Restoration and Research Fellowships

May 31, 2022

Chairman Mary Lou Seilheimer, The Warrenton Garden Club

Summer and fall 2006 Restoration Committee visits included Belle Grove, Blandy Experimental Farm, Burwell Morgan Mill and John Handley High School in the Winchester area; Belmont, the Mary Washington Monument, the Mary Washington House and Kenmore in Fredericksburg; and Monticello and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

John Handley High School, a privately endowed school built in 1923, had requested that GCV consider a restoration of the original Olmstead Brothers’ landscape in front of the school. This park was planned and executed in the 1920s soon after the school was built. Trees and plants had died, inappropriate plantings had been introduced and student activities have taken over some of the spaces. The committee directed Will Rieley to undertake a thorough research of the Olmstead plans and to determine the current needs of the school for athletic space within the park. The Mary Washington Monument landscape had been last restored in 1937 and the steps, walkways and the surrounding brick wall were heaving and crumbling. The committee voted to restore the work at the monument.

New works and works in progress during summer and fall of 2006 included restoring the 1920s garden at Yeardley House on Jamestown Island, replacing the elm allee at Maymont in Richmond, landscaping the churchyard and grounds of the visitor center at Historic St. Luke’s Church in Smithfield, repairing and refurbishing the storm-damaged Pavilion VI garden at UVA and phase two of restoring the federal period garden at the Moses Meyers House in Norfolk. Will Rieley was continuing oversight of T-21 construction at Dodona Manor.

The Beale Memorial Garden at Hollins University was presented on October 18, 2006, during the Board of Governors meeting in Roanoke. Chairman Mary Lou Seilheimer explained that most presentations take place when a restored garden has time to “settle in and grow a little,” but with the Board of Governors in Roanoke “we bent the rules…you will see a very new but very special landscape.” The day was picture perfect and, according to Mary Lou, “The view from the chapel terrace revealed new walks, stone walls, two exquisitely crafted bridges over the stream, lovely trees and other plantings.”

In 2005, the Restoration Committee had pledged $5,000 each year to the GCV Endowment for five years. Two payments had been made when the Board of Directors voted in 2006 that $500,000 from Historic Garden Week funds be directed to the GCV Endowment over a period of five years. As a result, the Restoration Committee voted to rescind their 2005 pledge.

Winter and spring 2007 Restoration Committee visits included Richmond properties Wilton, the Kent-Valentine House, the Executive Mansion, St. John’s Mews and the Grace Arents garden at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.

Work in progress included the T-21 restoration project at Dodona Manor that Landscape Architect was overseeing. The original plan included a stockade fence, and building permits had been obtained. At some point, a Leesburg citizen objected to the fence and brought to the attention of the Town of Leesburg that the permit for building the fence had expired, even though work had been ongoing. For eleven months the Restoration Committee, the Dodona board and Will Rieley worked to revive the permit.

Will was also busy developing a landscape plan for Sandusky, a 19th-century property in Lynchburg that recently received a TEA-21 grant to landscape its new visitor center; finishing research for a landscape plan at John Handley High School; and developing a plan for pathways, lighting and the entrance at Lee Hall.

Chairman Mary Lou Seilheimer had reported in late 2006 that a prison was being built behind pre-Revolutionary Fincastle Church in Botetourt County, despoiling the pastoral setting. The Garden Club of Virginia had restored the churchyard landscape in 1942, and the committee directed Will Rieley to draw a tree planting plan in an attempt to block out the view. The plan was approved, and the committee agreed to purchase and plant the trees.

The Restoration Committee’s biennial Maintenance Workshop was held on February 7, 2007, at Maymont. The event, organized by Gale Roberts, featured speakers Peggy Singlemann, Manager of Horticulture at Maymont; Rollin Woolley, Colonial Williamsburg Landscape Supervisor; and Denise Adams, plant historian, horticulturist and author of Restoring American Gardens: An Encyclopedia of Heirloom Ornamental Plants 1640-1940.

Summer and fall 2007 Restoration Committee visits in Lynchburg and Staunton included Sandusky, Sweet Briar College and the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library. The committee noted the decline of a section of garden behind the Smith Education Center and agreed to renovate the area.

The presentation of St. Luke’s Church in Isle of Wight County was held on September 25, 2007. The GCV planted trees and shrubs to screen the oldest gothic church in America from encroaching development. The plan also included improvements to brick walkways and parking areas and added plantings and a wrought iron fence.

The committee met the following day in Smithfield for visits to Bacon’s Castle and Smith’s Fort Plantation. Committee reports included updates about ongoing work at the Mary Washington Monument and the UVA Pavilion VI garden. The committee approved plans to refurbish a declining garden at the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library in Staunton and to replace the gazebo roof and restore the 1960s Griswold plan at St. John’s Mews in Richmond.

Then on September 27, the Yeardley House garden at Historic Jamestowne was presented to the APVA. The garden, a reinterpretation of a 1920s garden, was originally filled with 48 roses representing each state. Landscape Architect Will Rieley designed a simple oval of grass, bordered by a new brick walk and surrounded by plantings of native trees and shrubs. Large boxwoods were brought in and two custom-built metal bowers were designed to support climbing roses surrounding the original sundial.

In March 2008, the Restoration Committee visited the well-tended colonial kitchen garden and fencing at Smithfield Plantation in Blacksburg; the year-old Beale garden at Hollins University in Roanoke and the screening trees and shrubs that will soon hide a neighboring prison at Fincastle Presbyterian Church. In Lexington, the committee visited the Washington and Lee University campus where members noted the Lee House garden needed refurbishment and marveled at the timeless brick wall and terrace designed by Ralph Griswold in 1977 at Lee Chapel. Chairman Mary Lou reported that new “restorations of restoration” being considered included Centre Hill in Petersburg and Pavilion X garden at UVA.

Mary Lou brought news of a new restoration project at the 2008 Annual Meeting. The restoration of the landscape at John Handley High School in Winchester had been under consideration for 18 months, and the Restoration Committee, the Handley Board of Trustees and the School Board of the City of Winchester had developed a plan and reached an agreement for a three-stage collaboration. Will Rieley followed Mary Lou’s report with a slide presentation that included recent projects and the proposed Handley project. Attendees enthusiastically endorsed the proposed collaborative project at John Handley High School.

Research Fellowships

View Fellowship Research Archives

2006 Garden Club of Virginia Fellow Zachary Rutz researched and documented the gardens at Chatham Manor in Fredericksburg. His research included the 18th-century garden designed by Ellen Biddle Shipman, but also a history of the property from the 18th century and its early landscapes.

Carrie Trebil, was selected as the 2007 Rudy J. Favretti Fellow to research and document the grounds at Bloomsbury. The 1722 home of James Taylor in Orange County, Bloomsbury is the ancestral home of two Presidents of the United States – James Madison and Zachary Taylor.

Hannah Warfield was selected as the 2008 Rudy J. Favretti Fellow to work at Tuckahoe Plantation near Richmond. In making the announcement, Mary Lou added, “Tuckahoe Plantation, built in the early 18th century on the banks of the James River west of Richmond, is considered one of the most complete existing plantation layouts in North America. The gardens have been an integral part of the plantation since its construction and include a Colonial-era garden, terraces, and a twentieth century addition designed by Charles Gillette. Hanna Warfield’s academic background in Cultural Anthropology and her firsthand experience at Tuckahoe make her an ideal candidate to complete the research and documentation of the great American landscape.”