``The town was at least 30 years behind the times," O'Connell said of those early days. ``Television reception was nonexistent. The town was cut off from the rest of the world by the mountains."
O'Connell, a self-taught chef, and Lynch put every cent they had saved into opening the Inn at Little Washington. At first it was a restaurant that shared space with a craft shop; then they bought the building and added 14 rooms, creating the first establishment to receive AAA's Five Diamond Award. There isn't an honor the inn hasn't won, including five James Beard Awards , a Wine Spectator Grand Award for its 15,000-bottle cellar, and five stars from the Mobil Travel Guide . As soon as the first review hit The Washington Post , the ``outsiders," as they were called locally, started arriving. Soon the likes of Craig Claiborne of The New York Times and culinary doyenne Julia Child came to call.
As the inn's star rose, so did the town's. Real estate prices spiraled. In the late 1980s, a 2.5 percent meal and lodging tax was levied, which now accounts for 80 percent of the town's budget -- 90 percent of that total comes from the inn. Bed-and-breakfasts sprang up, fed by the inn's overflow.
``Anybody who thinks this town would be doing as well as it is without the inn is kidding themselves," said Gary Schwartz , who along with his wife, Michelle , runs Heritage House Bed & Breakfast, one of three local B&Bs to which the inn refers clientele. ``We're on the map because of the inn," agreed John MacPherson , who runs another well-regarded B&B, Foster Harris House, in town. The MacPhersons left their corporate jobs and moved here from Laguna Beach, Calif., a few years ago after choosing the area over Napa for their B&B and cycling-tour business. ``We wanted to be in a viticulture area with a good climate that would attract a certain type of client."
