Still on the Road in Western Maryland

This morning, we left our hotel in Morgantown, WV and looked around town a bit. We found one smallish consignment store and a couple of antique places, but honestly, it wasn't worth the detour down there for us. Other than breakfast at the Shoney's breakfast bar. At noon.

So. In the way that you have to on the road sometimes, we gathered our thoughts and altered our plans so that we could end the day back in Cumberland.

And headed out for a foggy rainy drive through the mountains, stopping again in the towns near Deep Creek Lake again for some shopping since those stores were closed yesterday.



And again, we found nothing. Sometimes, this just happens on the road and we've learned not to let it discourage us. Tomorrow is another day.

In fact, the only two things we found today are this iron six light chandelier,



and this gilt wood mirror.



Detail of the mirror frame.



The best part of the day has turned out to be the experience of the trip itself. It was my favorite kind of day driving around in the mountains in the fall. No crowds, rainy and windy weather, quiet country roads.

Since we decided to come back to Cumberland for a flea market tomorrow that we heard about, we ended the day earlier than normal and snagged a room at the Best Western in LaVale, MD, right down the road. An older hotel/motel from the 60's, with what was a decided upscale renovation in the early 70's that enclosed the pool and has aged well, now with even more recent renovations and in great condition with beautiful landscaping, a hot tub, sauna, work out room, and small creekside park. The room isn't the most luxurious we've had, but with a flat screen television, refrigerator, and microwave, I don't think we'll suffer too much.

After check in, we headed to one of my favorite restaurants ever, anywhere, D'Atri's in Lavale, Md, right down the street from our hotel. I hadn't eaten here for years, but the food was just as memorable as I recall, and one of the best restaurant values I've had recently. Dinner for both of us, including soup and salad appetizers, with a tip, was under $30.00. I had chicken parmesan with spaghetti, Clay had spaghetti and meatballs, which I photographed (badly, trust me, it tasted better than it looks). And the soups! About a dozen varieties, I had ham/dumpling that was the best ham soup I've ever eaten, Clay had the corn chowder which was also amazing. Yeah, I made him let me taste.



Clay and I both commented on how energetic and helpful everyone there was, and what a skilled waitstaff they had, who all happened to be in costume for Halloween tonight. We enjoyed watching our waitress walk up a full staircase to our second floor dining room, carrying two full loaded trays of pasta entrees, and never missing a beat. It was almost like performance art watching her constantly shift the weight of the tray with her hands as she removed each plate and the balance shifted, and when we talked to her about it, she chuckled and talked about how much she enjoyed being able to do it.

If you're in the Cumberland area, be sure to go. Eat anything, it's all good!

After the flea market in the morning, we're headed east to hit some shops in central Maryland, and gradually work our way towards home so that when the shopping day ends, we are close enough to home that we can make it there at a reasonable time, especially since we have an appointment in Richmond on Monday at noon. And, still have to repack the van before going to it.

Now though, time for left over meatballs that Clay couldn't finish for dinner..........

Another Night On The Road Here In Wild Wonderful West Virginia

We left Norfolk yesterday and hit the road, for the first time in a couple of weeks really, and headed toward western Maryland. It felt good to be headed somewhere "new".

We ended up spending the night in Hagerstown, MD, basically because we had a hotel deal that included a hot tub, always a good thing after a day spent in the car. We didn't even go to any of the antique shopping venues in Hagerstown, preferring to head west toward the mountains, and stopping in Hancock, en route to Cumberland.

I hadn't been to Cumberland in years, but still love it. Maybe even more than I did before. (I seriously considered moving there years ago, but life was in the way.) The downtown walking mall, that I remember as being mostly filled with empty store fronts, is now a thriving, people filled place. There are new restaurants (some with $25 entrees on the menu, Cumberland has come a long way!) And some of the long time businesses are still there and running as usual, including a favorite bookstore and hot dog stand. I even got to eat lunch at my favorite fast food restaurant, Roy Rogers, which we don't have in Tidewater.



After Cumberland, we headed further west to the towns adjacent to Deep Creek Lake, McHenry and Oakland. I can appreciate the infrastructure that's there for the weekenders who head there for lake and skiing fun, but it's just too planned for me. Clay's comment was "I can smell plastic". Lots of yuppie restaurants, signs advertising tiramisu and latte, and "boutique" stores. Sigh. We had planned on spending the night there to do a bit of antique shopping since they had already closed by the time we arrived, but we decided we'd rather skip this time and move on further west. So, we jumped in the car and drove another hour.

And here we are, in Morgantown, WV, after eating an unremarkable dinner at a restaurant that billed itself as a "country kitchen" near the lake. Again tonight, we're in a hotel with a hot tub, that we had a coupon for, a great deal for $63.00 including tax. And thankfully, I don't feel like I've been in the car off and on all day.

I've got lots of pictures to get posted later on, but here's a few of the things we found today to prove we did some work!

A glazed ceramic elephant form garden seat. Actually, one of two, the only difference is that one is slightly darker than the other.



A silver gilt beveled arch top mirror, with an original label from high end manufacturer La Barge.



A pair of Italian style iron hanging lantern form light fixtures with textured glass panels.



A fantastic heavy gilt metal octagonal cocktail table. Seriously. Great.



A matching end table, this time with a floating glass top over a gilt metal base.

We're in Hagerstown, MD tonight.
It's a moment of downtime before of couple of days of marathon antique hunting.
So no pictures tonight.
Definitely tomorrow night.

I Promise, We're Hitting the Road Tomorrow

We decided after being away from home for a couple of nights in Wiliamsburg that we needed a reset night at home, so we decided to do some local shopping. Tomorrow, we plan to hit the road early, but haven't decided where yet......we've narrowed it down to either Asheville, NC or Pittsburgh, PA. We both want to go somewhere that we haven't been to shop, and in both directions there are lots of places to see on the way, the distance from here is about the same either way.

Knowing us, we'll decide when we get coffee in the morning.

In the meantime, we found a few things locally today, although I have to confess that the offerings have been more sparse than normal, there just doesn't seem to be as much new merchandise being put out in our area compared to what we normally see.

As always, click any of the images to enlarge for a better view.

A chair rail height rattan bookshelf with woven split rattan shelves.



A pair of 1930's white ceramic classical urn form lamps with worn gilt trim and deco style mounts. (In this case, since the fleur de lis are not evenly worn from one lamp to the next, I think I'd remove the remaining ones-the mounts are the star of the show here and they'd show up better anyway.)



Fourteen pieces of vintage 1950-60's marble fruit (shown in an abstract teak bowl.)



A tall metal framed tabletop candle lantern with blown glass hurricane shade insert.



An Italian ceramic fruit basket centerpiece.



A pair of weathered brass urn shaped candle sconces.



A faux finished garden finial form lamp.



Part of a large lot of 1930's etched crystal stemware, (there are several sizes of these, this photo shows only one).



I'm sure we'll have more photos to show from the road, but for tonight, I'm off to watch Top Chef!

We don't buy much in Richmond, but we still do the rounds. Recently we saw this:

at the Marqet Place. Yes, there is no "u".
It wasn't the sort of place you could ask for provenance on something, but noticing the numbers on the bow- PT 109 places it from the Kennedy era, perhaps in the wake of the movie PT-109, or after the publication of Richard Tregaskis' book John F Kennedy and PT 109, from 1962.

I think however, it was probably snagged from a Woolworths.

Thanks For Over 2000 Blog Hits

As of a few minutes ago, we've had over 2,200 hits on our blog since we started writing about two months ago, thanks for (continually) reading and offering great feedback!


Today, we made a short day trip to Richmond to see a customer and did a little bit of shopping, but cut the day off earlier than normal so we'd have time to get home and actually cook dinner and then eat at a table like civilized people for a change. (Baked ziti with spinach, salad, and bread if you're keeping track!)

We found a few nice things today, as always click any of the images to enlarge for a better view.

An oval silverplated footed gallery tray. Need polishing, but a great size as a bar tray.




An Asian hexagonal bamboo table with woven top.



A well made fruitwood bureau plat form writing desk with classical Italian style detailing.

Lewis Trimble has a lot to answer for...

I was surfing design sites at 4am this morning- couldn't sleep- and I hit one I'm going to be keeping my eye on, Mid-Century Living, especially since they're blogging their house hunt for the perfect MCM house.
Scrolling down the page, I see this scan from Better Homes and Gardens:
and I see the black and gold chests and think "Oh, that's Dorothy Draper... so are those stools."
THEN I think... dammit.
Six weeks ago, if you asked me who Dorothy Draper was, I'd have probably said "Carmen Jones, right?"
Now, I can spot her style at twenty paces. All thanks to our friend, and antique dealer/designer, Lewis Trimble.

Shopping on Our Day Off-Again!

Clay is going to write an antique blog post later tonight, but I wanted to get up pictures of a couple of cool things we found this afternoon at a couple of local places we don't always have time to get to during the course of a normal week.

I'll probably post something in the book blog for a change later on tonight as well.

As always, click any of the images to enlarge for a better view.

A well made, large, 1970's, modern split rattan wrapped etagere with glass shelves. We had to empty the whole van and could still barely get this in, but it was too cool to leave behind! (I think Clay has a new appreciation for my van loading ability.)



A plain white ceramic glazed balustrade form vase, yeah, this is a keeper to go with the personal white china collection. A form I didn't have! Till now!



A high quality Louis XVI style oval cocktail or tea table with pull out candle slides and reticulated brass gallery.



A small oval silverplate footed tray with gadroon edge, c.1930's.

The Leaves Are FINALLY Changing

Still feeling the effect of our loooong day yesterday, we headed out at the crack of noon to see a customer in the Northern Neck and hopefully do a little shopping.

I'm still longing for cooler fall weather and other than a few days earlier this month, haven't had it, during the day at least. It must be getting cooler at night than I think though, because even here where it's been almost 80 degrees every day lately, the trees are starting to turn.



We didn't have time to find much today since we got a much needed late start, but here are the photos of the rest of what we found yesterday as promised, click any image to enlarge for a better view. Our planned trip to Colonial Beach, VA will have to wait until a day we have more time.......

A 1930's fine quality silverplated charger with reticulated border.



A 1940's silverplated "silent butler" with a crest engraved on the lid and a wooden handle. A de rigeur item for any housewife in the era of people smoking in the home, I wonder what people do with these now? We still seem to sell them........



A bronze finished solid brass foliate form candle sconce. I don't normally buy singles, but the large size of this one would make it work really well alone or in a wall grouping.



A 1950's reticulated silverplated trivet.



A silverplated golfing trophy, dated 1937 with an engraved message to the original "winner" on the front. We have customers who LOVE these, either to display in a collection on a shelf or to use as vases (or for both!), the earlier ones are harder to find all the time thanks to Ralph Lauren using them in his displays and making them popular for the last 20 years. He even designs new items in trophy form for those who can't find the original ones.



The only thing we found today, an early 19th century piece of handpainted French Old Paris porcelain with a reticulated lid.



A pair of vintage Florentine gilt wooden panels mounted with prints of French 18th century style scenes.



A pair of high quality silverplated oval entree dishes with classical decoration and twist off handles so the lids can be used as serving dishes as well in desired (the interiors are decorated to match the exterior trim), c.1900-1920.



A 1920's silverplate reticulated ruffled edge compote with the original gilt washed interior, used normally so citric acid wouldn't damage the silver, this was probably intended to be a lemon serving bowl for a tea service tray.



We had planned on taking off tomorrow, but there are quite a few local places we didn't manage to get to this afternoon, so we'll probably go out shopping a bit, I'll post pictures of what we find then.

Delaware and Back in ONE Day

I'll start off by saying that driving to Rehoboth, DE from Norfolk, VA and back, a distance of almost 170 miles each way, with lots of antique shopping thrown in during the day is maybe not the easiest way to spend a Friday.

Yeah, 14 hours from the time we left this morning to the time we walked in tonight gives me that privilege.

We headed out early this morning across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, stopping to eat breakfast at the restaurant on the bridge itself. While I've eaten some pretty good meals there, I have to say that this morning was a disspointment-an overcooked ham and cheese omelet and toast that can only be described as carbonized. Seriously, black. I can't imagine that they sent it out to a table that way.

As always, click any of the images to enlarge for a better view.



After breakfast, we made the trek to Salisbury, MD, where we stopped at a couple of shops where we've found stuff in the past, some of which is below (I'll post the rest of the pictures tomorrow night).

A painted metal cafe table with glass top.



An Italian Renaissance style trestle base table.



A really great chrome 1970's light fixture, get out your platform shoes!



A high quality solid brass engraved lamp with lucite fittings, c.1970.



A large iron classical style garden urn.



A 1960-1970's sunburstwall sculpture with seagull detail.



The northward we continued, with Rehoboth and Lewes, Delaware being the final destination, but with stops in the small towns along the way, notably Georgetown and Millsboro. We found more stuff, some of which is below (yeah, I'll post more tomorrow, but it's late!)

A pair of outstanding Italian gilt metal Hollywood Regency style candle sconces.



Three early 20th century wood bottom reticulated silverplate wine coasters.



A set of 6, c.1900, silverplated fruit knives with sterling bands and mother of pearl handles.



A huge (about 5 feet wide!) modern wall sculpture signed Curtis Jere 1971. (The first link takes you to an interesting discussion about the history of the designers and brand at Cafe al Fresco ).



When we finished up in Delaware, we headed back, and managed to get to Chincoteague, VA, one of our favorite places, just at dusk and in time to see the sun setting over the marsh as we drove into town.



We were planning to hit a couple of our favorite places there (we DO occasionally shop for ourselves! and there are a couple of great used book stores there we like), but were surprised to find that at 6:30 on a Friday night, everything except the restaurants and a couple of souvenir shops were already closed. Seasonal takes on all meaning, it was almost eerie, the streets were dark and the town looked deserted, something I would have expected later in the fall or winter, but not in mid October. We did trek over to one of our favorite restaurants, Great Wall on Maddox Blvd and ate dinner-again though, it was odd, while they had quite a few pick up and delivery orders, we were the ONLY people eating in the dining room. For the entire time we were there.

After dinner, it was dark and time to head home, so we looped through town one more time to observe how quiet it was again and then made the rest of the drive home. I have to confess, in my quest to find the perfect small town to live in, not just to visit, the fact that it's this quiet "out of season" is appealing to me.........

Tomorrow, off we go to the Northern Neck, first Kilmarnock, then further up to Colonial Beach. I'll post more pictures of what we find there (and the rest from today) tomorrow night when hopefully we'll be home earlier.