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 Centre Hill Mansion.
SPECIAL EVENTS: There will be three special events taking place during the tour:
1. 132 S. Adams St. a demonstration on small garden planning and plantings
2. 104 Marshall St. cello recital will be held
3. 18 Marshall St., a demonstration of container gardening
LUNCHEON: : The Cockade City Garden Club is sponsoring a Luncheon and Fashion Show on Tuesday, April 22, 2008, at Christ and Grace Episcopal Church, 1545 South Sycamore Street, for $10.00 a person. A seated or take-out luncheon is available from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 P.M. with a continuous fashion show accompanied with piano music by Oliver Pamplin.. The fashion show will be from Ann's Dress Shoppe, Waverly, Virginia. The "special needs" entrance is located at the rear of the church. Proceeds from the luncheon will be donated to the Historic Blandford Cemetery Foundation to help with repairs to the cemetery's ironwork and tombstones. To make reservations for the Garden Week Luncheon, send a check for $10.00 each, made payable to the Cockade City Garden Club. Send to P.O. Box 501, Petersburg, Virginia 23804. For additional information, call Edith M. Sheffield at 804-732-3822.
DIRECTIONS: From I-95, take exit 52, Washington Street. 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. Tour maps and information are available at Centre Hill. Leaving CENTRE HILL parking lot, turn right onto N. Adams, 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. After parking, walk left onto S. Adams St., crossing over Wythe St. The first house is 126 S. Adams. The next stop is the garden at 132 S. Adams St. Continuing, the next home is 134 S. Adams. Two doors down is 142 S. Adams. Turn left onto Marshall St.; 104 is on your immediate right. Upon leaving, take a left on Marshall Street toward S. Sycamore St.; 18 Marshall St. will be on your left. Upon leaving, take a left toward S. Sycamore St. At the corner, turn left and Trinity United Methodist Church will be on your left. At this point, the walking portion of the tour is concluded. Proceed from Trinity Church, turn left onto S. Sycamore St. Travel approximately 1 mile to W. Tuckahoe St., turn right, go one block, and turn left onto Fairfax St. Travel one block and turn right onto Arch Circle. The Marie Bowen Garden is on the right.
CENTRE HILL MANSION MUSEUM, 1 Centre Hill Court. Centre Hill has been called a "symbol of the grandeur that characterized the aristocracy of Virginia in the 19th century." Completed in 1823, the stately house was built in the Federal style by Robert Bolling IV. Subsequent owners of Centre Hill, in keeping with their social status, remodeled the house according to the dictates of fashion. In the 1840s, the house was updated by Robert Buckner Bolling to incorporate elaborate Greek Revival decorative elements.
In 1901, the new owner Charles Davis added Colonial Revival-style architectural elements to the interior. In 1937, the Davis family sold the house to W. J. Miller. Fearing that Miller would demolish the house, Edgar S. Bowling purchased Centre Hill from Miller and donated the property to the National Park Service in honor of his wife, the former Joe Claiborne McIllwaine of Petersburg. Following its use as a Red Cross headquarters during WW II, the government deeded Centre Hill to the Petersburg Museum Corporation. The Corporation in 1972 then conveyed the house and grounds to the City of Petersburg with the stipulation that the house be used as a museum. Following the transfer of ownership, the Garden Club of Virginia restored the grounds of the house with proceeds from Historic Garden Week. Today, the interior of Centre Hill is furnished with decorative arts from the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; some are original to the house.
Two United States presidents have visited Centre Hill. After the fall of Petersburg to Union troops, President Abraham Lincoln visited Centre Hill on April 3, 1865 and met with the Union general who was occupying the mansion. 
On May 19, 1909, President William H. Taft, who was in Petersburg to dedicate a Civil War monument, was a guest of honor at Centre Hill. Following a luncheon at the house, Taft addressed throngs of people who gathered on the north lawn. In 2003, this location was officially named the Taft Lawn in recognition of his visit. Together city officials and garden club members have restored this site to its early twentieth-century appearance.
Fashionably Dressed at Centre Hill Mansion: Attire from the 1820s to the Early 1900s consists of more than twenty-five examples of men's, women's and children's clothing displayed in Centre Hill's period room settings. Highlights include an 1885 gold silk jacquard evening dress worn by Otelia Mahone, wife of Senator William Mahone to a New Year's Eve ball in Paris, France. A man's at-home dressing gown outfit from the 1840s as well as women's at-home clothing and underwear and children's clothing from the 1880s to early 1900s are also featured. The exhibition will be on view until May 11, 2007.
126 SOUTH ADAMS STREET. A brass plaque prominently affixed to the front façade of this historic residence affirms that it was originally the home of Nora F.M. Davidson, a charter member of the Ladies Memorial Association-an association honoring the fallen Civil War soldiers on Petersburg's battlefields-and originator of Memorial Day. The Confederate School occupied this home for 45 years with Davidson and her sister as principal and teacher, respectively. But for the past seven years, this brick, Federal-style dwelling has been home to Charles J. Hampton-Snow and Henery Daniels. Though the house has been renovated, reconfigured, and enlarged, it is noteworthy that in a 175-year-old structure, the original glass panes in all sashes remain intact. The 3000-square-foot residence is appreciably appointed with decorative arts and accessories. Glassware, ceramics, pottery, porcelain, and other collectibles are displayed throughout the house in some seven china cabinets and curios. The residence houses an extensive and varied original art collection, some pieces acquired, other inherited from the owner's mother Evelyn Snow, once an antiques dealer in New York, who inspired Hampton-Snow in his love of fine furnishings and decorating. The downstairs half-bath alone boasts fifteen pieces of art. Renderings of Venice in oil by Pergal hang above the mantels in both the living room and adjacent sitting room, affectionately named "The Mary Jane Howell Room" for a former neighbor. From her estate, the homeowners were gifted a mirror and a decorative Chippendale cabinet, probably used for liquor. A spellbinding, contemporary landscape in oil dominates the dining room from its featured space above the mantel.
Chandeliers are the preferred lighting in the home and contribute to an ambience of glitz and grace. Neo-classical elements-busts, plaques, sculpture, and furniture design-that are scattered throughout the house lend a formality but not a stiffness to the home. Prominent is a collection of jesters and harlequins in various forms: as dolls, glass and porcelain, figurines, manikins, on plates and in paintings. Similarly, Venice Carnival masks are on display in the guest bedroom.
The cozy, intimate rear balcony, just outside the second floor master bedroom, offers a bird's eye view of the garden. A pedestaled urn rests at the garden's center on a grassy plot shaped like a trefoil. The perimeter of the garden is planted with a variety of evergreens, flowering shrubs, perennials, and annuals. Owners Charles J. Hampton-Snow and Henery Daniels.
132 SOUTH ADAMS STREET. Japanese holly, mahonia, lariope, and oak leaf hydrangea welcome guests at the Adams Street sidewalk and lure them into a more extensive garden that lies behind an antique garden gate. The iron gate opens into a mature garden with a profusion of plants commingled. Plants encroach on the brick footpath in this close garden bounded by high brick walls and the north face of the house. Branches of japonica, fig, and cedar trees reach out to brush against the shoulders of garden visitors. Along the way, passion plants cling to trellises. English boxwood line much of the pathway. Rhododendron, fern, hosta, and acuba fill the widths of the garden under the canopy of a massive black locust tree.
Midway the garden path, a decorative circle of slate and a bird bath signal a place of repose: a stone bench met by stepping stones. The brick path opens onto a larger medallion-shaped brick patio, decorated with container plants and shaded by dogwood. A pair of 4'cast iron urns and a working fountain frame the ends of the patio. The homeowners can also enjoy their garden from either a balcony or a deck. The property ends at the carriage house wall against which leans a pair of sasanquas. *1- Special event site. Owners: Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Cuthbert, Jr.
134 SOUTH ADAMS STREET. Bonny and Ben Greenbaum live in the midst of history. For 11/2 years, this couple has owned one of the oldest homes in Historic Old Towne Petersburg. Built in 1832, this two-story row house exudes a dignity befitting its age, owing to the character of old brick and windows dressed with dark shutters. Mellow maize trim softens stately dentil molding, fluted pilasters and columns.
Petersburg is a satisfying location for Mr. Greenbaum, a Civil War enthusiast. In addition to Civil War-era collectibles, the homeowners appreciate and collect other furnishings with historic value: early American pieces and WWII sentimental memorabilia. Their formal rooms are decorated with period furnishings, including a Connecticut clock from the mid-19th century and American and Danish oil paintings from that same era. The homeowners prize their collection of Japanese Hina Dolls, whose faces and hands are made of oyster shells. Antique clay dolls, also Japanese, are displayed throughout the house. Prominently featured in the dining room are Japanese prints that themselves deliver a history lesson. Mr. Greenbaum's father, stationed in Okinawa in WWII, received these prints as well as two kimonos from a Japanese doctor during wartime. At the rear of the house is a guest bedroom with a fireplace, formerly slave quarters, later joined to the main structure in 1880s. A striking shell in relief is carved on the mantel facing. Below this bedroom was formerly the detached kitchen, now a study, reached by a spiral staircase. A 19th-century Chinese cupboard, painted with birds and flowers, is well suited to a new, upstairs kitchen with a cheerful yellow and white décor. Visible from the kitchen windows is a "Charleston Garden," only 12' wide at points. The garden runs alongside the house from the gate on S. Adams Street to a brick wall, a backdrop for plantings and a small fountain, at the rear of the property. A comfortable resting spot is along an L-shaped porch on the home's south side. In the garden, brick pavers provide a foundation for seating arrangements among boxwood, holly, azalea, rhododendron, camellia, and acuba. Owners Bonny and Ben Greenbaum.
142 SOUTH ADAMS STREET. City assessors' records validate that this residence on the corner of Marshall and South Adams Streets in the Poplar Lawn Historic District was built in 1856. The homeowners, originally from Iowa but attracted to Petersburg's architecture and history, have been diligently renovating this home for the past eighteen months and were drawn to its substantial interior molding and heart pine floors. This is the second property which the homeowners have renovated and opened for Historic Garden Week in Petersburg in just four years.
The house has decidedly Victorian features: bracketed eaves, metal roof cresting, bay window atop bay window, carved and scrolled brackets, and a low, spindled railing around a shallow front porch. Entrance to the home is through no less than two pairs of arched, carved double doors, exposing the foyer and the home's main staircase. The rooms, configured one behind the other, are situated to the left of a central hall. Twelve-foot ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows create the romance of a by-gone era.
Massive pocket doors dramatically frame the entrance to the dining room. A bay window enlarges the feel of an already sizeable dining room. Chair rail, picture molding, and a paneled fireplace surround and mantel add formal detailing to the room. On the fabric-covered walls of the dining room, Ms. Proctor displays her grandmother's wedding handkerchief. The couple describe their decorating style as eclectic as evidenced by their integration of contemporary art and sculptural wall frieze with an antique furniture collection. The homeowners have selected dark granite countertops for the kitchen to coordinate with the kitchen's existing and original black marble fireplace surround and mantel. An iron potrack commands the center of the kitchen. Behind the kitchen and the first floor half bath, the couple have transformed servants' quarters into a den. To the rear of the house, they have added a 20th-century architectural requisite: a deck. Adjacent to the deck through a wooden gate is a rose garden. From a city sidewalk, passersby can glimpse this garden through a wrought iron fence. A rectangular pathway through the garden is paved with brick. Two 4' urns, which the homeowners brought from Iowa, rest in pea gravel at the center of the rose garden, made tranquil by three spitting fountains. Homeowners Joyce Proctor and Amos Richardson.
104 MARSHALL STREET. Once again exceptional architecture and affordable prices have lured house hunters to Petersburg, thanks to the internet. This couple, with roots in New York and the Mid-West, has painstakingly restored and artfully decorated this 1870 brick Italianate. The trim on this two-story house is painted in a multicolor scheme, a trend that became popular in the late Victorian period, c. 1885. The porch columns and railings are teal, the balusters and mullions burgundy, and the window sills amethyst. All three colors are used to highlight various details on the bracketed cornice. Forest green, the fourth and dominant trim color, is painted on the numerous working shutters that dress every window. The interior, in stark contrast to the Victorian exterior, is Continental with a pleasing union of antique and contemporary furnishings. The foyer establishes the character of the home's décor: a formal maple secretary juxtaposed with a substantial, ornate Richmond mirror transformed by a faux finish. Large, dramatic abstract paintings coexist with 18th and 19th century oils, more prominent against a neutral palette. Antique sofas and chairs are softened with plush, comfortable fabrics, pillows, and trim. The homeowners' passion for distinctive chairs is evident in room after room. In the dining room, a Fredericksburg cupboard showcases the couple's collection of English chintzware. Most noticeable in the kitchen are the original plank floors, a patchwork of boards, long with short, umber with amber. The homeowners not only mix old with new but, in the kitchen, also blend formal with informal: a French sideboard with a plate rack, and a farm table for dining grouped with formal side chairs. Outside the kitchen door an L-shaped porch mimics the color scheme of the front porch. When there is no desire for cover, two brick patios offer seating in the deep yet narrow backyard. Willow, maple, dogwood, euonymous, and ivy are planted along the periphery. * 2 - Special event site. Owners: Beverly Rivers and Jeff Abugel.
18 MARSHALL STREET. Then and now, the owners of 18 Marshall street have valued family. Built in 1855 as one of two homes for the Ragland daughters, this house, located ½ block behind the main residence and adjacent to its carriage house, was part of the Ragland Mansion complex. Now the house is home to a Tidewater area native who, 21/2 years ago, moved to Petersburg to be near family. She has filled her house with cherished family pieces and has decorated rooms for family members who come and go. A grandfather clock in the foyer, and the table, chairs, and pictures in the dining room are family heirlooms. In her kitchen, the homeowner has displayed old English tins that belonged to her Scottish father-in-law. Family photos abound in her mother's bedroom, striking in its décor of black-and white toile set against burgundy walls.
Three comfortable bedrooms and a cozy sitting room are positioned around the second floor landing. Most interesting is her son's bedroom, decorated with railroad memorabilia acquired from the homeowner's father, an employee of C&O Railroad. Continuing this railroad theme, all the artwork is of trains, some drawn by the homeowner's nephew. Oak furniture and a white, taupe, and black color scheme effect a rich, masculine feel. A second floor balcony, complete with ceiling fan, rocking chairs, and porch swing, overlooks the backyard and patio. From the center of the patio, a tall dogwood reaches skyward, its boughs kissing the railings of the balcony. In the backyard, garden statuary and birdhouses are nestled amidst roses, Dusty miller, rosemary, hydrangea, wisteria, and camellias. The dependencies, once slaves' quarters, have been restored and are now used for storage. *3 - Special event site. Owner Judith White Hoyle.
TRINITY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH,
214 SOUTH SYCAMORE STREET. A dominant fixture on the Petersburg skyline and a prominent element in the Poplar Lawn Historic District, Trinity United Methodist Church was constructed as the successor for the congregation at Market Street Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The cornerstone for the church was laid in 1921, and seven years later, the first service was held in the completed sanctuary. Constructed of Indiana limestone, the 2-story Georgian Revival structure is distinguished by its colossal 3-bay portico and pedimented roof from which rises a 3-tier bell tower.
The noted church architect Rossel Edward Mitchell in his design of Trinity Church was inspired by the drawings of James Gibbs' St. Martin-in-the Fields, near London, possibly the most influential Georgian structure in the English-speaking world. A departure from Gibbs is the prominent rose window flanked by shell niches centered under the portico above the front doors, perhaps the most eye-catching feature on the front façade. Overhead is the narthex is a glorious vaulted ellipse, often overlooked. Items of historical interest are displayed throughout this vestibule. In the north wing of the narthex is an Empire rosewood melodeon, the first musical instrument used during worship in a Petersburg church. In the opposite wing of the narthex is the church bell from Union Street Methodist Church that called together the first conference of Methodist Episcopal Church, South in 1846. The arcade, lines of columns and their supporting arches, span two stories and are aligned with the galleries on either side of the nave. Taller Palladian windows light the upper level of the sanctuary and smaller rectangular windows light the main floor, spaced alternately with the interior columns and arches. The chancel and altarpiece are defined by the grand Estey organ and pipe casings. Because Trinity Church is designed to offer superior acoustics, it does justice to this incomparable instrument. The near-perfect acoustics make Trinity a desirable venue for many musical recitals. The majestic painting of "The Transfiguration of Christ" on the rear wall of the nave is best viewed as one exits the church. This painting, oil on canvas over plaster, casts a radiance over the sanctuary. The painting is unsigned, and all records pertaining to this project have been lost. Consequently, the artist remains anonymous.
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, donating 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 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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