The Garden Club of Virginia’s Historic Garden Week offers a unique opportunity during the nation’s 250th anniversary to visit many properties linked to early Virginians who helped shape American history. From Washington to Jefferson, to the indigenous peoples who first inhabited these lands and the enslaved Africans who contributed to the construction of many of the sites open for touring, Virginia is an ideal place to learn about our country’s beginnings.
The owners of nearly 130 of the state’s most beautiful private homes and gardens will open their properties for tours this April to help raise funds to restore and preserve historic public gardens and landscapes. Historic Garden Week includes 29 tours, as well as bonus gardens at Little Oak Spring and Morven.
Showcased properties range from farmhouses to urban townhomes, and from intimate courtyard gardens to backyard meadows filled with native plants and wildflowers. Each tour offers a captivating selection of three to five private homes and gardens, many of which are open to the public for the first time during Historic Garden Week, along with access to numerous state and national historic landmarks. Prices range from $25 to $75 per person, with a child’s ticket (ages 5-17) available for $15 on many tours, a new option this year.
Some Historic Garden Week tours are walking tours, while others require participants to drive from property to property. If shuttle transportation is needed, it is included in the tour ticket price. Stunning floral arrangements, created by talented members of the Garden Club of Virginia (GCV), feature seasonal flowers and plants native to Virginia, adding another element of inspiration and beauty to the showcased sites.
More than just a fundraiser, this statewide house and garden tour is a cherished springtime tradition for both GCV members, who organize it, and the more than 24,000 annual attendees. Last year, visitors from 42 states and 16 countries traveled to Virginia to take part in what is also the nation's oldest house and garden tour. In addition to funding garden restorations, proceeds support a historic landscape research fellowship program that is building an extensive library of Virginia’s notable gardens. This program celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.
Historic Garden Week has funded projects at 42 current restoration sites throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia, including several connected to the nation’s 250th anniversary. While other organizations were called upon to preserve the homes of Virginia’s Founding Fathers, the Garden Club of Virginia played a vital role in restoring and interpreting the landscapes and key garden features at these sites, as well as at others tied to Virginia's early history. Examples include George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Thomas Jefferson’s beloved Monticello and his retreat, Poplar Forest, James Madison’s Montpelier, and the Mews at St. John’s Church in Richmond’s Church Hill, the site of Patrick Henry’s famous call to arms.
Many of GCV’s restoration properties are connected to the nation’s beginnings and subsequent expansion, shaping the development of Virginia and the country. Some lesser-known examples include Burwell Morgan Mill, co-owned by Daniel Morgan, a leading general in the American Revolution, and Fincastle Church, one of the gateways to the west.
Visit GCVirginia/historic-garden-week.org for a complete schedule and descriptions of each of the upcoming tours, and the Pressroom, which includes print-ready images and photo credits for featured properties. Tickets and the Guidebook are available beginning February 16.