Garden Week Offers Visitors Beauty, History and Romance

Twenty-six Attractions Added Since Tour Last Year

By Vera Palmer

TWENTY-SIX historic homes, gardens and Colonial churches, in addition to several groups of modern gardens which were not open for the 1947 Garden Week, will welcome visitors to continue through May 1, according to Mrs. C. Braxton Valentine, general chairman for the Garden Club of Virginia, which is responsible for the "Week."

Each place is not open every day, as in the case of the Gloucester homes, which may be seen only Thursday and Friday.  Visitors, therefore, should consult "Garden Week in Virginia" for complete information.  The cover of this official guidebook carries a picture of the Executive Mansion, which never before has participated in Garden Week, also a new venture for Springsbury, near Berryville, one of the most elaborate estates in Virginia.  Other newcomers in that neighborhood are Rosemont, home of Senator and Mrs. Harry Flood Byrd, and Rosney, owned by Mr. and Mrs. Walter O. Lee.

One of the most interesting "open for the first time" places is Mount Airy, home of the Taylors, near Warsaw.  The present mansion was built about 1758, replacing an earlier one dating to 1670, built by William Tayloe, of London.  The estate has never passed out of the direct line of male descent in all its 275 years.  Near by is Elmwood, home of Muscoe R. H. Garnett, who inherited it from his grandfather, James Mercer Garnett, for whom it was built in 1773.  In the neighborhood is Vauter's Church, erected in 1719 and altered to cruciform design in 1731, one of the loveliest of Colonial churches.  Its Communion service, a gift from Queen Anne, may be seen.

Over on the Pamunkey River, in New Kent, is Cumberland Farm, an elegant mansion dating to 1700 and now fully restored by Colonel and Mrs. Benjamin Brinton, the owners.  Hickory Hill, in Hanover County, home of Mrs. Henry T. Wickham, will be open for the first time since 1941, and notable for its splendid boxwood.  Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Hodges Smith are opening Nordley, in Windsor Farms, this year.  The garden is an enchanting mass of luxuriant bloom against a brick serpentine wall.

Fairfield, on the River Road, is listed again after an absence of seven years.  This house was erected in Hanover County about 1750 by a half-brother of Patrick Henry and was brought to its present site in 1928.  Dr. and Mrs. Robert Preston are the owners.  St. Paul's, the "Church of the Confederacy," and the Monumental, which marks the spot where on Dec. 26, 1811, the Richmond Theater was burned, also are included, as is All Saints, where luncheon will be served Tuesday and Wednesday.

Bremo Recess, on the Upper James River, built in 1803, on land acquired by Richard Cocke, of Surry, about 1720, has been in the family ever since, and is now the property of Philip B. Campbell.  St. Luke's Church, near Smithfield, known better as the Old Brick Church, may be seen.  This is thought by many to be the oldest Protestant church in America and to have been erected in 1632.  It contains memorial windows to the Rev. Alexander Whitaker, who baptized Pocahontas and married her to John Rolfe; to Captain John Smith and to Pocahontas.

One of the oldest places in Gloucester is Church Hill, built on land granted to Mordecai Cooke in 1650.  The original brick house was built in 1650, but was burned about a half-century later, leaving a wing to which a frame addition was made.  The brick wing burned 40 years ago and an entire frame house replaced it.  Mr. and Mrs. E. Wright Noble are the owners, and are showing it for the first time.  The garden at White Marsha, with its 100 varieties of trees, is to be opened by Mr. and Mrs. William Ingles, the owners.  The house was built by John Tabb, who set out the trees.  Auburn, another Gloucester place on North River, built at the turn of the nineteenth century of Dr. Henry Tabb, will be shown by the present owners, Mr. and Mrs. A.D. Bell.

Dan's Hill, Mountain View and Chatham Hall, all in the Danville-Chatham area, are included.  Their respective owners are Mrs. John G. Boatwright, Mr. and Mrs. J.H. Law, Jr., and the last is the widely known Episcopal boarding school.  Mr. and Mrs. James O. Watts, Jr., are opening Poplar Forest, near Lynchburg, which was built in 1806 by Thomas Jefferson as a retreat from the disturbances of Monticello.  It is notable for the octagonal outhouses hidden by mounds constructed for that purpose.

Meadowfarm, in Orange, built on part of a crown grant made by George II, in 1722, to Colonel James Taylor, Knight of the Golden Horseshoe, and one of the few places in the original family, also may be seen.  The present owner is Jaqueline P. Taylor, ninth in descent from the patentee.  Colonel James Taylor was great-grandfather to two Presidents, James Madison and Zachary Taylor, and General Longstreet established headquarters at Meadowfarm in 1863.

The guidebook may be obtained from information centers in all the leading hotels, AAA clubs and at Long Bridge Ordinary, Gloucester Courthouse.  Vistors desiring overnight accommodations are urged to make reservations in advance.