Chairman:
Mrs. Kay C. Wray (Mrs. Charles W.)
10651 Johnson Road
Petersburg, Virginia 23805
Phone: 804-733-9988
Email: WPollard08@aol.com
Co-Chairman:
Mrs. Marilyn Walker (Mrs. Robert C.)
608 Rebel Ridge Road
Colonial Heights, 23834
Phone: 804-530-3177
Email: swepersmom@aol.com
INFORMATION CENTER
The Petersburg Visitor Center
425 Cockade Alley at Old Street
Petersburg, VA 23803
Telephone (804) 733-2400
Toll-free (800) 368-3595
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BLOCK TICKET: : $25 includes all tour properties, gardens, refreshments, Siege Museum and Blandford Church. Single-house admission: $10.00. Children 13 and older, full price; ages 6-12, half price; 5 and under, free of charge. Anyone 17 and younger must be accompanied by an adult or guardian. Tickets available on tour day at Visitor Center and at each tour site. Houses need not be visited in the order listed. As a courtesy to the homeowners, please no high heels, no interior photography and no smoking
ADVANCE TICKET SALES: Full tickets may be purchased in advance for $20 each at the locations listed below until Monday, April 21. By mail: Send your request for tickets, no later than April 11 with a check, made payable to the Petersburg Garden Club, to Mrs. Charles W. Wray, 10651 Johnson Road, Petersburg, VA 23805. Enclose a stamped, self-addressed, business-size envelope. For an additional charge, tickets may be ordered with a credit card by accessing www.VAGardenweek.org
ADVANCE TICKET SALES LOCATIONS:
The Petersburg Visitor Center
425 Cockade Alley at Old Street
Petersburg, VA 23803
Telephone (804) 733-2400
Toll-free (800) 368-3595
Purple Passion
29 West Bank Street
Petersburg, VA 23803
Telephone: 804-863-1943
Palmore Decorating Center
1927 South Sycamore Street
Petersburg, VA 23805
Telephone: (804) 732-8181
Windows 'N' Walls
1901 Boulevard
Colonial Heights, VA 23834
Boulevard Flower Gardens at Ruffin Mill
2100 Ruffin Mill Road
Colonial Heights, VA 23834
Telephone (804) 526-4000
REFRESHMENTS: The annual tea will be served at the McReynolds home at the corner of Brandon Ave. and Prestwould St.
SPECIAL EVENT: Special events will be featured on garden day.
Informational guided tours will be offered in the gardens of
a. 229 S. Jefferson St.
b. 250 S. Sycamore St.
c. 1578 Brandon Ave.
Cello recital to be held at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. at 110 Marshall St..
POINTS OF HISTORICAL INTEREST IN PETERSBURG:
Farmers Bank of Virginia,19 Bollingbrook St. The Petersburg branch of the Farmers Bank opened in 1817 and continued to operate through the Civil War. In 1866, it was forced to close because its assets had been converted to Confederate bonds. Now the bank is owned by APVA Preservation Virginia and is open as a bank museum, one of only a few bank museums in the nation. Visitors may view the bank’s original safe, vault, copper plates and engraving machine.
Siege Museum, 15 W. Bank St. The Siege Museum houses a collection of Civil War artifacts, documents and photographs pertaining to the ten-month Union occupation of Petersburg (June 1864-April 1875). Exhibits not only portray life in Petersburg prior to the Civil War but also capture the impact of the siege on both the military and civilian communities. The museum occupies the Exchange Building, an 1839 Greek Revival structure, once home to a commodities market.
Blandford Church, 111 Rochelle Lane. Founded as a parish of the Anglican Church in 1735, Blandford Church is a site rich in Colonial, Revolutionary and Confederate history. The 15 Louis Comfort Tiffany windows, treasured works of art, depict robed disciples and apostles of Christ and the official seals of the Confederate states that dedicated these windows. In the churchyard and cemetery, early ironwork, headstones and monuments have been restored.
LUNCHEON: The Cockade City Garden Club is sponsoring a luncheon and fashion show on Tuesday, April 21, at Christ and Grace Episcopal Church, located at 1545 South Sycamore St., Petersburg, to benefit Historic Blandford Cemetery. A seated or take-out luncheon is available, $10 per person, 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. with a continuous fashion show by Ann’s Dress Shoppe of Waverly and piano music by Oliver Pamplin. A donation is made from the proceeds to Historic Blandford Cemetery Foundation. A special-needs entrance is available at the back of the church. For reservations, call Mrs. Ducky Sheffield (804) 732-3822 or purchase a luncheon ticket at Palmore Paints, 1927 S. Sycamore Street, or Petersburg Visitors Center, 405 Cockade Alley.
DIRECTIONS: From I-95, take exit 52, Washington St. Travel three blocks west, turn right on N. Adams St. Parking lot for CENTRE HILL is across from police station at the corner of E. Tabb St. and N. Adams St. Tour maps and information are available at Centre Hill.
Leaving CENTRE HILL parking lot, turn right onto N. Adams St., cross over Washington St., proceeding on S. Adams St. From this point the walking tour begins. Parking is available at the IGA Supermarket on S. Adams St. and also in Duncan Brown School parking lot adjacent to the IGA parking lot. Street parking is available as well.
Houses may be visited in any order.
After parking, take a left on Marshall St.; walk one block to S. Jefferson St. Turn right and the Rowland house is on your left at 229 South Jefferson St. To reach the second stop, 110 Marshall St., backtrack to Marshall St. and turn left. The Scott/Brown house is on the left near the roundabout. After leaving this house, travel one block west to S. Sycamore St. and the third house on the tour is on the corner of S. Sycamore and Liberty Sts., the Carwile house.
The Fields/Hazlett house, 238 S. Sycamore St., is reached by walking one block south. Return to your automobile and proceed to S. Sycamore St. Go south approximately 3/4 mi. to N. Boulevard. Take a right and go one block to Westover Ave. Turn left on Westover and go one block to Prestwould St. Turn left onto Prestwould St. and go one block and the McReynolds house and gardens are on your left. Please enter through the driveway on Prestwould St.
Leaving the McReynolds house, go right on Brandon Ave. for one block. Turn left onto W. Tuckahoe St., go one block and turn right on Arch St. The Marie Bowen Gardens is on the left at the corner of Arch Cr. and Fairfax St.
CENTRE HILL MANSION MUSEUM: 1 CENTRE HILL COURT.
Centre Hill is a stately house built in 1823 as a private residence for the Bolling family. Subsequent owners modified the home’s Federal architecture to include both Greek Revival and Colonial Revival features. Visits from two American presidents add historical significance to the property: President Abraham Lincoln met at Centre Hill with a Civil War general during the Union’s occupation of Petersburg, and President William H. Taft visited Centre Hill while in Petersburg on official business. During WWII, the mansion was used as a Red Cross headquarters. Centre Hill continues to be a Garden Club of Virginia restoration project with funding from Historic Garden Week tours.
229 SOUTH JEFFERSON STREET.
This antebellum residence reflects a traditional Southern charm and ease. The homeowner, a native of Mississippi, has chosen yellow and white for the exterior, and the house is uncharacteristically open and light for one built in 1852. The large windows remain uncluttered, dressed only with sheer curtains and valances or swags with jabots.
The homeowner, herself an artist, was a member of an artists’ community in Rhode Island. Now, in her Petersburg home in addition to her own work, she displays oils, watercolors and charcoal drawings produced by fellow Rhode Island artists. She also owns several pieces of folk art crafted by the late artist R.A. Miller. A cherished piece of art, a pastel portrait of the homeowner, hangs over the mantel in the master bedroom. This work was completed by renowned Russian-born portrait artist Michael Werboff, who has painted royalty, heads of state and noted writers.
The front entrance, framed with sidelights and a transom of arched panes, opens into a hallway that allows a view through the house to a rear deck. A white picket fence encloses a deep backyard. Plantings are arranged in circular beds of varying sizes in the center of the yard. Groupings of boxwood, holly, nandina, redbud and Indian hawthorn are edged with lariope and large, irregular rocks. A small water feature edged with stacked stone commands the center of the garden, and alongside it is a restful place to sit, surrounded by willow and rose of Sharon. Pat Rowland, Jim and Rhonda Hamlin, owners.
(Special Event : Informational guided garden tour here.)
Petersburg—110 Marshall Street
110 MARSHALL STREET.
A stand-out today in pistachio green, the Joynes-Booth house has long been a residence of distinction on Marshall Street because of its prominent first owner. The house has been meticulously restored to its original floor plan. Samuel G. Baptist built this Greek Revival home in 1850 for William T. Joynes, a representative in the Virginia General Assembly and later a judge on the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. Roughly a decade after its completion, the building sustained damage from two cannon balls during the Siege of Petersburg. Intent on returning the property to its 1850 footprint, the present owners began restoring the house in 2000 by removing seven rooms from the rear and taking down non-load-bearing walls.
The main floor, consisting of a foyer, twin parlors, dining room and kitchen, is unified by a color palette of cranberry, sage and gold. Many of the furnishings are Asian or European, purchased by the homeowners on frequent trips abroad. Chinese china cabinets house collections of figurines, porcelain and glass. Groupings of engravings of Indian soldiers and Arabic ladies decorate the foyer walls. Special Chinese pieces include a wedding chest, burial horse and a brazier. Art from the Far East makes a statement in the family room: a set of five Indonesian rice goddesses adorns the mantel; across the room are wall hangings of a Korean emperor and empress. The kitchen cabinet design is striking: wall cabinets resemble a city skyline. The main floor of this two-story home is open for the tour. Sid Scott and Chris Brown, owners.
Special Event: A cello duet will be presented by Ulysses Kirksey, conductor of the Petersburg Symphony and his student Harry Smith, a seventh grader at St. Christopher’s School, at 11a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
250 SOUTH SYCAMORE STREET.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places and noted as a Virginia Historic Landmark, the McKenney house, built in 1890 in the Queen Anne, Eastlake style, is an imposing architectural presence. And inside this 24-room residence are treasures of Petersburg’s past. Collections of event programs, maps, letters, certificates and tobacco shipping labels are prominently displayed throughout. The current homeowners have acquired 15 pieces of furniture from the home of Confederate Major General William Mahone. The formal dining room transports guests to a Victorian setting dominated by a 14-foot dining table, a built-in buffet, and a ceiling-high, built-in china cabinet showcasing a crystal collection. Gleaming in these elegant surroundings is a dazzling array of silver candelabra, pitchers, meat dome, tea service and punch bowl.
An extensive collection of baseball memorabilia fills two upstairs rooms and a hallway. The homeowner boasts that he has “everything baseball”: uniforms, gloves, balls, bats, pennants, schedules and photos, even baseball board games, team china and cuff links. His baseball collectibles have been featured in documentaries and national publications.
A baseball weathervane has even found its way into a well-tended English garden at the rear of the house. The garden is enclosed in a natural wall of ivy. A wisteria-covered pergola offers canopied seating in the midst of the garden. A goldfish pond, garden figurines and bird houses add interest to the setting. Beds of daylilies, boxwood, roses, hydrangeas and hibiscus are edged with Petersburg cobblestones and brick from an old carriage house. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas L. Carwile, owners.
Special Event :Informational guided garden tour.
328 SOUTH SYCAMORE STREET. Dramatic, vibrant colors and a diversified art collection energize the interior of this late-19th century residence in the Poplar Lawn Historic District. Each room of the three-story house sparkles with vitality. Contemporary furnishings are set against walls of canary, turquoise and chartreuse. Bold, dynamic gallery pieces are the standard in this house. Beyond traditional art-on-paper techniques, the homeowner decorates with papier-mâché figures, glass creations and sculptures of alabaster and wood. She and her parents have been life-long collectors of art, often buying pieces from artists in the academic community who have later “made it big.” Virginia painters, more specifically Richmond artist Louis Poole and Nancy Witt of Ashland, are featured in her home.
In the corner of the living room stands a five-foot wooden sculpture of seaweed, crafted by famed Hawaiian wood artist Ron Kent. Handmade Italian chairs of cherry serve as dining chairs, while other furniture made by skilled craftsmen is scattered throughout the house. A larger-than-life praying mantis, “Carolina Mantis,” another wood sculpture, seductively poses by the staircase in the foyer. Needlework stitched by the homeowner’s mother is proudly displayed in the hall outside. The kitchen is “mixed up, like everything else,” says owner Kathy Fields. To demonstrate her appreciation for the full spectrum of artistic media, she “plugs in” …art electrified! A neon feline lights up the living room mantel. A houseplant that needs no water, a neon palm tree, dazzles the sunroom. Kathy Fields and Chuck Hazlett, owners.
1578 BRANDON AVENUE.
Viewing the legendary gardens of Wilson and Annie Ruth Maclin was a rite of spring in Petersburg for many years. Their lovely gardens have been revived and the house restored by Gary and Tracey McReynolds, following the devastating effects of hurricane Isabel. After a 25-year hiatus, the Petersburg Garden Club is once again holding its tour tea at the site of the Maclin gardens, the annual location of the tea for almost a quarter-century. According to the Maclins’ daughter, Anne Wilson M. Gregory, her mother and grandmother purchased truckloads of azaleas from Christian’s Nursery in Norfolk in the 1940s and ’50s. She reports that at one time, there were “close to 5,000 azaleas and 2,000 camellias” in their yard.
A carpenter and home improvement guru, McReynolds salvaged a condemned house and has resurrected it himself. The original front entrance on Brandon Avenue is no longer used, the steep bank, walkway and steps now overgrown with ivy. McReynolds designed, drew plans and constructed a new entrance on the south side of the house.
Over time, knee-high azaleas have become shoulder-high. The mature garden is tranquil, comforting and cloistered, enveloping visitors. Directly behind the house is a small grassy plot dropping down to a garden room behind a low gate. Slate paths meander around dogwood, acuba, pachysandra and rhododendron. Gary and Tracey McReynolds, owners.
Special Event: Informational guided garden tour.
MARIE BOWEN GARDENS. In 1967, the Raleigh Parish Garden Club selected as a club project a lovely, wooded area located in the Walnut Hill neighborhood, bounded by Arch Street, Arch Circle and Fairfax Street. Azaleas, flowering trees, camellias, rhododendrons and other plants compatible with a naturalized setting are featured. Mrs. Bowen donated many plants to this site. During her lifetime, she maintained the Fairfax side of the garden, giving her time and hard work to the project. Upon her death in 1979, the City Council allowed the park to be named The Marie Bowen Garden as a tribute to this dedicated gardener.
Since 1979, Raleigh Parish has continually added plant specimens and has installed and maintained a sprinkler system. Also the local Boy Scouts, with the club’s financial assistance, constructed a Chippendale bridge and erected a stone waterway to control erosion. Recently the wildflower garden has been re-established and plantings identified.
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