Tusculum Fine Dining at Sweet Briar

photo: Aaron Mahler

This past winter, Pat Hutto, Glenton Goodwill, and their staff launched a new dining experience at the Florence Elston Inn & Conference Center. Members of the Sweet Briar and surrounding communities enjoyed original menus created by executive chef Goodwill during the ‘Tusculum’ fine dining experience.

The idea behind Tusculum was “showing off Glenton’s talents as a chef and providing the opportunity to have a fine-dining restaurant on this side of the James River,” said Hutto, manager of the Inn.

Goodwill, a native Jamaican, combines his Caribbean roots, culinary training in the European tradition and pure imagination to develop his menus. He says guests can expect three things from his kitchen.

“There will be nice presentation, a lot of seasoning, and you’re going to get a lot of seafood. I love fresh seafood.”

Tusculum takes its name from its association with Sweet Briar College, which owns and operates the Florence Elston Inn & Conference Center. The original Tusculum, a late 18th-century plantation, was the family home of Maria Antoinette Crawford, who was the mother of the College’s founder, Indiana Fletcher Williams.

Until recently, the Crawford family’s 3,500-square-foot home stood a few miles north of the College in Amherst County. The circa 1750s wooden structure was meticulously deconstructed by restoration experts in 2006 and moved to storage to await reconstruction on Sweet Briar’s campus.

By mid-March, many guests took part in the extraordinary experience of Tusculum fine dining in Sweet Briar’s not only beautiful, but noted historical setting.

For more information about other dining experiences on campus, visit the Florence Elston Inn Web page at www.elstoninn.com.