The Wedding of
Alison McGrath Howard
and
Ross Daniel Martin

Saturday, May 28th, 1pm
The Country Inn at Berkeley Springs
110 S. Washington St.
Berkeley Springs, WV 25411
304-258-1200
 

If you found this page, you've been invited to attend our wedding! Congrats! Below are details you will want to know. We will add updates to this page, so come back for more information!

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Fill out our form!

We have a really short form for you to complete to let us know which events (see below) you will be attending. Please click here to fill out the form.

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Accommodations

We hope you will consider making a weekend of it and enjoy the wonderful and wild place that is Berkeley Springs.

 

The Country Inn at Berkeley Springs (wedding site) - We have blocked a small number of rooms here under "Howard/Martin Wedding." Please make your reservations no later than May 1st by calling 304-258-1200.

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If you want some other options, here are a few we can recommend:

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Coolfont (Nice resort about 10 minutes outside of town) - (304) 500-0500

 

Maria’s Garden Inn (B&B just a block from the wedding site) - (304) 258-2021

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If you want to save your money, you can camp at our place! Plenty of wonderful spots to pop a tent. 

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You'll find still other options on the Berkeley Springs website.

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Schedule

We are doing our best to make this a low-key, low-stress weekend. Everything is optional. Just give us an idea of what you plan to do so we can have the right food available. We also understand that there is still a lot of uncertainty about pandemic-related restrictions, so many of our plans include being outside (weather permitting). 

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Saturday, 1pm - Wedding ceremony at The Country Inn. The Rev. Paige Getty will officiate a brief service in the gardens of The Country Inn. There is limited seating, so we ask that you make those seats available for those who need them. Expect to be standing for about 30 minutes.

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Saturday, 1:45pm - Brunch at The Country Inn. Please let us know if you have special dietary needs. We will have a largely vegan/vegetarian spread.

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Saturday, Mid-afternoon - Free time. Get to know the area. Ross and Alison can give you recommendations of some of our favorite spots for shopping and taking in the area.

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Saturday, 7:00 pm - Party at The Granary! The Granary is a not-for-profit music venue that we've reserved for the night. Bring an instrument or borrow one and share a tune. Or just listen. We will have food and drink and no curfew! For those who stay in town, this is within walking distance of the Inn and other accommodations. 143 N Mercer St,

 

Sunday hangout: 11:30 am to ??? - Brunch, hiking and hanging at our cabin just outside of town. We have 20 acres of forested land with a lovely stream that runs through it, birds of all kinds, and lots of deck space to enjoy all the nature without getting your shoes dirty. Or you can borrow a pair of waist-high waders and play in the creek! Show up whenever you want. Stay as long as you like. We're getting up around 5am the next morning to go on our honeymoon (camping in NY, VT, and ME, hotel in Boston, overnight with Ali's parents, then to DC to attend the graduation ceremony for Ali's daughter), so don't make us stay up too, too late!

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Gifts

We are blessed to be all set for stuff, so please just bring your lovely selves to the wedding sans gifts. If you really, really feel the need to buy something, here are some charities we love that could use your help. Send them a donation and we will be grateful!

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The Equal Justice Initiative - EJI is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.

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The National Alliance on Mental Illness - NAMI is the nation's largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness.

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Ross 'n' Ali's yet-to-be-named artist-in-residence program for people of color - We are building a yurt on our 20 acres and want to make it a retreat for multiple purposes, including therapy and music. We also would like to make it available as a retreat for artists of color for a week three times a year. This project is still getting off the ground (the yurt isn't done as of this writing), so we don't have a lot to tell you about it yet. But if you'd like to make a donation toward this effort, knowing we're not a not-for=profit, just bring a check or let us know and we'll give you Venmo or PayPal information. 

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Directions to our cabin

The folks who built this cabin ten years ago never got mail here. So the post office never registered the address. It's taken us months to get added to various databases so we can do things like receive packages. We got Apple Maps and Waze to correctly direct people to our cabin, but as of this writing, Google Maps still thinks you can get to our place from Fairview Rd (trust us, you can't). So use Apple or Waze and plug in 780 Henderson Heirs Ln, Berkeley Springs, WV. If you have to use Google, just leave off the house number.

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Our shared driveway - Henderson Heirs Ln - is a dirt/gravel road and is just under a mile long. It is VERY hilly with a 14-degree grade in a couple of spots. Your two-wheel-drive car will make it if you go steady. But if we have a freak ice storm in May, you could get stuck. Just take it slow and you'll be fine. Just don't drive a low-clearance sportscar here. 

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If you just can't bring yourself to use GPS, here are some directions:

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From I-70, take Rt 522 south to Hancock / Berkeley Springs. Cross the Potomac River. The second right just after the river is River Road. Turn left. Cross the railroad tracks. Two roads go right. Pass Fairview and turn right on Pious Ridge Road just after Fairview. Wind around a couple of miles. You will see a sign for Henderson Heirs Ln on your right. Turn onto the dirt road. Wind around this road for .8 miles down into the valley. Our cabin is at the end of the road.