YORKTOWN — The American Revolution Museum at Yorktown will present History Makers Dinner: A Tribute to Nick’s Seafood Pavilion, a vintage dinner party on Sept. 7 to celebrate the iconic Yorktown landmark and the legacy of the late Nick and Mary Mathews.
Opened 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,” according to the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation.
The couple donated the land for the Yorktown Victory Center, now known as the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown.
The September tribute event, complete with inspiration from the original restaurant menus and décor along Water Street, will feature a cocktail hour, a three-course seafood dinner based on Nick’s original menus, and a preview of the March 2025 exhibition “Patrons & Patriots: The Legacy of Nick and Mary Mathews.”
Tickets are $200 per person to attend the dinner party event, and sponsorships are available at jyfmuseums.org/nicks-seafood.
Proceeds support the upcoming Mathews exhibition and future exhibitions at the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown.
About the late Nick & Mary Mathews
According to the foundation, Nick and Mary Mathews, natives of Greece who emigrated to the United States, prospered through “perseverance, honesty and respect for their fellow man.”
Their fortune was earned through Nick’s Seafood Pavilion, a Yorktown landmark that gained national renown. Elizabeth Taylor, Tennessee Ernie Ford, John Wayne and Randy Travis were among the celebrities who traveled to Yorktown to dine at Nick’s.
In 1972, Nick and Mary donated 23 acres of prime real estate overlooking the York River for what would become the Yorktown Victory Center, and later, the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown.
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 “Patrons & Patriots” exhibition will feature the Mathews estate collection entrusted to the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, which features artifacts and images reflecting their personal lives and professional successes.
The Mathews Society, a group of planned giving donors, was established in their memory to benefit Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation programs and initiatives. The couple is buried on the grounds of the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown overlooking the York River.
Today at the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, the foundation notes visitors and students from across the country benefit from Nick and Mary Mathews’ civic generosity and philanthropy.
As part of the Sept. 7 dinner party event and development of the “Patrons & Patriots” special exhibition, guests are encouraged to share memories of the restaurant and Nick and Mary Mathews, it added.
A form is available to capture memories through written accounts or images at jyfmuseums.org/nicks-seafood.
