General Info:
Bud’s Inn at the Chester Plantation opened its doors in 2011. The Chester Plantation, listed on the National Registry of Historic Places as a Virginia Historic Landmark, was originally built in 1845 by Colonel Williamson Simmons. The Simmons family was hospitable to both the Confederate and Union armies during the Civil War. Historic accounts indicate that the Simmons family would feed the Confederate soldiers and when the Union army arrived, they would hide the Confederate soldiers in a secret tunnel from the mansion that led to a ravine. In one account, while Confederate soldiers were escaping through this tunnel one was shot and buried in the front yard. The Simmons family occupied the mansion for many years and Chester Plantation was purchased by the late Remmie Arnold, owner of the Arnold Pen Factory in Historic Petersburg. In 1963 B.B. Baugus purchased the land containing 711 acres and established Prince George Country Club Estates. In January 2007, John and Brenda Gilliam purchased the Chester Plantation, and renovated the mansion into a bed and breakfast. Four guest rooms with private baths are available – three on the second level: the Magnolia, Rose, and Lakeview, and one on the main level, Annie’s Suite. Amenities include full breakfast served daily between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. (earlier times can be arranged); cable television, clock, ironing board, iron, and hair dryer in each room; access to two separate parlor rooms, banquet hall, enclosed patio enclosure overlooking a 12-acre lake, lower basement patio, basement sitting room/banquet facility; neighboring golf course, and driving range. Although Bud’s Inn at the Chester Plantation is located in the countryside, it is minutes from the Hopewell Community Center which has an indoor pool; Southpark Mall in Colonial Heights, and Fort Lee. It is also 1 hour and 15 minutes from the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. It is also minutes from Virginia State University, John Tyler Community College, Richard E. Bland College, and the College of William and Mary.