EASTERN
SHORE OF VIRGINIA
Sponsored by The
Garden Club of the Eastern Shore
Saturday, April 26. All sites open 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
WEBSITES: www.esgardentour.com
www.VAGardenweek.org
DIRECTIONS: From the south: Rt. 13 (Northampton Blvd.)
in Virginia Beach to Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and continue north on Rt. 13. From the north: Delaware Memorial Bridge to Rt.1 South to Rt. 13 South. From
Washington/Baltimore: Rt. 50 East across Bay Bridge at Annapolis; continue on
Rt. 50 East to Rt. 13 South. Follow directions below in immediate tour area.
Chairmen:
Kate Jacob (Mrs. N. Wescott)
P.O. Box 427
Onancock, VA 23417
Telephone: (757) 787-1514
E-mail: k8ja@verizon.net
Katty Mears (Mrs. Benjamin W., Jr.)
P.O. Box 67
Eastville, VA 23347
Telephone: (757) 678-5755
TICKETS: Full ticket, $30; single-site admission, $10.
Children ages 6-12, half price; younger children, free. Children age 17 and younger
must be accompanied by an adult. Tickets sold on tour day at all houses, which
may be visited in any order. Checks payable to G.C.E.S accepted; no credit cards
on tour day. Advance tickets may be purchased with a credit card via www.VAGardenweek.org. Information
about local restaurants and accommodations, together with detailed area maps,
available at each location.
FESTIVE LUNCH VENUE: Box lunches by The Eastville Inn ($9, inclusive) may be purchased at Barrier Islands Center near Machipongo. Picnickers are welcome at this tented site, featuring exhibits and sales by the Artisans’ Guild:
Eastern Shore of Virginia and the Eastern Shore Art League of Virginia. Free
museum admission; handicap-accessible restrooms available.
TOUR INFORMATION: Questions regarding ticket purchases, bus tours, local accommodations or any related concerns may be directed to Mary Hamilton Stuart at (757) 678-7889 or mhstuart@esva.net.
TOUR AT A GLANCE: This tour showcases six Northampton
County homes of the 18th through 21st centuries, all hidden treasures sited within
a whisper or a shout of the coastline. Visitors may travel through time from
outstanding examples of colonial and Federal period architecture to four striking
recent designs in delightfully contrasting styles.
DRIVING DIRECTIONS (from Rt. 13) Properties
may be visited in any order.
Grapeland: 3743 Grapeland Circle, Exmore 23350. At Exmore stoplight, turn west on Rt. 183 (Occohannock Neck Rd.) and proceed 3 mi. to entrance on right.
Woodville: 6122 Holly Grove Lane, Nassawadox 23413. At
Nassawadox stoplight, turn west on Rt. 606 (Rogers Dr.) and proceed 0.7
mi. to stop sign; cross Rt. 618 (Bayside Rd.) and continue on Rt. 606 for
0.5 mi. to entrance directly ahead. (Watch for traffic approaching on left.)
Ware Point: 7155 Cedar Cottage Lane,
Franktown 23354. Begin as for Woodville.
At stop sign, turn south on Rt. 618 (Bayside Rd.); proceed for 1.6 mi. and turn right on Cedar Cottage Lane. Continue to end of paved surface.
Sea View: 18257 Seaside Road, Eastville 23347. At
Eastville stoplight, turn east on
Rt. 631 and proceed 0.7 mi. to Rt. 600 (Seaside Rd.); turn right (south) and proceed for 1.1 mi. to entrance on left.
Eyre Hall: 3215 Eyrehall Drive, Cheriton 23316. Entrance on west side of Rt. 13
between Cheriton and Eastville.
100 Creekside Lane, Bay Creek: Cape Charles 23310.
At Cape Charles stoplight, turn west on Rt. 184, proceed 0.3 mi. and
turn left on Parsons Cir., then make first right turn onto Old Cape Charles Rd. Drive 1.1 mi. to Bay Creek entrance on left. Beyond
gatehouse, proceed 0.4 mi. to stop sign and turn left on Palmer Dr. Proceed
0.7 mi. to Old Plantation Dr., turn right for one block and right again
on Creekside Lane to first house on right.
* NOTE: Grapeland, Woodville and Ware Point, as well as Hungars Church, Barrier Islands Center and Pear Valley, are connected by secondary roads, without requiring a return to Rt. 13. Pick
up detailed area maps at any tour location.
GRAPELAND. Preservationists and
antiques lovers will be charmed by Grapeland, an 1825 Virginia Historic
Landmark belonging to the Eastern Shore’s important group of refined Federal-period houses. The property was purchased in 1995 by the present owner and her late husband, who continued their predecessor’s mission to reverse years of serious decline. Now fully restored, the main section of the house is finished with fine Flemish bond brickwork and an intricately decorated roof cornice. Its stately interior spaces match this sophistication with elegant woodwork and an elaborate scheme of marbleizing and wood-graining ranked among the state’s best examples of the art. East
of the principal rooms, the residence continues with the simpler styles
of a colonnade and an early 18th century clapboard building original
to the site.
Bringing these numerous spaces to life is a collection of antiques which is remarkable in size and range. An avid devotee since childhood, the owner has over many years searched out period furniture and paintings as well as a fine array of decorative accessories in silver, porcelain and faience. Among countless interesting pieces, three Eastern Shore raised-panel cupboards, highly prized by collectors, seem particularly at home. Other finds include a 1740 Delaware lowboy and an American tea table with drake feet. On a different note, a painted stairwell greets visitors as they ascend the main staircase. This appealing folk-style work depicts scenes along a stretch of Occohannock Creek, which laps at the property’s banks. Grapeland’s grounds, sloping down to the waterside, include several garden areas and a cluster of benches that invite strollers to rest a moment and enjoy the view. Mrs.
K. Ray Johnson, Jr., owner.
WOODVILLE. Finished in 2005, Woodville is the
realization of a vision shared for years by a mother and her two daughters. Reached
by the field road of an old family
farm, the house and its sedate façade give little hint of the astonishing
creativity which explodes into 4,400 square feet beyond the threshold.
Here, a flowing layout is deployed on two floors with 10- and 9-foot ceilings,
enhanced by a porch and western windows with views of woods and water.
With space reserved for potential handicap-accessibility, the first level
encompasses capacious living, dining and breakfast rooms, a striking kitchen
and two master suites. A faux-marbled staircase leads to the upper library,
flanked by an additional master suite and two guest rooms.
Woodville’s magic lies in the imaginative attention which has been focused on every detail of its furnishings and finishes. During a decade of anticipation, the owners filled scrapbooks with design ideas and traveled the East Coast to collect furniture and decorations which are now artfully blended with family pieces in a profusion allowed by the scale of their setting. The interior’s full impact emerges in countless vignettes, many brought to life by local artists and craftspeople. Visitors will note handmade tiles with unique motifs, stylized reclaimed bricks on a kitchen hood, and a flea market buffet re-imagined as a bathroom vanity with brilliant faux designs. A collection of contemporary paintings, many done by one of the owners, adds to the colorful scene. Woodville’s spacious grounds continue the aesthetic with attractive garden plots and seating areas. Open for the first time, this fascinating property offers lessons in inter-generational living and the pursuit of dreams. Mrs.
James N. Rogers, Miss Margaret Rogers and Dr. Elizabeth Rogers, owners.
WARE POINT. This exuberant house was completed
in 2000 for an Eastern Shore native determined to begin a new century with
a dramatic departure from the traditional styles of her childhood. Architect
Leon Parham’s response to the challenge is a commanding contemporary house which alludes to the majestic Coast Guard stations that once kept vigil along the Atlantic. With more than one hundred windows and skylights, the residence is framed by Warehouse Creek, its cedar siding melding with the natural wooded landscape. Outsized walnut and cherry entry doors open to a mammoth central core of startling visual impact. Beyond an airy spiral staircase, the eye is drawn to a light-filled living room at the far end, and then upward through second-floor bridges and pendent fans to a windowed “lookout” soaring 34 feet above the floor. Twin hallways on the split upper floor attract notice from below with colorful paintings hung gallery-style. The
design is completed with more intimate ground-floor spaces that include
a den, master suite, dining room and kitchen.
Ware Point’s striking architecture is complemented by the keen aesthetic sense of its owners, one of whom is a late-blooming painter. Throughout major rooms, the dark hues of handsome antique furniture are played off against a wide-ranging collection of wall art and sculptural pieces. The dining room offers an unusual contemporary glass chandelier as well as recently acquired paintings of Quebec. Canada is also the source of several exquisite Inuit sculptures which keep company in the living room with a blissful Alaskan Eskimo in soapstone. A new studio/workshop near the water adds appeal
to this arresting property. Ms. Caramine Kellam and Mr. Fred Greenway,
owners.
Eastern Shore—Sea View
SEA VIEW. A serpentine
drive, edging along a wood, is slow to reveal the many charms of Sea
View, a historic 200-acre farm overlooking the secluded marshes, bays
and barrier islands of the Eastern Shore’s Atlantic coast. In the 1990s, Sea View became home to a then-bachelor and outdoorsman whose respect for his regional heritage and knowledge of horticulture have guided the property’s
evolution from simple cropland into a vibrant setting for family life, crowned
with a rare residential design by the internationally known landscape architects
Wolfgang Oehme and James van Sweden.
Flanked by stables, pastures and planting fields on the south and the broad stretch of Taylor Creek on the north, the main residence is an impeccable representation of an18th century country manor, designed and built by pre-eminent local masters. Its open first floor includes kitchen and dining areas that flow into a family room where windows frame the magnificent eastward view. These spaces offer an easy informality for energetic young occupants, with comfortable seating and a scatter of antiques and paintings. Beyond the house, Oehme and von Sweden have gathered garden areas, a garage/guesthouse and an evocative 1800 brick ruin into a composition that celebrates the inherent beauty of the terrain. Famed for their natural, self-renewing landscapes, the architects have animated this scene with native trees and shrubs enhanced by massed perennials and ornamental grasses which come alive to the smallest breeze. The nearby barn complex, built around a former railway station, is home to the horses and ponies which are a passion of the household’s ladies. Open for the first time, this delightful farm offers a rare opportunity to visit the peninsula’s
seemingly timeless Seaside region. Mr. and Mrs. John E. Tankard III, owners
EYRE HALL. One of the mid-Atlantic’s most photographed properties, Eyre Hall is an authentically preserved 18th century manor house, enhanced by charming dependencies, broad planting fields and long vistas on Cherrystone Creek. The Eyre family’s long and prominent history in Northampton County dates to 1623, when Thomas Eyre arrived from Jamestown to take up local land patents. By 1758, his great-grandson, Littleton Eyre, had acquired the present site and completed the gambrel-roofed residence which has since been cherished by a continuous line of his family. Now owned by the builder’s 8th-generation descendent, Eyre Hall is furnished with distinguished American period furniture and family portraits by Thomas Sully and Benjamin West. In the majestic entrance hall, scenic block wallpaper printed in 1815 by the French company duFour offers an example of the sophisticated style which embellishes the property. The stately dining room displays a monogrammed Chinese Export dinner service ordered in 1800 by John Eyre, Littleton’s grandson. The
subdued sepia design of the service commemorates the death of George Washington
in the previous year. Throughout the house, careful observers will note original
brass hardware and exceptional woodwork, featuring full paneling, pilasters,
modillion cornices and fluted keystones.
Eyre Hall’s brick-walled boxwood gardens, open to the public year-round, are among the oldest in the country. Here, visitors may stroll traditional swept paths to enjoy English-style mixed borders, bright with spring blooms. To the west, a family graveyard and the ruin of an 1810 orangery add nostalgia and romance to the garden scene. Listed
on the National Register of Historic Places and a Virginia Landmark, Eyre Hall
has delighted Garden Week visitors for many years. Mr. H. Furlong Baldwin, owner.
100 CREEKSIDE LANE, BAY CREEK. The
1,800-acre Bay Creek complex, begun in 1999, has added colorful new neighborhoods
to Cape Charles, a Victorian railroad town on the lower Chesapeake. In Bay Creek’s community south of the harbor, Creekside Lane is located on the former estate of Littleton Tazewell, a U.S. Senator and Governor of Virginia, whose heirs sold the property in 1883 to William L. Scott, Cape Charles’s founder. The brick and clapboard house at 100 Creekside is approached via beautifully landscaped roadways with views of golf courses designed by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. Perfectly sized for empty-nesters, the property was completed two years ago in a Virginia farmhouse style. A deep front porch opens to finely finished rooms, flooded with light from large windows and French doors. The first floor’s
traditional living spaces are complemented by an elegant master suite and a rear
screened porch which is a favorite three-season retreat. Upper-floor rooms include
a second master bedroom and a spacious den with delightful informal furnishings.
Despite its thoroughly American setting, 100 Creekside abounds with European touches that reflect the owners’ prior
residence in Brussels, Belgium. Among many items collected overseas are a majestic
walnut-veneered oak linnenkast, or linen press, and a stately floral marquetry vitrine with inlays that include box and pistachio woods. These marvelous 18th century Dutch pieces make themselves the center of attention in the master suite and dining room. Mingling their Continental finds with attractive American designs, the owners have created a charming, warm, highly textured ambience for family and friends. Open for the first time, this tour property offers visitors a glimpse of new trends in Eastern Shore living. Mr. and Mrs. Steven Bennett, owners.
OTHER PLACES OF INTEREST
Staffed
During Tour Hours
Near Capeville. *Arlington Plantation Site & Custis
Tombs (1676-96). Rt. 644 west from Rt. 13.
Cape Charles. Cape Charles Museum. Victorian
railroad town. Rt. 84 west at Rt.13 stoplight.
Eastville. 1677 County seat. *Historic Court Green
(1731); * The Eastville Inn (restaurant); Christ Episcopal Church
(1828). Rt. 631 west at Rt. 13 stoplight.
Near Machipongo. *Barrier Islands Center & Historic
Almshouse Farm (1803). Visible from Rt. 13; exit west on Rt. 627 (Young
St.); Hungars Episcopal Church (1742), Rt. 627 west to Rt.
618 north; Pear Valley ( c.1740),Rt. 627 west to Rt. 618 south to
Rt. 628 west.
Onancock. *Ker Place (1799). Eastern Shoreof Virginia Historical
Society, 69 Market St. Grounds restored by The Garden Club of Virginia. Museum
entrance fee, $5. Rt. 179 west at Rt.13 stoplight in Onley.
*Virginia Historic Landmark and/or National Register of Historic Places