The Cavalier Hotel rummage sale

The Cavalier Hotel in Virginia Beach is in the process of being renovated -- completely renovated, which means every single thing in the hotel is being replaced. Which also means that every single thing in the hotel had to go -- so the new ownership threw open the doors in an unprecidented move and hosted probably the poshest, most exciting rummage sale that Virginia Beach has ever known. All of the furniture, fixtures, artwork, EVERYTHING in the hotel, all up for grabs.

For those of you who don't know, the Cavalier is kind of like Virginia Beach's version of the Plaza, or the Greenbrier. It hails from the '20s, from the time when Virginia Beach was just beginning to be known as the fabulous resort town it would become. Over the past 80 years, the 350-acre hotel and grounds have hosted a wide range of celebrity guests (Bette Davis! Judy Garland!) and presidents, and even the US Navy when it was taken over as a training ground during WWII. The hotel has gotten a little worn around the edges in recent years, but still serves as a sign of the kind of Jazz Age glamor that you usually only get to read about in books.

The first day of the sale, the line stretched out of the hotel doors, past the name CAVALIER etched into the green lawn. We waited a week to miss the crowds -- which also meant we missed most of the truly great deals. The place was eerily empty when Molly and I and our three kids showed up, the ballroom echoing and the gorgeous, iconic wallpaper torn from the wall in big patches. Even the staff running the sale seemed over it already. But there was still enough to keep us looking. We passed stacks of headboards and mattresses and groups of TVs, even a towering Christmas tree or two.



We ended up leaving with not much more than we went in with -- M. scored a mirror for something like $5 and we both left with pieces of the heavy red wallpaper embossed with the Cavalier logo. But I'm still glad we went, even if we weren't among the ones who walked away with great finds (we did have a vicarious thrill watching others leave with rolls of the beautiful aqua, magnolia-printed wallpaper and antique furniture). Molly and I had both been to events at the Cavalier in the past, and it was interesting to see another side of the place, to have the chance to roam the halls and really have a look at things (the famous deco swimming pool -- empty -- was a sight to see).

The kids enjoyed their time there, too, running around peering at everything and making friends with the kids of the other shoppers. It's not every day you get to roam around a real-life "castle," is it? We're excited to see what's next for this grand old Oceanfront landmark and we appreciated the chance to say goodbye to a place that holds so much local history. 

The Cavalier sale will run through the end of April, if you want a behind-the-scenes glimpse of this local landmark (or maybe an industrial icemaker of your very own?)