 Houndstooth Cafe
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We first heard of this restaurant from a review in Virginia Magazine and we are so glad we did. We found a quaint, friendly establishment where the wait staff goes out of their way to make you feel welcome and comfortable. On the two occasions we ate there, we had different staff members each time, both of whom were terrific.
The menu offers a variety of sandwiches and entrees, but the reason to eat here is the barbecue - beef, chicken, or pork! Hush puppies are delicious as an accompaniment to the barbecue. |
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The pork barbecue we tried is tender, tasty, moist, and not soaked in any kind of sauce. The sauce is added on top, sufficient and perfect, but not overwhelming. And every morsel you consume confirms the fact that you are, indeed, in "hog heaven." Hush puppies are delicious (and we mean REALLY delicious) as an accompaniment to the barbecue.
The menu also offers many fresh seafood items. The dessert specialty is the "Houndstooth Derby Pie" and is perfect, served warm and chocked full of pecans, chocolate chips and bourbon. If you are of a mind, you may also order homemade brownies, apple pie, or cheesecake.
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Owner Connie Cunningham also offers the "Houndstooth Feast for Four", a whole barbecued pork butt with three vegetables, hush puppies, and beverage. Call 804-537-5404 for hours as lunch and dinner are not served every day. As of August 24, the Hours were:
Two Frogs on a Bike
After your meal, walk cross US Rt. 301 to a quirky antique shop - Two Frogs on a Bike - a great stop for a trip down memory lane and a source for that special collectible to accent your home decor. We found a set of 3 swirl "jadeite" bowls from the thirties as a reasonable price (of course you know what jadeite bowls are - if not, Click Here).
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The owners are friendly and have good plants for sale in the spring.
Fork Episcopal Church
Fork Episcopal Church in Doswell is one of the oldest churches in Virginia. It has been in continuous use since 1735. The church is located on Old Ridge Road in Hanover County.
 Fork Episcopal Church
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| The church built in 1735, originally called St. Martin's (after St. Martin in the Fields of London), became known as "The Fork Church" due to its location near where the North and South Anna Rivers join to form of the Pamunkey River.
A traditional rectangular building measuring seventy-five by twenty-five feet, its brick is laid in Flemish bond with glazed headers. There is a door at Fork Church's southern end and another one on the northeastern corner side. Over each door is a portico on brick columns, which were not part of the original church.
In the 1800's the high back pews were replaced and the pulpit relocated to the end of the church.
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Patrick Henry, as a child, came here for services from nearby Scotchtown, the Henry family plantation located five miles away. His father, John Henry, was a vestryman, and his uncle, also named Patrick, was minister here for forty years. Patrick Henry's cousin, Dorothea Payne - later known as Dolley when she would become the wife of James Madison, America's fourth president - also attended services here.
Interesting, too, is the fact that the grandfather of actress Katherine Hepburn, S.S. Hepburn, was a minister here from 1893- 1903.
Noteworthy possessions of the church include the communion silver of 1759, said to be made in England and the early eighteenth century baptismal font, also made in England, from a neighboring King and Queen county church (Lower Church of St. Stephen's Parish) which became a Baptist church after the dissolution of the Anglican Church in Virginia.
Two wall memorials inside the church are dedicated to Rev. Robert Nelson and Colonel William Nelson, CSA. Fork Church recently (2003) completed a restoration of their organ. This organ is a rare tracker instrument built in 1855 by Henry F. Berger, who was born in Germany in 1819 and came to this country in 1849. He worked in Baltimore, MD where this instrument was built.
It is one of only two of his organs known to survive. With no swell or pedal stops, it is like the organs of the 17th and 18th centuries. The Rappahannock Organ Company was chosen to complete this historic and important restoration. |  Photo Courtesy Rappahannock Organ Company |
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