willing to play with her younger siblings. At the Inn, she can usually be found at the front desk or helping out in the office.

Chessie & Callie Kate

Chesapeake Leigh (Chessie) is Gari & Matt’s beloved border collie. When they bought the Chesapeake Inn in 2020, they debated changing the Inn’s name until they realized their very personal connection to the name — and that’s how Chessie became the inspiration for the Inn’s logo!

Chessie loves people, especially children, and is always happy to be in Urbanna. She avoids dog beds, preferring to sit on couches and chairs, loves to catch and fetch balls, and spends her spare time herding the family’s cats. After a year of service, Chessie let Gari know she isn’t a big fan of hanging out at the Inn, and that’s how Gari and Matt came to adopt Callie Kate.

Callie Kate is still a teenager (so she’s an Inn dog in training), but she loves hanging out in Gari’s office and behind the front desk with Rachel, Avery and Allison!

giving back & partner charities

Giving back is an integral part of the identity of our family and of the Chesapeake Inn. We donate to and partner with local organizations whenever we can, and have identified partner charities we work with throughout the year focused on our three core giving areas:

  • En Plein Air is a week long event (April 25 - April 29, 2023) celebrating en pleir painting in Middlesex County.

    Arts in the Middle is an arts festival the first weekend in June (June 3rd &b 4th, 2023) showcasing the impact the arts can have on smaller communities, and to celebrate the creative spirit in rural Virginia.

  • The Urbanna Cat Project is dedicated to caring for the feral cat colonies of Urbanna by spaying and neutering, feeding and finding cats homes where appropriate.

    Glen Highland Farm is a charity focused on helping senior border collies at risk find homes where appropriate and caring for them when they simply need love in their last years.

  • Middlesex County Museum & Historical Society operates a museum in Saluda and creates programming dedicated to protecting and preserving local buildings, traditions and assets.

  • We also believe in the importance of retreats from everyday life for everyone, regardless of whether they can afford it. We have established fellowship programs to make visits with us more accessible for those who need the assistance, and sometimes we have been known to go a little haywire and simply give weekends away with no strings attached!

    In 2021, we established the Lorraine Fuller Fellowship Program for foster families and families struggling with kids from hard places to enable them to take a family getaway or a mini retreat. We are considering other fellowship programs.