About

Celebrate the enduring legacy of the late Nick and Mary Mathews, beloved Yorktown restauranteurs who on the eve of America’s 1976 Bicentennial generously donated the land for the Yorktown Victory Center, now known as the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown. Opening in 1944, Nick’s Seafood Pavilion became a Virginia hotspot for its fine seafood, elaborate interior and the unmatched hospitality and patriotism of Nick and Mary Mathews, which quickly grew into a household name all over Virginia and drew luminaries, politicians and celebrities, from Elizabeth Taylor to John Wayne. Upon her death, Mary bequeathed nearly their entire estate to the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation so that others would know “…the blessings of freedom and democracy that commenced in my native Greece and later here in [Yorktown]…” The exhibition will feature the Mathews estate collection that features artifacts and images reflecting their personal lives, professional successes, civic generosity and philanthropy around the world.