Christmas Tea At George Washington Inn

Welcome indeed! 

The welcome board I painted in the 1980s is on the wall and Christmas comes apace.

My dear husband was feeling well enough to attend a Christmas tea with me on Saturday..

the venue was the George Washington Inn B and B and Lavender farm here in Sequim of a bluff overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca...

The inn is an exact replica of George Washington's Mount Vernon home... and was built from original plans. The photo above is from www.mountvernon.org

The only difference, is that this one was built with a port cochere...

which is a good idea as we are in Washington, a wettish state...

The inn has an occasional tea which we enjoy going to. Unfortunately there are few options for teas close in the narrower distance my husband can attempt, so we are grateful!

And the day was a lovely cool day with mostly sunny skies, and beautiful views of the Olympic Mountains of Olympic National Park with fresh snow...

With the addition of en suite bathrooms to bring the design up to modern standards, the house is the same as the original. The curving stairway to the guests level is lovely.

The lady in the photo is an historical enactor for Martha Washington who is always at functions here. She makes her own clothes from period patterns and as a retired history teacher has a wealth of information about the period.

A lovely Christmas tree in the foyer where we waited for the tea room to be opened behind. The tea is in a sunroom which they call the piazza overlooking the Strait. The foyer also included several vendors of handmade gifts for shopping as we waited.

The tree was filled with thematic ornaments depicting Mount Vernon in some form or other... many by special cooperation from the original Mount Vernon.

We were seated at tables for 4.. the piazza holds 32 for tea, and this tea had originally 2 seatings of 1:30 and 4:00, but they sold out and they added a third seating at 10:00 am. We had gotten tickets for the 1:30 seating.

The tab;es were not especially Christmassy, other than red plain tablescloths. The china was lavender flowers of one kind or another. But, not a problem as far as we were concerned.

On the plate was a square of caramel cranberry and chocolate fudge to welcome us.

The tea was a holiday black with orange peel, cinnamon and vanilla and quite nice and sweet enough, and filled frequently.

The tea service itself was 3 tiered servers. We were seated with 2 sisters from Port Townsend and Tacoma, WA. The later was celebrating her birthday. She is peeking around the server. After we photographed the menu, we removed it... more fun than peeking during conversation!

The menu was:

Vanilla Glazed Gingerbread Scone

Chocolate Dipped Strawberry

Egg Salad Crostini

Carrot Craisin Canape

Smoked Salmon Tartlet (on bottom layer)

Bacon Fontina Crostini

Iced Sugar Cookie

Pecan Pie Bar

Neopolitan Holiday Cookie

Chocolate Macaroon

We certainly enjoyed and din't leave anything between us all!

As we left, I took this down the side of the building out to the Strait. You can just see Vancouver Island in the distance under the clouds.

Wishing you a wonderful week of preparation for Christmas.

And for my Jewish friends and family...

Happy Hanukkah at the end of the week!