Poor Creek Farm – Our Story 12.11.21

Dreams do come true.  But they sometimes take work and commitment. Poor Creek Farm is our dream.

Elizabeth and I are both graduates of Louisa County High School. While students, we were both active in drama. True story – during a rehearsal in our second play together I told my best friend that someday I wanted to marry a girl like Elizabeth.  Given our circumstances at the time, it was a fantastical statement to make. Seven years later we were married.

Elizabeth worked to put me through graduate school at UNC Chapel Hill and I worked to put her through graduate school at William and Mary. We would settle down in Richmond, Virginia and start a family while pursuing careers in school psychology and investment banking. Although we had family in Louisa County, we never imagined that we would move back some day.

A dream Elizabeth would talk about, even in high school, was to own a bed-and-breakfast. But our busy careers, raising three sons, and volunteering in our church and community kept us busy.  And life moved on.

Eventually, we built a house on Lake Anna and moved back to Louisa County.  However, Elizabeth’s dream of owning a bed and breakfast would not go away.  So, we started looking for 20 to 30 acres near Charlottesville, preferably with a house.  After two years of looking, 250+ acres became available in Western Louisa County that included a dilapidated farmhouse and outbuildings. We never imagined owning that much land, but we took the plunge.  With Elizabeth’s keen eye for interior design and some help from friends, we were able to transform the existing house into a modern and spacious 5-bedroom rancher with an open floor plan that is perfect for gatherings and entertaining, while remaining warm and inviting.

And although Poor Creek Farm is not a full bed and breakfast, operating it as an Air B&B is the next best thing. As a person grounded in faith and love for friends and family, Elizabeth has the gift of pastoral care and hospitality. And there is no better way to offer those gifts to others than to create a place centered on ritual, focused on sharing and giving, and intent on nurturing love with those whom you care about.  To that end, Elizabeth still insists on meeting and greeting guests when they arrive and does most of the cleaning herself between guest stays.

So, Poor Creek Farm is all about nurturing the soul and reconnecting friends and family, which is why we offer the entire house.  It is also why we created almost three miles of trails. As avid walkers and hikers, we believe there is no better way to connect. So, we want people to enjoy the house and explore the property, get excited about it, and then invite others to join them in spending time together at a place where one can leave the minutia, distractions, and difficulties of everyday life behind.

We invite you to be a part of our story and to enrich your own in a pastoral setting with the hope that you rediscover yourself and those you love.