Summa Cum Surprising!
By: Marisa A. Marsey / Photos Courtesy: Sweet Briar College / Photo Above Courtesy: Cole Pillow and Susan Sietz
Psst. Want the name of Central Virginia’s most appealing getaway you’ve never heard of? Sweet Briar College (SBC). OK, so you probably have heard of the esteemed women’s liberal arts and sciences college in Amherst County, hugging the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains, but bet you didn’t know that it should be on your “must-visit” list. Even if you’re not looking to matriculate.
Sweet Briar is in a sweet spot between Charlottesville and Lynchburg, and its on-campus Elston Inn—an inviting, 38-room, pet-friendly boutique hotel decorated with a light Early American touch—makes an excellent launching pad for touring the area’s rich history and natural splendor. But if
you’re into food and wine, you don’t necessarily have to venture beyond its rolling verdant hills.
That’s because sprawled across 2,840 acres, SBC grows its own vegetables, makes its own honey, and begets award-winning wines. As you drive along U.S. Route 29, you’ll espy sloping rows of cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon vines. That’s the campus’s lower vineyard. There’s also an upper vineyard planted with chardonnay and merlot.
The focus on agriculture and sustainability at the 125-year-old college has mushroomed since devoted alumnae swooped in to save their alma mater from closure through a successful legal challenge and generous donations in 2015.
“We have an incredible campus landscape that has long been integrated with our curriculum, and with the addition of the 26,000-square-foot greenhouse, 20-hive apiary, and nearly 18 acres of grapes, we have enhanced the hands-on experiential learning opportunities for our students,”
said Dr. Lisa Powell, vice president of academic affairs and dean of the college.
In the vineyards, the syllabus covers everything from pruning and estimating yields to determining when grapes are ready to be picked. The wine is then made in a custom crush facility near Charlottesville founded by Michael Shaps, a leader in Virginia’s wine industry, where students help work the bottling line.
Apparently, someone’s been doing their homework. Sweet Briar College Farm’s debut independent vintage from the 2023 harvest shone at the Virginia Governor’s Cup competition in 2025. “Earned the Rosé,” a dry, merlot-based rosé named for the school’s tradition of bestowing a rose along with a diploma at graduation per its motto, “She who earns the rose may bear it,” captured gold, while “Leading the Way Chardonnay” and “Meadow Merlot” took home silver medals.
Over at the greenhouse, which features both soil and hydroponic growing spaces, an automated environmental control system, and pink grow lights (for an effect that upholds the school’s colors: pink and green), any of the college’s 400 students taking Ag Op (Agricultural Operations) courses get their own plot and the autonomy to cultivate whatever they choose.
The result is brilliantly colored, crinkly rainbow chard as gargantuan as if sprouted from magic beans, candy-sweet cherry tomatoes, plump eggplants, brisk lettuces like romaine, red gem, and Batavia, peppers spanning the alphabet from bell and habanero to shishito, cucumbers, a plethora of fragrant herbs, and more.
The bounty is sold to local restaurants, caterers, a retirement facility, a private school, and a distributor, and fills C.S.A. (Community Supported Agriculture) baskets for the community. The lion’s share (make that the Vixen’s share, since SBC’s mascot is a female fox) supplies Prothro, the airy student dining hall. If you stay at the Elston Inn (which serves complimentary continental breakfast including apple cake and SBC honey), you’re welcome to dine there, to savor the hyperlocal fruits of their labor, er, learning.
For a postprandial, apply yourself to 20 miles of trails that meander past two lakes and a boathouse, stables, a butterfly research garden, and a wildflower meadow. Stroll amidst the stunning Georgian Revival buildings, one of the largest collections of Ralph Adams Cram architecture in the nation.
“It’s really an all-season destination,” shared Brian Stanley, director of hospitality for the Elston Inn and its adjoining conference center which border a sanctuary of white oaks hundreds of years old. He catalogs the many campus events open to the public throughout the year such as a Van Der Meer adult tennis clinic, Richmond Symphony performances, equestrian competitions, and gourmet tastings.
Elston Inn guests are welcome to use the Fitness & Athletic Center (yes, there’s a men’s locker room—though you may prefer showering back in your room as it’s stocked with hair and skincare products showcasing SBC honey). Later, sink into a plush chair with a good book at Daisy’s Café, a cozy corner for specialty coffees, light lunches, and snacks.
There’s no whiff of institution here, especially at The Book Shop. It sells textbooks, certainly, but with fabulous fashions, home, and gift items, so much dripping in pink and green, this store deserves a Pulitzer. A Lilly Pulitzer.
If you can pull yourself away, visit Ankida Ridge, Lovingston, and Rebec, all celebrated wineries nearby, or venture into the quaint town of Amherst. Ruffles, Lace & Grace Boutique offers lovely women’s apparel, while Old Soul Vintage and Warehouse Antiques entice with shabby-chic and eclectic treasures.
You’ll find SBC wines at The Briar Patch, where three generations take pride in scratch-made American comfort food. Bonfire, known for its Southern-rooted, wood-fired cuisine, features the college’s wines, too. Chef-owner Brandon Castro Pruett established his locavore bona fides at the Biltmore, and sources SBC’s produce as well as beef from Tucker Family Farms, 5 miles away.
You might just run into Bill and Claudia Tucker there (such are the charms of small towns). They were named “Commercial Producers of the Year” in 2000 by the Beef Improvement Federation, and Bill will passionately describe how he calculates the marbling differential among his multiple breeds (though you might need a Ph.D. to comprehend his formula; just nod and savor that luscious burger).
Back at school, check out the Sweet Briar Museum and art galleries (by appointment) whose collections contain medieval manuscripts, 20th-century femmage (feminist collage), and works on paper by Rembrandt, Picasso, and Goya. Thankfully, there’s a full-service post office on campus, too; you’ll want to send postcards to all your friends saying, “Wish you were here!”
134 Chapel Road, Sweet Briar, VA, 24595. 434-381-6100.
sbc.edu
