We spent three nights at The Martha Washington Inn and Spa (also known as The Martha) in Abingdon, Virginia and it is the main reason we love the area. After all, it is known as one of the Best Resorts in Virginia!
For us, a stay in Abingdon just wouldn’t be the same without staying at The Martha. And if you don’t know about Abingdon yet, it is one of the top 11 Quaint and Charming Historic Virginia Towns that we love!
The historic property is located in downtown Abingdon across from The Barter Theatre, which is an excellent location! You can easily walk to everything in downtown from this location, and you can also use the hotel’s shuttle service to bike the Virginia Creeper Trail.
We absolutely would 100% recommend The Martha as THE place to stay in Abingdon. If you want even more details about our stay, see our notes below.
*We paid for our own room and dining while at The Martha and never mentioned that we were travel writers or writing a review.
The Hotel
The building dates back to 1832 when it was built as a retirement home for General Robert Preston. Much of the 19th century brick building remains the same today as it was in the 1800s.
In 1858 the home was sold to become an all-girls college and remained a college for more than 70 years. It was named The Martha Washington after the nation’s First Lady.
The college served as a makeshift hospital in the Civil War, but it was the Great Depression and typhoid fever that eventually closed the college in 1932.
In 1935, The Martha opened as a hotel and has been welcoming visitors ever since. Among the most famous visitors have been:
- Eleanor Roosevelt
- Elizabeth Taylor
- President Harry Truman
- President Jimmy Carter
- Lady Bird Johnson
The Rooms
We stayed in Room 411, a two double bed room on the upper level. Honestly, this was probably the least expensive room available. You will need to climb a flight of stairs to stay in any room on the 4th floor as the elevator only goes to the third level.
The room was comfortable and just what we were looking for. During our stay in July it was extremely hot outside. While some areas of The Martha did feel a little warm in the common areas, the air-conditioning worked great in our room and it was cool all day and night long.
There are 63 rooms in the hotel, each with different styles and they range from double beds to king beds. In addition to a variety of sleeping arrangements, there are also a variety of suites in different sizes.
I was able to peek into the Room 410 suite, which is among the smallest suites, and I was still wowed by the amount of space and the decor in the room.
Here are the pros and cons of our room at The Martha, but keep in mind that all of the rooms are different and some may have amenities that our room did not have, such as a refrigerator.
What We Liked About the Hotel Room
- Quiet
- Solid doors for the room and the bathroom
- Soft and fluffy beds that were SO comfortable!
- Sink located outside the shower/toilet room
- More TV channels than most hotels we have stayed in
- 2 complimentary bottles of water every day
- Shower with good water pressure and hot water
What We Didn’t Like About the Hotel Room
- No outlets were easily available by the beds. We needed to charge phones across the room.
- Only one lamp in between the two beds.
- Small table that was really hard to store things on was between the beds. There was a very large table on the other side of one bed, without a light. There was no other table on the side of the other bed.
- No refrigerator
- The two mirrors in the room were located next to each other in the sink area, which meant that it wasn’t easy for two people to get ready at the same time if they needed a mirror.
Dining
There is only one place to eat at The Martha Washington Inn and that is Sister’s American Grill.
The on-site restaurant serves breakfast only to hotel guests. A two-course hot breakfast is complimentary with your stay. The breakfast menu changes three time throughout the week, so you won’t eat the same thing each morning. There is one option that will be served to you, not a menu to choose from.
During our stay, the choices included:
- Mini Blueberry Muffin with small Yogurt Parfait (served as the first course)
- Croissant Breakfast Sandwich
- Omelette with Hashbrown Casserole
- Eggs, Biscuit, Bacon, Sausage, Grits
Sister’s restaurant opens for lunch (very limited menu) and dinner for hotel guests and the public. There is a full bar in the restaurant as well.
We received a $25 dining credit for each night of our stay with the promotion they had available. We used the credit on wine or cocktails each evening, but it could also be put towards food.
Fourth of July at The Martha
We chose to stay at The Martha during Fourth of July because we wanted to be in a small town that had family-friendly activities within walking distance of the hotel.
The staff added so many special touches to the Inn to celebrate the holiday. We were really surprised at the small touches that the Inn did to create a festive atmosphere, including:
- Complimentary red, white and blue popsicles
- Lawn games on the front lawn
- Kiddie pool and sprinklers on the front lawn
- Complimentary hot dog or hamburger dinner on the front lawn for hotel guests
- Bar set up on the lawn
- Adding patriotic pool floats to the pool
- Switching out the throw pillows on the rocking chairs to patriotic prints
The fireworks display changed location this year. It used to be visible from The Martha front lawn, however now it is set off behind the hotel in another location. We walked across the street to the Farmer’s Market location (behind the Visitor’s Center) to watch the fireworks, which was a 20 minute display!
This area is also where the kid’s bike parade ended, and were the foam pit and kids games were set up. There were also a few food trucks and the community was giving out free hot dogs after the parade!
Just across the street is Abingdon Commons with lots of food choices, as well as the Tumbling Creek Cider Company.