Project Description

Country Chic Keswick Hall | by Colleen Thompson

Keswick is an itty-bitty village located seven miles outside of charming Charlottesville, Virginia, in Albemarle County, at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Sandwiched between bucolic, white-fenced horse farms and a thousand shades of green rolling hills, Keswick is my picture-book rendition of fine country living. So, it’s unsurprising that it is also home to the stately 112-year-old Keswick Hall.

I spend the entire time at Keswick Hall following my nose, trying to identify a subtle scent that seems to waft in and out of the spaces. When I enquire at check out, I’m told it’s the hotel’s signature scent, Dawn Meadow. An intoxicating blend of flowers and herbs grown on-site and designed by Molly herself in collaboration with Yael Alkalay of the organic beauty line Red Flower. They dug deep into the life of the surrounding indigenous flora before embarking on some “alchemy,” a fitting reflection of this beautiful place captured in a bottle. Thomas Jefferson called this area of the country the “Eden of the United States,” and Keswick Hall affirms that claim.