Goochland County’s Tanglewood Ordinary earns historic landmark honors

Tanglewood Ordinary in Goochland County is listed on both the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places, and its story begins with a 1929 gas station that became something far larger. The Virginia Department of Historic Resources calls it one of the best remaining examples of Rustic Style vernacular architecture in Virginia, and says the two-and-a-half-story log section was added in 1935.

The National Register nomination places the property’s period of significance between 1929 and 1950 and identifies two contributing buildings on the parcel, the main restaurant building and an owner’s house nearby. It also names Syme and Morris Barret as the architect-builder. The building’s historic uses were practical and social at the same time, with space for a restaurant and roadhouse on the ground floor and living quarters above.

That mix helps explain why Tanglewood stayed commercially relevant as Goochland’s roads changed. Richmond Magazine described the property as opening around 1928-29 as a service station and sandwich bar, then later expanding to host wedding parties, high-school reunions and weekend dances. The same profile says it is believed to be one of the largest commercial buildings constructed from logs in America, a rare scale for a roadside business that began serving travelers when the road was still dirt.

The Hardwick family kept that history alive after buying the business in 1986. In a 2019 WTVR report, Jim Hardwick said, “The road was dirt when they built this place,” a reminder of how different the travel economy was when Tanglewood first rose beside the old route west of Richmond. That same account noted that Bill Monroe was a repeat customer, tying the building to a broader musical and social life that went well beyond highway service.

Tanglewood still has a place in Goochland’s present-day visitor economy. Goochland County Tourism includes it on A Heritage Route with Heart, and lists Tanglewood Ordinary Restaurant as open for lunch on Sunday and dinner Friday through Sunday. WRIC reported that the restaurant is marking its 40th anniversary in 2026, with young couples now bringing their grandchildren, and Anne Hardwick describing the meal as family-style dining where bowls and platters are passed around the table. In a county where route changes and new traffic patterns have come and gone, Tanglewood remains a working business, a gathering place and one of the clearest examples of history that still earns its keep.