74 Gloucester-Mathews 75

$10 pp. Good Life Kitchen will be Gloucester and Mathews counties, with providing day-of-tour lunches at other branches of the family residing at Brent & Becky’s Bulbs, 7900 Daffodil Lane, Toddsbury, Waverly, Elmington and White Gloucester from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Both hot Marsh. One of Dr. Tabb’s daughters, Mary entrées with sides and box lunches will be Eliza, fell down the curving staircase in Au- available including their award-winning burn’s front hall and died several hours later. Chicken Curry Salad. The Chesapeake Bay Her ghost is said to appear on occasion. The Room, at Brent & Becky’s Bulbs, available satin slippers that Miss Tabb was wearing for lunchtime seating. when the accident occurred are on display The 2nd annual Gloucester Garden in the front hall. Misfortune came again Marketplace, featuring six regional when Hurricane Isabel struck, leaving mud vendors selling home and garden accesso- and debris in her wake at the onset of a ma- ries, home décor, as well as clothing and jor expansion project. After a delayed start, jewelry at Brent & Becky’s Bulbs from 10 work commenced on additions to both sides a.m. to 4 p.m. of the 19th century structure. Completed in 2005, the symmetrical wings blend seam- Master Gardeners of Gloucester avail- lessly, while adding modern amenities like Gloucester- able for guided tours of Brent & a gourmet kitchen and an extensive masterPhoto courtesy of Becky’s Chesapeake-Bay-friendly gardens suite. Doors from a church in Richmond from 10 a.m to 4 p.m. and iron gates from the White House of the Directions to Brent & Becky’s Bulbs: From Confederacy were chosen to lend historical Satuday, April 21, 2018 Ware Episcopal Church, go east on Rt. 14 authenticity. An outstanding wine cellar re- 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for 1.1 mi., turn right on Ware Neck Rd./ flects the owners’ passion and incorporates Mathews pieces of stone from the Roman Colise- Rt. 623, prepare to bear left and follow Photo courtesy of Sandy Geiger signs to parking. um, an old Tuscan villa, as well as “Hokie stone,” the limestone used in the buildings Complimentary and served from 3 to 5 from Tech. The bar is construct- p.m. at Cottage Point. Raffle drawing ed from an old Guinness vat. Ancient trees takes place at 3:30 p.m. Learn the countless stories behind the artifacts, heirlooms and unique building materials shade the property which is landscaped with of three properties with magnificent river views on this driving and shuttle tour. Tour Facilities: Available at all tour sites, shuttle English boxwoods, azaleas, camellias and parking lot at Brent and Becky’s Bulbs and crepe myrtles. Spring bulbs and perenni- Auburn, the plantation featured on the cover of the 2018 guidebook. Built in 1824, the Headquarters at Ware Episcopal Church. als add color to the gardens. Mr. and Mrs. property was once owned by Charles Heath, father of the daffodil industry in Gloucester, Available at Ware Episcopal Claude S. (Chip) Hornsby III, owners. and later, in the 1970s, by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Visit another home from the same Church, Brent & Becky’s Bulbs, period featuring whimsical touches and interesting gardens, and a newer home filled with Auburn and Dunham Massie Farm. Shuttles original art collected and created by its owner. provided to Cottage Point from Brent & The Bulb Shoppe and Gardens Becky’s Bulbs, 7900 Daffodil Ln., Gloucester. at Brent and Becky’s Bulbs Directions: To Auburn from Ware Episcopal Church, go east on Rt. 14 for 7.5 mi. Turn right on Rt. 620/Chapel Neck Rd. for 2 mi. Turn left on Old Auburn Rd. 0.4 miles to en- trance. To Dunham Massie from Ware Epis- Hosted by copal Church take Rt. 14 for 1.1 miles. Turn The Garden Club of Gloucester 23061. Tickets are available until April 20 right on Ware Neck Rd./Rt. 623 and drive at Brent & Becky’s Bulbs, Angelwing Sta- 2.6 mi to Nuttall’s Store. Take left at Dun- tioners, and Mathews County Visitor & Chairman ham Massie Ln./Rt. 692 and drive 1 mi. to Information Center. Check or cash only. entrance. GPS may discontinue at Nuttall’s Jane Worthington (804) 815-5057 Tour Headquarters: Ware Episcopal Church, Store; follow signs. Cottage Point can only [email protected] 7825 John Clayton Memorial Hwy., be accessed via provided shuttles. Gloucester. Tickets and maps available on Co-Chairman tour day. Ticket price includes admission to the following 3 locations: $12 pp. Pre-ordered box lunches Durfee Betts (617) 448-3724 available for pickup from 11 a.m. to 2 Auburn Tickets: $35 pp. Available on tour day at p.m. at Nuttall’s Country Store, 6495 Ware 11 Old Auburn Road, North headquarters, Ware Episcopal Church, by Neck Road, Ware Neck. (804) 693-3067 credit card, cash or check. or [email protected] by Friday, April Located on the banks of the North Riv- 13 to pre-order. A special tour day à la Advance Tickets: $30 pp. www.vagarden- er, Auburn Plantation has been one of the carte menu available in the store from 11 architectural and historical showplaces in week.org. Children 12 and under are free. Where Home and Gardens comeam Alive!pm a.m. to 2 p.m. Nuttall’s Store is listed on Tidewater Virginia for almost two centuries. Open Monday-Saturday, 10 to 4 No single-house tickets sold. By April 9, the National Register of Historic Places 7900 Daffodil Lane, Gloucester send a stamped, self-addressed envelope Completed in 1824 by Dr. Henry Wythe and has served the Ware Neck community Tabb, it is an impressive Federal-style man- (804) 693-3966 x108 with check payable to GCG c/o Margaret since 1875. Visit the store on Facebook: www.brentandbeckysbulbs.com Singleton, P.O. Box 1388, Gloucester, VA sion of three stories over an English base- Sat, April 21st: Open 10am to 5pm Nuttall’s Store. ment. The Tabbs were prominent in early 76 Gloucester-Mathews Gloucester-Mathews 77

Places of Interest: Abingdon Episcopal Church, 4645 George Washington Memorial Hwy./Rt. 17, Glouces- ter. Established c. 1650 on land given by George Washington’s maternal grandfa- ther, Abingdon is Virginia’s largest Colonial church. The galleries are an example of this period with pews for the wealthy plantation 6638 forest hill ave owners (Burwell, Lewis, Thurston, Warner and Page families). Open 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. gloucester, va Chesapeake-Bay-Friendly Teaching Garden at Brent & Becky’s Bulbs, 7900 Daffodil Ln., Gloucester. This 8+ acre garden contains more than 20 themed “rooms” to demon- strate gardening that honors the Chesapeake WHERE HISTORY Bay and its tributaries. Mathews Visitor Center/Sibley’s Store, 239 IS ALWAYS Main St., Mathews. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this edifice dates from 1820. Closes at 4 p.m. Plantation Ruins, 5113 Old Rosewell Rd., Gloucester. Built in 1725 by , Rosewell was the birthplace of Virginia Governor John Page and an archi- for reservations: tectural inspiration to , a frequent visitor. Ravaged by fire in 1916, the (804) 693-9393 ruins stand today as a fine example of 18th Dunham Massie Farm century craftsmanship. The Garden Club of Virginia granted a research fellowship in hampton.com Cottage Point Dunham Massie Farm 2003 to consolidate landscape records of the grounds. Closes at 4 p.m. Accessed via shuttle 7420 Dunham Massie Lane Ware Neck Tompkins Cottage, Brickbat Rd., Mathews. Located on the Ware River in Ware Neck, This c. 1815 cottage stands as one of the old- shop. dine. love. main street. Cottage Point includes “The Studio,” the An ancient red oak and an American flag est wooden structures in the Court House. main house and a garage. The Studio was greet visitors to Dunham Massie Farm. The In 1837, it was purchased for use as a store- Gloucester Village constructed in 1998 and was used as a welcoming avenue of willow oaks leads house by Christopher Tompkins, father of weekend retreat from Washington, D.C., past wildflower meadows and a pond cre- Capt. Sally Louisa Tompkins, C.S.A., the until the main house followed in 2005. The ated for wildlife. This inviting home was first female commissioned officer in the five-and-a-half-acre property was part of built in 1845 on a picturesque peninsula Confederate Army. Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. a 1642 land grant to Thomas Curtis and on the North River. General William Booth Taliaferro, Gloucester’s highest-ranking Ware Episcopal Church, 7825 John Clayton was part of the Lowland Cottage tract un- Memorial Hwy., Gloucester. Established officer in the Civil War, lived in the house til 1972, when Mrs. Grant inherited it from c. 1652, it is one of Gloucester’s four orig- and raised a large family there. The present her father. Lowland Cottage was owned by inal parishes and one of Virginia’s earliest owners, only the fifth family to have owned Dr. William Taliaferro of Churchill Resi- churches. Of the school of Sir Christopher Dunham Massie, purchased the property dence and his descendants for six genera- Wren, the church is oriented to the sun instead in 1986. The interior and gardens are fur- tions. The Grants sited the house on Cot- of the four points of the compass. The graves nished with a mix of rustic antiques, fam- tage Point to take full advantage of both of Gen. Wm. Booth Taliaferro and other ily pieces and whimsical collection of folk upriver and downriver views of the Ware. Confederate soldiers occupy an historic art and memorabilia reflecting the owners’ A spacious riverside porch is the most no- cemetery. Open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. ticeable feature. The interior contains many love of animals. The 50-acre farm incorpo- works of art by Mrs. Grant’s grandmother, rates lawns, an eco-friendly shoreline resto- Walter Reed’s birthplace, 4021 Hickory Hallie Taliaferro Montague, and other ob- ration and colorful cottage gardens tucked Fork Rd., Gloucester. Dr. Walter Reed, who jects originally from Lowland Cottage with around the house. Its many outbuildings discovered the cure for yellow fever, lived stories connected to them. From 1897 to include a tiny two-story cottage, a sleeping here as a child. Owned and maintained by 1902, Hallie Montague studied painting porch at the river’s edge, a smokehouse, a The Gloucester Preservation Corporation. in Europe at the Munich Academy of Fine garden shed, an outhouse and a corn crib. Open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Arts and then spent one more year studying Visitors will enjoy both shade and sun gar- Zion Poplar Church, 7000 T.C. Walker Rd. under painting masters in Paris. The Studio dens, a kitchen herb garden, a meditation Gloucester. One of the oldest independent at Cottage Point houses artworks by Mrs. garden and a woodland path leading to a African-American congregations in Glouces- Grant herself and a number of her artist secret garden. Mr. and Mrs. Dean Williams, ter County founded in 1886 when the first friends. Mr. and Mrs. Willard S. Grant, owners. members met for religious services under The Oldest Living Village In Virginia owners. seven poplar trees. GloucesterVillage.com For more information visit www.vagardenweek.org 78 Gloucester-Mathews 79

Key to HGW Tour Symbols

Walking Garden Tour Emphasis Great Falls,

History Lunch Focus Offered Photo courtesy of Donna Moulton

Refreshments Vienna & Bus Group Conducive Included Designated Shuttles Tuesday, April 24, 2018 Parking Available McLean 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Special Important Activities Notes

First Time GCV on Restoration HGW Tour Site

For more information visit Experience 250 years of history in the once agricultural hills of northern Fairfax County. www.vagardenweek.org Near the picturesque village of Great Falls is a home built in 1750 as a hunting lodge for Lord Fairfax, for whom the county is named. Stroll through a quilt garden designed by the current owner and enjoy carefully tended fruit and vegetable gardens as well as landscaped vistas. In the historic town of Vienna, explore an 1892 home built on the grounds of the Grange Camp and a charming cottage designed for a couple to retire- in-place. A transitional executive home with a waterfall garden is showcased in nearby McLean. Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna is the tour headquarters, and admission is included with HGW ticket.

Hosted by The Garden Club of Fairfax

Botanical Gardens. At the tour homes and Co-Chairmen Great Falls Library no credit cards will be ac- Debbie Williams and Debbie Stevenson cepted. Access to William Gunnell House is [email protected] only by shuttle bus. Pick-up and drop-off at Great Falls Library, 9830 Georgetown Pike, Great Falls. Tickets available at the Library. Tour Headquarters, Facilities and Special Advance Tickets: $40 pp. www.vagarden- Activity: Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, week.org or by mail before April 17. Send 9750 Meadowlark Gardens Court, Vienna. a self-addressed stamped envelope and check Tickets, maps and restrooms available on made out to The Garden Club of Fairfax to tour day. There will be a Free King’s Park Marty Whipple, 11508 Yates Ford Road, Flutes Concert 10 to noon. Fairfax Station, VA 22039. (703) 978-4130 or [email protected] for questions. Tickets: $50 pp available on tour day at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens and at tour Complimentary and available at homes. Tickets may be purchased with cred- Meadowlark Botanical Gardens 10 it cards, checks and cash at Meadowlark a.m. to 3 p.m.