America’s Largest Open House
Virginia’s Historic Garden Week
More than 250 homes and properties were featured during Historic Garden Week, displaying over 1,000 floral arrangements designed by Garden Club members.This spring marked the 90th anniversary of the Garden Club of Virginia’s Historic Garden Week. Affectionately known as “America’s largest open house,” the tour features 250 of the state’s most beautiful homes, gardens, and historic landmarks.
Visitors travel from all corners of America to view the 29 separate tours throughout the Commonwealth organized and hosted by members of the Garden Club of Virginia. Private homes, gardens, and historic properties on the tour feature over 1,000 flower arrangements displayed during the weeklong event. Virginia’s Garden Week is the nation’s only statewide house and garden tour, with highlighted properties changing each year making it a unique opportunity for garden lovers and history buffs alike.
The tour divides the state into five regions: north, south, east, west, and central, featuring homes from the Eastern Shore to Middleburg, and as far west as Roanoke. TowneBank partnered with the four Garden Club of Virginia Richmond clubs to provide shuttles for two days from tour headquarters at the University of Richmond and All Saints Episcopal Church to the ten properties on Richmond’s Westhampton and Three Chopt circuits, including Historic Tuckahoe, the boyhood home of Thomas Jefferson located on River Road.
“This year’s Richmond tours would simply not have been possible without TowneBank,” says Meredith Lauter, co-chairman of the 2023 Richmond Historic Garden Tour. “Streets in the two charming Westhampton and Three Chopt neighborhoods made shuttle access the only practical solution for our visitors, and TowneBank’s support was essential to its success. TowneBank commits sincerely and generously to creating community, investing both in the cities and towns where they work and investing in the TowneBank family they specially select to serve and support. A new bank with old and honorable values, we are indeed fortunate to have TowneBank active in our lives.”
Kelly Armstrong, president of the Tuckahoe Garden Club of Westhampton, and Libby Robertson, chair of TowneBank Richmond board of directors and Tuckahoe Garden Club of Westhampton member, pose with the shuttle that took participants from tour headquarters to properties on the Westhampton and Three Chopt tour circuits.
In collaboration with Historic Richmond, included were also homes on West Avenue, a three-block-long street tucked within the Historic Fan District. The area prides itself on having the city’s oldest neighborhood association and even has its own coat of arms. Homes on the West Avenue tour highlighted Queen Anne, Richardson Romanesque, Colonial, and Georgian Revival architectural styles. In addition, the Kent-Valentine House and Virginia’s Executive Mansion, both located downtown, opened their doors for Garden Tour guests.
Built in 1845, the Kent-Valentine House is one of the most architecturally significant mansions in Richmond, occupying a quarter block of historic Franklin Street. The Garden Club of Virginia, founded in 1920, has landscaped the grounds and preserved the building, which in 1971 became the club’s official headquarters. Proceeds from Historic Garden Week are invested back into the Commonwealth, funding the restoration and preservation of historic public gardens and the GCV Landscape Architecture Research Fellowship Program that promotes the research and documentation of historic Virginia gardens.
A beautiful experience for gardeners, flower lovers, and architectural buffs, Historic Garden Week is a must-do experience in Richmond and around the state. Next year’s tour is scheduled for April 20-27. Learn more at VAGardenWeek.org.