A Brand New Hotel
in a Brand New City on the Potomac River

by Marian Betancourt

There’s a brand new city on the Potomac River, just minutes from Washington, D.C. It is a magical city, a bit like the Land of Oz, called National Harbor. Rising on 300 acres along a mile and a half of the Maryland shore south of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, it offers day trippers as well as vacationers a plethora of restaurants, shops, and entertainment with more coming.  Built by the Peterson Companies, National Harbor is the site of an annual food and wine festival, a yacht show and outdoor concerts on Friday nights. The National Children’s museum will open in 2012.

Anchoring this new city is the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, the largest such facility on the east coast. This newest version of the Gaylord formula—they have hotels in Nashville, Orlando, and Grapevine, Texas--has a sophistication and spectacular water view that the others do not. While the Opryland atrium in Nashville is spread out over eight acres, the structure here with its 18-story atrium has a cathedral-like feeling. (A 150 foot tall space shuttle could easily be parked under it.) You can stand on any balcony inside and look out at the river. In addition to the meeting facilities, within the hotel and atrium you will find a pool, spa, five restaurants, and shops from a high end gallery of glass art to a funky customized pajama store to a satellite shop from Colonial Williamsburg. Within months of opening, this 2,000-room hotel earned the AAA Four Diamond award.

The Gaylord National interiors are designed in red, white and blue, reflecting the nation’s capitol. In the center of the red carpet in the long lobby is a pedestal with a spinning crystal in the center. Of the five restaurants, the most popular is National Pastime, a fully loaded sports bar with giant TV screens and a stage from which the Washington Nationals baseball games are broadcast. Menus for lunch and dinner encased in baseball mitt covers list appropriately named selections such as the Knuckleball Vodka Martini and a Bases Loaded Combo Platter.

Big spenders may want to dine at Old Hickory Steakhouse, the signature restaurant with a view of the river. With its menu of hefty grass-fed steaks, cigar lounge and a wine list fine enough to be cited in the Wine Spectator this is definitely designed for the alpha male. There is also a “cheese cave,” a refrigerator built into the wall with a small glass viewing area, and a Maitre d’Fromage to make selections for you. At Moon Bay the cuisine is in the coastal tradition of Chesapeake Bay and includes signature crab cakes and raw bar selections of sashimi. A fresh fish display atop a mountain of crushed ice may help you make your choice. The Pienza Italian Market is a buffet style restaurant with stations for pastas, salads, cold and hot dishes including truly outstanding meatballs. The Java Coast coffee and tea shop, and a lobby bar provide casual refreshment, while a nightclub on top of the resort called Pose Ultra Lounge features pulsating music and lighting and vodka drinks in cone-shaped glasses.

The Gaylord wants to keep you entertained so in addition to shops, restaurants, and periodic water shows at the atrium fountains--complete with music and colored lights--you may be witness to occasional impromptu “entertainments.” For example, during a business reception in the atrium, three men in gray and white striped shirts with “Engineering” embroidered on their pockets carried a ladder and some empty buckets into the area as if they had been called to fix something. In fact, a person at the reception looked at them and did a finger across the throat gesture; in other words, not now, thinking they really were from the engineering department. Fortunately the trio ignored the warning and proceeded to use their drumsticks on the ladder and the upturned buckets to tap out some rhythmic entertainment. From left to right in the photo here are Dominic Frayman, Jeff Neal, and Chris De Chiara. At unexpected times such performers may turn up in toques and chef’s coats and play on pots and pans in one of the restaurants.

You can spend a week or a weekend and never run out of things to do at the Gaylord or National Harbor itself, but it would be a shame not to take advantage of the water taxis crisscrossing the river to take you to Mount Vernon, Georgetown, or Old Town Alexandria, where you can visit the Torpedo Factory and Art Center, and the shops and galleries on King Street.

While the main business of the Gaylord is meetings and conventions, there are plenty of offerings for the leisure traveler on weekends and during holidays when convention business slows.  Coming up for the holiday season is a Christmas on the Potomac extravaganza that will feature spectacular ice sculptures. And should you want to get married here, there is a wedding chapel in a gazebo with a spectacular view of the river and reception facilities in the Cherry Blossom ballroom.

courtesy of Gaylord National Hotel and Resort; photo of the band by the author