Everybody has a bucket list whether it's written on paper or in their head. Well, mine is not written but there's things I've always thought about doing or thought I wanted to do - one was going on a garden/house tour during the Historic Garden Week in Virginia. Hosted by The Garden Club of Gloucester were several houses in the Gloucester and Mathews area.
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| Ware Church and Cemetery |
Ware Church (Episcopal) was founded in 1652 at another location but the current building which still holds services dates circa 1718. Pews in the church date from 1854 and the cemetery has graves dating back to the 1700's.
The Heath House owned by Brent and Becky Heath (think Brent and Becky's Bulbs) had a 100-year old sycamore tree in the front yard and is on the banks of Back Creek. All I'll say is this was an interesting house.
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| Snake in the bush. Yes, he/she was on the garden tour enjoying a brief minute of sunshine. |
Sweetwater on the North River occupies 198 acres of what used to be a 2,000 acre farm in the 1860's. And the house was 9,100 sq. ft. but did not feel that big (ha, ha) - again an interesting house.
The River House in Ware Neck sits on the Ware River. A giant red maple in the front yard of this house- 19 feet around at "the waist" and stands about 92 feet tall. It was impressive!
None of these houses had gardens worth mentioning and that was disappointing but in each house and every room of the houses were fresh flower arrangements by the members of the garden club.
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| Rosewell Plantation Ruins |
But the best of the best was the Rosewell Plantation Ruins on the York River. It's amazing how knowledgeable and ingenius people were to build houses back in the day. The house was built in 1725 by Mann Page but was ravaged by fire in 1916. The ruins today are impressive and the ice house is still there or parts of it.
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| York River |
