Osmanthus fragrans (Tea Olive) blooms around that time and is very fragrant.

Here is a link that might be useful: Osmanthus fragrans

If the leaves were silvery underneath you probably saw Elaeagnus pungens. This is a well-behaved, evergreen shrub, hardy in mid-Atlantic, and November blooming. The fragrant flowers are especially nice in the PM. My college campus near DC had a hedge of it.

Well behaved???? Isn't it on the Invasive Plant list for just about everywhere?

It DOES smell good, though. ;-)

I didn't notice the leaves - but these sound like definite matches! I'll go to the mall and take pics so I can ID it for sure. Thanx everyone for the info. Sue

rhizo_1,
Is Elaeagnus pungens on an invasive list for Maryland/Virginia? If so, please provide link.
Sam

As of 2006, according to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Native Alternatives to Invasive Species, E. pungens was then listed as invasive on at least one list in both TN and VA. Sorry, but I have no other links to more recent lists, 'though the BBG site (bbg.org) may have more recent links.

Virginia: http://www.invasive.org/listview.cfm?list=17
Mid-Atlantic: http://www.invasive.org/listview.cfm?list=34
Invasive.org regional map: http://www.invasive.org/weeds/usfsr8/S_TO.html

Try the USDA Plants database for more on the invasiveness of the elaeagnus, it even has national maps showing which states each kind of plant covered has been seen popping up in.

We used to have a poster that went by HGSB. He lectured someone from NY about that horrible Chastetree. That was the first time I heard about invasive.org website. My problem was and still is that they lump everything together. MA-EPPC page lists Northern Catalpa, Crape Myrtle,Osage Orange, along with incredibly noxious weeds like Multiflora Rose, Autumn Olive, and Privets. They paint with a broad brush. Those last three cover countless acres of natural areas, we schedule invasive removals to combat them but its like swimming against the tide. I'll swear EVERY flower of Autumn Olive makes a berry. What's the criteria for the listings at invasive.org? Can any volunteer with a camera creat a fact sheet? When a list is watered down like this, it becomes meaningless.
Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas is a much more targeted, user-friendly list. It zeros in on the worst offenders.
BTW, where was esh_ga, rhizo_1, and dibbit on that never-ending Viburnum dilitatum group thread? p.23
We schedule removals in Virginia's Turkey Run Park to remove it. I was the lone voice to protest promotion of that weed on this forum. That's a genuine, invasive pest.
Elaeagnus pungens makes an occasional fruit here, it's benign. I've never seen one volunteer, I can't speak for further south.
On my way to Baltimore this morning I know I saw 10,000 Callery Pears blooming along the road. E. pungens shouldn't be put in the same category.

Here is a link that might be useful: Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas

FWIW, I have never even opened up the thread about Viburnum dilatatum because I am not interested in non-native viburnums. It's not listed as an invasive in Georgia and I've not heard of it being invasive, so I had no interest in the topic from any angle. But I certainly believe that it's possible that it is invasive elsewhere! Isn't it strange how some plants are invasive in more northern areas but not in southern ones as well (is it the hot summers?, do they need colder winters for germination?)? Burning bush has been like that in the past, although it is starting to seed around here now (perhaps because more people are using them).

I agree that it is hard to rely on single sources of information like invasive.org; I wish each state would publish it's own invasive list, but some states don't seem interested in doing that. I'm glad that Mid-Atlantic has one, but does it say which states are considered "mid-Atlantic"?

Try the USDA Plants site.

Finally made it back to the mall - the shrub hedge is definitely Elaeagnus pungens.
I found a shrub online I'd like to try to grow called Osmanthus x fortunei 'Fruitlandii' (Fortune's Osmanthus) and was wondering if it has a great fragrance if you just have a single plant? I don't want the less hardy sweet olives that have to be babied in winter.

I'd like to try to grow Osmanthus x Fortunei 'Fruitlandii' (Fortune's Osmanthus) and was wondering how big it must grow before you get bloom.
Would you get great fragrance outdoors if you just have a single plant?
I don't want the less hardy (but stronger fragrance) sweet olives that have to be babied a lot in winter.

'Fruitlandii' is not the only cultivar from that cross.

Here is a link that might be useful: 'San Jose'