High Meadows, which stands on 50 acres in Scottsville, is above all a bed-and-breakfast inn done by hand. The hands in question are those of Peter Shushka, a retired submariner, and his wife, Mary Jae Abbitt, a financial analyst.
In this unique B&B, Federal and late Victorian architecture exist side by side, happily joined by a longitudinal hall. It wasn’t always so. The Italianate front section was built in 1882 by C.B. Harris, who had intended to level the older house several paces behind it. But bearing in mind her growing family, his wife refused to give up the old place, built in 1830, and for a time a plank between the two was the tenuous connector that kept the marriage intact. Today High Meadows is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Peter and Mary Jae have decorated the place with great originality, keeping in-tact the stylistic integrity of each section. They’ve also used fabrics on the bed hangings and windows imaginatively. Fairview, in the 1880s portion, is the quintessential bride’s room, with a fireplace, flowing bed drapery, a three-window alcove, and a claw-foot tub. The Scottsville suite, upstairs in the Federal section, has stenciled walls lined with antique stuffed animals, a fireplace, and rafters across the ceiling. A two-person whirlpool sits in the middle of the Music Room.
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