Boar's Head Inn
Boar's Head Inn
The Boar's Head. From where do these distinguished names originate? If these walls could talk…
The Ordinary
In the 1730s, the inn property was the site of Terrell's Ordinary, a modest inn
where westward travelers stayed the night. By the 1960s, the Ordinary was but a
memory. In its place was the quintessential Virginia Inn.
The Old Mill
The heart of The Boar's Head was built from the timbers of an abandoned
gristmill along the banks of the Hardware River, which dated back to 1834. The
relocation of the mill was an opportunity to preserve and transform a treasured
Virginia artifact. It had survived burning despite the orders of Generals Grant
and Custer during their march through Charlottesville in the Civil War. Indeed,
it had continued to operate some 60 years after the war's end.
Piece by Piece, The Construction
The old mill was carefully dismantled and reconstructed piece by piece at the
present site of the Inn. The original fieldstones, heart pine beams and planks,
and massive grist stones are now prominently featured throughout the Inn. Today,
the heart of The Boar's Head is the Old Mill Room, whose time-worn timbers
recall the original mill. Outside, millstones are visible reminders of the
building's proud past.
The University of Virginia Foundation, The Restoration
The Boar's Head was purchased in 1988 by the University of Virginia Foundation.
Since that time, the University of Virginia Foundation has invested almost $20
million to renovate and continually upgrade the Inn. For twenty years, The
Boar's Head has received the prestigious AAA Four Diamond Award.
Conference Center
The Boar's Head Tradition
Since Shakespeare's day, London's Boar's Head was synonymous with good food and
warm hospitality, a tradition maintained today in the foothills of this Blue
Ridge Mountain hotel, here at The Boar's Head Charlottesville Virginia.
Old Mill Room Dining
peanut squash soup
crab cakes, cheese grits and green beans
guest room in Hunt Club
view through the screened porch