House+Garden

Books For Serious (and Aspiring) Gardeners

The Land is Full, by Nelson Byrd Woltz. The Monacelli Press, 2024 The latest book by Nelson Byrd Woltz (NBW), the renowned landscape architecture firm in Charlottesville, is a celebration of parks and public gardens whose designs reflect the land’s histories. From Houston’s 1,500-acre Memorial Park to Brooklyn’s Naval Yard meadows, NBW crafts spaces that […]

by Madeline Mayhood

Pastoral Pavilion

After years of working abroad, architect Errol Adels considered settling in Provence but built a “contemporary neoclassical building” amid the rolling hills of Fauquier County. From Provence to Upperville by way of Renaissance Italy comes Lavender Hill, the spectacular home architect Errol Adels built for himself and his family. Completed in 1998, Lavender […]

by neely dykshorn barnwell

Wine Country Living

This Loudoun County neighborhood has its own tasting room. CYNTHIA JAMES PHOTOGRAPHY Love visiting wineries? Now you can live on one. The new Hartland neighborhood in Aldie—a community of single family homes—features a winery and tasting room on the 800-acre property. Jon Hickox, owner of the popular Winery at Bull Run in […]

by Konstantin Rega

Catching the Eye

This waterfront contemporary in Kingsmill provides more than a splash of continental style to a Colonial town. (Photography by Kip Dawkins) Dr. Mira Dunn couldn’t figure out why she hadn’t seen the female duck that frequented the water behind her estate home in Williamsburg’s Kingsmill resort community this spring. Then, one day […]

by tupponce joan

Hip, Historic, Hollin Hills

How a generation of young suburbanites went modern. (Alcoa Care-free Home; photo by Tammy Loverdos) A testament to suburbia in the heyday of Frank Sinatra, martini bars, and Tupperware parties, the mid-century modern community of Hollin Hills runs counter to the buttoned-up colonial revivals that proliferated here during that era. Here, […]

by Jill Devine

If These Pillows Could Talk

Textile artist Sarah Gibson Wiley captures life’s singular moments. (Photograph by Adam Ewing) Artist, interior designer, and seamstress Sarah Gibson Wiley gives her clients an inspired way to capture their favorite memories. Since 2012, Wiley has been creating pillows that artistically replicate photos of weddings, pets, children, family homes, and beach vacations. […]

by Elizabeth Cogar

Secret Gardens

With a little digging, Virginia yields five unexpected gems. As garden visitors know, the state’s showstoppers, like Norfolk Botanical Garden, Lewis Ginter in Richmond, and the State Arboretum in Boyce deserve their place in the limelight. But look a little deeper. These lesser-known gardens are equally welcoming, each fascinating in its own […]

by Madeline Mayhood

The Vantage and the Vista

Over the last decade, an Orange County couple has created an ambitious, spectacular garden with English, French and Italian influences. But the strongest presence of all is the Virginia countryside beyond. (Photography by Roger Foley) Crowning the second-highest point in Orange County is an estate called Mount Sharon, with a garden that […]

by Staff

Rethink Gardening

It’s Colonial Williamsburg’s 75th Annual Garden Symposium and we interview guest speaker and gardener P. Allen Smith. (Photo courtesy of P. Allen Smith) This year’s theme is inspired by Audrey Hepburn’s quote, “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” Now more than ever it is important that we, as gardeners, create healthy […]

by Konstantin Rega

Historic Garden Week

America’s largest open house all began with Monticello’s trees. By the mid-1920s, the trees at Monticello—including more than a dozen planted by Jefferson himself—were in decline, suffering from age and disease. As concern grew, the members of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation wondered: could the Garden Club of Virginia be of help? […]

by Madeline Mayhood

Early Bloomers

The thrill of spotting spring’s first fleeting flowers. virginia_final2 (Illustration by Andrea Cobb) Long Bloomers are easy to love: that blowsy hydrangea, the patch of black-eyed Susans, the marathon of dahlias that stretch into fall. But the gift of early-blooming spring ephemerals is evanescence, not endurance. “‘Ephemeral’ means ‘fleeting,’” says Elaine […]

by caroline kettlewell

Orchid Showoffs

The Orchid Show & Sale is on at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. From flowers worth thousands of dollars to your grocery store variety, orchids are not only beautiful but make excellent house plants. After all, they are one of the largest families of flowering plants with more than 100,000 hybrids and cultivars. […]

by Staff

One House at a Time

Historic renovations bring housing to Roanoke’s needy. Roanoke’s Restoration Housing is breathing new life into blighted historic-district properties while helping those in need of stable housing. Founded in 2014 by Isabel Thornton, a preservationist and affordable housing developer, the nonprofit has transformed five homes, now occupied by local nonprofits and low-income residents looking […]

by Elizabeth Cogar

A Garden Room with a View

Landscape architect Rachel Lilly designs outdoor spaces that reflect the history and sentiment of the land. Twenty years ago, when Rachel (who is known to her friends as Rusty) Lilly and her husband Graham inherited Bogota (pronounced like pagoda)—a historic two-story brick Greek Revival house in Port Republic built in 1845 by […]

by Catriona Tudor Erler

The Magic in the Mix

A 300-year-old Powhatan house gets a contemporary update. Mali Azima Build in the mid-1720s, Manakin, located in Powhatan County, traces its origins to Pierre Chastain, a leader of the area’s earliest French Huguenot settlers. “In its 300-year history, the house has had only four owners,” says Cheryl Goddard who, with her husband Steve, […]

by Constance Costas

Current Obsessions

Six designers share their favorite finds for 2022. (Photo by Laurey Glenn) With an eye on the latest colors, finishes, and furnishings in the world of home décor, six interior designers from across Virginia share the design finds they’re loving now and what’s on trend for 2022. One thing is certain—wallpaper is […]

by Staff

Old Glory

Restoring the grandeur of an antebellum compound takes labor, money, and love. (Photography by Kip Dawkins) John Holland knew when he first visited Oak Ridge, more than 20 years ago, that there was much more to the sprawling, careworn estate in Nelson County than the overgrown gardens and deteriorating steps he saw […]

by tupponce joan

Italy in Virginia’s Piedmont

Venetian glass meets Neopolitan furniture at Tra Vigne, probably the only Virginia house with a lemonaia. (Photography by Kip Dawkins) Steeped in history but brand new, Rex and Jane Scatena’s Free Union villa and vineyard Tra Vigne is a Grand Tour in an afternoon. Vicenza, the legendary land of Palladio, yielded the […]

by Staff

Life of the Party

Barry Dixon’s Warrenton manor, Elway, is 100 years old. The place was built for glittery social events and the designer is only too happy to continue the tradition. (Photography by Gordon Beall) The year 1907 was one of giddy progress in the United States. It opened with President Theodore Roosevelt shaking a record […]

by neely dykshorn barnwell

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A New Experience at the Virginia Scenic Railway

Virginia Scenic Railway Adds Dome Car for Spectacular Valley Views The popular Virginia Scenic Railway just upped its game with a vintage dome car offering breathtaking 360° views of the Shenandoah Valley. The “Shenandoah”—built in 1948 as the “Silver Palace” for the California Zephyr—now gives passengers an unmatched vantage point on three-hour excursions from Staunton. […]

by Gabriela de Camargo Gonçalves

The U.S. DOE Labeled These Virginia Schools Outstanding

Eight Virginia schools received the National Blue Ribbon 2024 award for their high performances. The Exemplary High Performing Schools are Spring Hill Elementary in McLean, Green Run Collegiate in Virginia Beach, Bethel Manor Elementary in Hampton, and St. Andrew the Apostle School in Clifton. The Exemplary Achievement Gap Closing Schools are Central Academy Middle […]

by Gabriela de Camargo Gonçalves

Williamsburg Archaeologists Uncover Secret Garden

In Colonial America, a grand garden was the ultimate status symbol—the 18th century equivalent of a Lamborghini. So when archaeologists at Colonial Williamsburg uncovered John Custis IV’s property, they struck horticultural gold: the remains of a football field-sized garden alongside his Jacobean manor house. Custis, a tobacco magnate and Martha Washington’s first father-in-law, went all […]

by Madeline Mayhood

House+Garden

Books For Serious (and Aspiring) Gardeners

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A New Experience at the Virginia Scenic Railway

The U.S. DOE Labeled These Virginia Schools Outstanding

Williamsburg Archaeologists Uncover Secret Garden

House+Garden

Books For Serious (and Aspiring) Gardeners

Current Issue

Events

May – June @ Art Works!

Wickets & Wine

Architecture of Woodlawn & Pope-Leighey House

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Most Popular

A New Experience at the Virginia Scenic Railway

The U.S. DOE Labeled These Virginia Schools Outstanding

Williamsburg Archaeologists Uncover Secret Garden

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weekly newsletter: VL Today

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