Arrangements have been made for signs and street closures as well as for the trolley cars that will transport visitors downtown to tour homes open during this year’s Historic Garden Week in Fredericksburg.
But homeowners or committee members with the Rappahannock Valley Garden Club also have taken an important extra measure to ensure beautiful weather for the event. They’ve buried a bottle of bourbon in each of the five yards on the tour, with the container put in upside down as Southern tradition dictates.
The act was done exactly a month before the Fredericksburg tour, which is Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“It’s shaping up to be a beautiful day,” said Betsy Sale, who co-chairs the event with Cindy Hughes. “This is going to be one of the most fantastic tours our committee has ever done. All five properties are beautiful and amazing and different in their own way.”
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The Fredericksburg event is one of 29 tours organized and hosted by 48 Garden Club of Virginia members throughout the state. The five homes on the Fredericksburg tour are among 170 of “Virginia’s most beautiful private properties (that) will open their front doors and garden gates to raise funds to restore and preserve the state’s public gardens,” according to a news release.
Tickets to the Fredericksburg tour are $40 in advance and $50 the day of the tour. They can be purchased online at vagardenweek.org/. Participants can park at Dixon Park, 1300 Dixon Street, and take a free trolley shuttle to and from the tour sites and downtown.
The tour is focused along Lower Caroline Street, which “is one of the most prestigious residential neighborhoods in Fredericksburg’s 40-block National Historic District,” according to the Historic Garden Week guidebook.
“It has been home to prominent figures locally and in Virginia’s and our nation’s history,” according to the guidebook. “Lower Caroline’s stately dwellings have pedigrees that stretch as far back as 1764, yet they exist harmoniously with modern additions to the street.”
Visitors to the city as well as longtime residents can take in the area’s diverse architectural styles and well-manicured historic landscapes, several of which front the Rappahannock River. And anyone who walks or drives through downtown will be able to see what’s left of this year’s tulips which as Sale describes, have been nothing short of “awe inspiring.”
A partnership with Bloomia USA in King George County resulted in hundreds of thousands of tulip bulbs planted throughout the city. Even if storms earlier this week resulted in them “being on their last leg,” Sale said there are still plenty of perennial flowers making their annual appearance.
Homes on tour include:
The Sentry Box, 133 Caroline St: It was built in 1786 by Gen. George Weedon, who served in Washington’s Continental Army. Because of its strategic location above the city’s bustling docks, The Sentry Box experienced intense artillery fire during the Battle of Fredericksburg in 1862. Owners Mary Wynn and Charles G. McDaniel have “lovingly restored the dwelling to its original grandeur while making stylish improvements suitable to modern family life.”
The 1789 Goolrick–Caldwell House, 211 Caroline St.: Named for two past owners who were early Fredericksburg mayors, the dwelling’s five-bay center-hall plan is typical of late 18th-century design in Virginia, but it goes well beyond its early beginnings. Owners Camille and Cameron Hill have dual citizenship in the United States and France, and the home “is where old meets new due to a recent restoration and expansion. Its décor reflects the sophisticated lifestyle of a family with three young children.”
Mortimer House, 213 Caroline Street: Built in 1764, the stately white brick home of Dr. Charles Mortimer is the oldest surviving structure on Caroline Street. The design was the prototype for developer Roger Dixon’s vision of an elegant neighborhood at the edge of town. Much of the 18th-century fabric of the house is intact. Owners Chrissy and Michael McDermott have combined classical settings with “a surprisingly hip decorative scheme.”
The 1770 House, 227 Princess Anne St.: Originally home to shopkeepers, saddlers, cobblers and other artisans who supported their grander neighbors on Caroline Street, the storybook cottage likely was a dependency to the adjacent house at 216 Caroline. It’s been expanded over the years and current owners Peggy Marshall and Ed Jones have added a “bright and punchy display of art and furnishings, both inside and spilling out into the Tom Thumb-sized garden (which) reflects the couple’s eclectic tastes and broad interests.”
Trestleview, 308 Caroline St.: Built in 1997, this is one of the newer homes in the area. With its handsome two-story front porch, the home “illustrates how, with thoughtful design, varieties of residential architecture can successfully coexist.” Current owners Linda and John Coker named the property with the nearby train station in mind. They are world travelers and collectors, and every room on the first floor “has become a treasury of fine and decorative arts representing many cultures.”