The Princess Anne Garden Club

March 21, 2022

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The Princess Anne Garden Club, founded on February 6, 1932, by the Hill sisters, was admitted to the Garden Club of Virginia in 1938. Since its founding, the club has provided generous support for community and statewide projects, and has been instrumental in chartering and supporting like-minded organizations that benefit the community and the commonwealth: Council of Garden Clubs of Virginia Beach; Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center; Princess Anne County/Virginia Beach Historical Society; Virginia Beach Beautification Commission; Lynnhaven River NOW; Scenic Virginia; Virginia Beach Surf & Rescue Museum; lifetime member of Friends of First Landing State Park; and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Community Project Funding

In 2013, the club gifted $5,000 to historic Hill House in Olde Towne Portsmouth, the family home of the Hill sisters, in honor of Elizabeth Hill, founding president who held that position for 22 years (1932-1954).

Elizabeth Gregory Hill (1871-1957), Evelyn Collins Hill (1877-1965) and their siblings grew up living in Portsmouth’s historic Hill House and Sea Breeze Farm in Virginia Beach. Elizabeth taught elocution at girls and boys schools in Norfolk, founded the Princess Anne Garden Club, and was Horticulture Editor for the New York Herald Tribune. Her sister Evelyn was elected into membership with the Royal Horticultural Society of London and received numerous awards at international flower shows sponsored by the New York Horticultural Society.

In 1956, Elizabeth, Evelyn and a third sister, Frances, gifted Hill House and its contents to the Portsmouth Historical Association.

The de Witt Cottage, built in 1895, was purchased by the de Witt family in 1909 as a summer cottage. It remained in the de Witt family until the mid-1980s when the last remaining sisters decided to sell. The sisters wanted their childhood beachfront home to be preserved and were adamant that the cottage be maintained. In 1988, the City of Virginia Beach took ownership of the property, agreeing that the cottage be maintained in perpetuity, never to be demolished, and the land never to be developed.  In 2000, the club funded the installation of an irrigation system for the garden at the cottage and turned the maintenance over to the City of Virginia Beach. The cottage has been featured during Historic Garden Week and currently houses the Atlantic Wildfowl Heritage Museum. In 2020, the club contributed $1,000 for the addition of native plants.

The club has contributed generously to Norfolk Botanical Garden: $5,000 in 1996 to support a native plant garden; $10,000 in 2003 for the World of Wonders Children’s Adventure Garden and $10,000 in 2005 for the garden’s potting shed; $10,000 in 2013 for construction of the Reflection Garden in honor of the club’s 75th anniversary; and in 2018, pledged $20,000 over five years for construction of a new conservatory.

In 2009, the club pledged $5,000 to the Hope House Foundation for raised garden beds and a patio at the Lakewood Apartments, a Hope House residential facility. The pledge and countless member volunteer hours evolved into a community project of $22,000.

The Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center has been the recipient of generous club donations: $10,000 in 1995 towards an addition at the aquarium; $10,000 in 2002 for the “Ocean in Motion” children’s education project; $15,000 in 2018 for the “Upland River Room Exhibit;” and a five-year $50,000 pledge in 2018 for the Bubbles not Balloons project — generously matched by club member Ann Host.

First Landing State Park (formerly Seashore State Park) has been a years-long recipient of the club’s generosity:

• $50,000 in 2011 for exhibits for the new Trail Center at First Landing State Park. These exhibits help educate visitors and residents about current environmental issues, about preserving our natural resources, and promote “green living.”
• $14,000 in 2012 for Exhibit #6, the Native Plant Landscape for the Trail Center
•  Raised $243,000 in community donations, 2012-2013, for exhibits at the Trail Center which were installed in 2013.
• Received 2013 GCV Common Wealth Award funding of $5,500 for the park’s Bay Lab project and funded an additional $9,953.60 for a total contribution of $15,453.60 for the construction of the Bay Lab.
• $1,000 in 2015 for a Touch Tank exhibit
• $1,500 in 2016 for a PAGC memorial bench
• $8,000 in 2019 for a Track Trail

PAGC also donates a percentage of club fundraisers to the Friends of First Landing, a 501(c)(3) organization that uses its funds entirely in park. The PAGC funds are designated for the repair, replacement and installation of new exhibits at the Trail Center and the Bay Center. The total to date is $56,605.92.

“The park is where English colonists first landed in 1607. Native American canoes, Colonial settlers, 20th-century schooners and modern cargo ships have navigated the park’s waterways. Its cypress swamps were a source of freshwater for merchant mariners, pirates and military ships during the War of 1812. Legend has it that Blackbeard hid in the Narrows area of the park, and interior waterways were used by Union and Confederate patrols during the Civil War. Built in part by an all African-American Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933-1940, the park is a National Natural Landmark and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.”

~ dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/first-landing?rewrite_uri=state_parks/fir

From 2015 – 2019, the club contributed $75,000 to the Brock Environmental Center for the installation of the greywater garden — an underground filtration system that recycles waste water from the sinks and showers, treating it through constructed wetlands by a process called biofiltration. Greywater is channeled through a wetland constructed of native plants where natural processes clean it and return it to the underground aquifers.

Conservation, Beautification and Educational Support

• $100 in 2002 for a horticultural scholarship for the Council of Garden Clubs and $400 to send a 5th grade teacher to a conservation workshop, “8 Days on the Water,” sponsored by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation
• $75 in 2003 for a red maple to be planted in Beach Garden Park in memory of the victims of 9/11.
• $1,000 in 2004 for a “Children’s Sculpture Garden” at the Virginia Beach Courthouse
• $2,500 in 2005 toward “Mary’s Garden” at the Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital, a Virginia Beach Garden Club project; $2,500 for the Colonial Educational Center and the establishment of an herb garden at the Lynnhaven House; and $210 to plant three trees at local schools in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Virginia Beach Beautification Commission
• $2,500 in 2007 for a Volunteer Recognition Garden at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center
• $500 in 2008 for the Wildflower & Pollinator Habitat Project of the Virginia Department of Transportation and $210 for three trees to be planted by the Virginia Beach Beautification Committee
• $40 in 2009 for a scholarship to Master Gardeners
• $250 in 2010 to False Cape State Park and $70 for “Sixty Trees for Sixty Years,” Council of Garden Clubs Project
• $100 in 2011 for Cox High School Outdoor Garden Room Project, PTSA Landscape Committee and $100 for JCOC Garden, Project of Adi Focke Girl Scout Silver Award Project
• $200 in 2015 to Mary’s Garden for the 10th anniversary and $100 to the Virginia Beach Beautification Commission “50 Trees for 50 Years”
• $100 in 2016 for a new plaque for a statue in Mary’s Garden
• $7,200 in 2018 for six tower gardens given to three schools in Virginia Beach. Each tower includes a light system, 27 cells for individual plants and a water reservoir that waters the plants with nutrient-rich water. Students are involved with planting and harvesting the crops, and meaningful lessons can be incorporated in classroom activities
• $500 in 2019 for Mary’s Garden for new plantings and fountain repair
• $5,000 in 2019 to repair historic mirror in Kent-Valentine House and $1000 for operating funds in support of the Garden Club of Virginia’s centennial celebration
• $1,000 in 2020 to Wildlife Response for a Raptor Recovery Flight Cage and $200 for flower plants for the City of Virginia Beach Building 2 Memorial

The club has funded $11,565 since 2005 in scholarships for Nature Camp.

Click Here for PAGC Awards

Garden Club of Virginia

The club enthusiastically participates in Garden Club of Virginia activities and events. PAGC hosted the GCV Daffodil Show in 2004 and 2005 at the DoubleTree Hotel in Virginia Beach.

GCV Awards

The club received the 2013 Common Wealth Award funding for First Landing State Park’s Bay Lab project. Club member Nancy (Dickerson) Knewstep received the 2013 de Lacy Gray Conservation Medal. Three club members have received recent Horticulture Awards of Merit: Beth Holt, 2013; Helen Junkin, 2016; and Geraldine Osborn Molloy, 1998. Twice, the club has received the Quad Blue ribbon for the best InterClub artistic arrangement at a GCV flower show — 2005 Rose Show and 2017 Lily Show. And, in 2012, the club sponsored Dugdale Award recipient Lynnhaven River NOW.

Princess Anne hosted the 97th Garden Club of Virginia Board of Governors meeting on October 18-20, 2016, at the Hilton Virginia Beach Oceanfront.

 

PAGC Presidents 1994-2020

1994-1996	Betty Michelson
1996-1998	Susan Wight
1998-2000	Carole Decker
2000-2002	Melinda Perkins
2002-2004	Scottie Baker
2004-2006	Susan Lawson
2006-2008	Betty Power
2008-2010	Mary Ann Schmidt
2010-2012	Wendy Vaughn
2012-2014	Elizabeth Reed
2014-2016	Nancy (Dickerson) Knewstep
2016-2018	Pat Proctor
2018-2020	Bettie Goodman