After our lunch at the Can Can Brasserie in Carytown, Terri, Brett and I headed to our next appointment. We were scheduled to take a tour of the Virginia House and its gardens. The Virginia House is a country home located a hillside overlooking the James River. The house was owned by Alexander and Virginia Weddell in the early 20^th century. Alexander Weddell purchased the home in England and brought it here to Richmond for his new bride Virginia. The house was name Virginia House for her.

The house is constructed from the stonework of the 16^th Century Warwick Priory. It was originally located on the grounds of the former Priory of the Augustinian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem in Warwick, England, founded in 1109. After the Monasteries were closed the property was purchased by a fishmonger named Thomas Hawkins in 1536. He demolished most of the monastic buildings and built a house called “Hawk’s Nest”. He entertained Elizabeth I at the house. The property was bought in 1709 by the Royal Gardener to Queen Anne of England, Henry Wise. It was than purchased in the mid-19^th century by the Lloyds Bank family and later put up for auction in 1925.

The auction took place in September, 1925 and was listed as a “Highly Important Unreserved Demolition Sale”. It would offer items like “rare old oak doors, large quantity of floor boards and the whole of the joists and other timbers and enormous quantities of excellent brick, sandstone, old oak and other beams, timbers and girders”. The Weddells would offer a lump sum of 3,500 pounds for the entire remaining structure. Because they were Americans, this caused an outrage in England. There was even a member of the House of Commons who called the sale an “act of vandalism”. However over time, it was shown what the Weddells intentions were for the house and in April, 1926, another member sent a letter to Mr. Weddell saying, “Had you not stepped in and bought the materials of the partially demolished structure, they would have been lost for all time, whereas now they will be utilised in the erection of a new building.”

As they started to dismantle the mansion, there became a concern that the stone would disintegrate during the demolition phase. Advisers then ordered that a small explosive device be set off in the center of the house and the remaining stones be salvaged. However, the explosion had the effect of splitting the walls intact and much of the building was salvaged and shipped to the United States. When it was loaded on three ships, they set off for the United States only to sink in the harbor due to the weight of the stonework. After being raised and reloaded, the stonework made its way to the US shore.

The first shipments arrived in Richmond, Virginia in the early 1926. But because the stone was soaked with seawater, it had to be allowed to dry in a barn for six months. The foundation was laid in November, 1925 and the house was officially turned over to the Weddells in January, 1929. The total cost of construction was $236,968.83 with an additional $15,000 for the lot.

From the beginning, the Weddells had planned to deed the house to the Virginia Historical Society. They would allocate the west wing as a museum. The Weddells lived in this beautiful home until their death in 1948. Both Alexander and Virginia Weddell and one of their servants, Violet, were killed in a train accident in. At their death, the house and ground became the permanent residence of the historic society. It would be added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

The house is a Tudor style, but incorporates designs from other English houses and has modern upgrades. The house has massive sandstone walls, medieval windows, two high Flemish gables, cross-gable roofs and crenelated balustrade. You can see a coat of arms commemorating the visit of Queen Elizabeth I to the Priory in England in 1572. This is not the original coat of arms. The original was removed and placed indoors to keep it from the outside elements.

Inside, the interior is embellished with oak furnishings. The house is filled with English and Spanish antiques. The first floor rooms are large, elaborate rooms used for entertaining. The second floor was the living quarters of the Weddells and their staff and has a large library.

The grand entrance hall has high ceilings with oak panelware from the Warwickshire priory. The staircase is “L” shaped and was reconstructed from the original 16^th Century staircase of the priory. It was repurchased from an antique store in London. It has an acanthus leaf newel cap and over scaled newel posts. The floor is a composite made up of terracotta, asphalt and wood shavings known as zenitherm.

Rooms beyond the grand entrance hall also have oak paneling that came from another English manor house in Warwickshire. The floors are made of wide-plank oak and 15^th Century stained glass oval window in the south wall, which come from the Warwick priory.

When designing the gardens of the Virginia House, Virginia Weddell hired noted landscape architect Charles Gillette in 1927. Charles Gillette is noted for his use of Colonial Revival architecture. This is the reason we wanted to see the Virginia House. We wanted to get ideas for Belle Grove from its landscape. With 8 acres, Charles Gillette created a scenic garden that contained close to 1,000 types of ornamental plants, from formal spring tulip displays, hollies, magnolias, wisteria, roses and sprawling hydrangea drape balconies and garden railings. It took him twenty years to complete his landscape plan.

The first phase was an informal Tudor-style garden on 1 acre that used the steeply sloping hillside and used interconnecting cascading ponds, flagstone walkways and terraced garden beds. The second phase, in 1932 reworked the original plan by overlaying a cross-axis and planting further beds of flowers. The third phase in 1939 extended the landscape down towards the James River. This area was extensively planted grass and positioned evergreens in an asymmetrical pattern which Charles believed would demonstrate a romantic mirroring of the rambling architecture of the house.

To see all the pictures from Virginia House

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Tomorrow – Richmond’s Capital Square

Wow what a week it has been! While we didn’t go to a wonderful location for rest and relaxation, we couldn’t have picked a better week’s worth of locations to go to. I will have to tell you that it is going to take me several days to cover all that we have done and seen this last week. So I hope you will be able to check back over the next few days!

After we returned on Monday from our time at the plantation, the Schooler House Bed and Breakfast and our meeting at Stratford Hall, we spent Tuesday just getting things done around the house in Chesapeake and preparing for the week of activities and meetings we had scheduled. It was near impossible to go to sleep on Tuesday night! With what lay ahead of us, I was eager to get it going!

On Wednesday morning, we rose at 6:00am (yes, 6am on a vacation day!) to get ready and head out to Richmond, Virginia. We had two appointments scheduled for Wednesday at two different locations. Best of all, we were going to meet up with our friend Terri, who lives in Richmond, for lunch. She was able to join us for the last meeting of the day.

Our first stop was at the Virginia Historic Society. I have been there before when I was doing some of my initial research on Belle Grove. It had been a whirlwind of a stop too! I had come in with just about one hour to view several pieces. I had pulled the reference information and had a list ready to go. These pieces were archive special collection pieces so I had to submit a request for each one. But thankfully, the librarians had worked with me and we were able to pull every one of them! I have to say a special thank you to Frances Pollard, one of the head librarians. She had pulled other pieces as well as the ones I knew about to help me complete some of the history of Belle Grove.

It was through Ms. Pollard that months later the Washington Post came calling for an interview on Belle Grove and my research. Most don’t know about the article in the Washington Post. It was during the early stages of our work on the lease contract and I wasn’t able to publish anything with Belle Grove’s name or location. I have to tell you it was really hard not to tell! The article was about researching family history. The Washington Post had come to the Virginia Historic Society to do the piece and Ms. Pollard had remembered my work and referred them to me. I never got to see the article, but how proud I was to tell about all the history we had uncovered by then.

When I visited the Virginia Historic Society before, there were several pieces I was not able to see because they were museum display pieces which required a special showing. Since we had the time during this working vacation, I decided to make an appointment to finally see them. Most of them were pictures of portraits that I had already seen. I had hoped to see the real portraits, but most were just copies of them. One piece we saw was a copy of the glass plate photo of Belle Grove in 1894. Their copy of the photo was a little clearer than ours and had more of the picture then ours. To our great surprise, it revealed more than we ever expected!

In the glass plate photo, you can clearly see more of the extension of the house. It also revealed that the third section of the house that we had long thought was added by the Hookers in the 1950s was in fact added a lot earlier. We now believe that it was added by the Turner family sometime between 1839 and 1876! Another reveal came in the way of who was on the portico. In the past, from our photo, we thought the person standing there was an African-American woman in a long white dress. We thought that she might be a former slave of the plantation that had decided not to leave. But as we looked at the photo, we realized that it wasn’t a woman at all! It turned out to be a man in a white suit sitting in a chair. We also found that he wasn’t alone! Sitting beside him is a small boy in a dark suit! Who have we found? I have a rough idea who it could be, but I am going to have to do some more research to find the true identity of both people. More to come on this discovery!

There was one more piece that we saw that was not on my list before. I had added it this time. It was the first piece we saw. Heather Beattie, Museum Collections Manager was our guide for this special viewing. When we arrived at the viewing room, she presented a small box. She opened the box to reveal a beautiful necklace made of gold and what looked like brown beads. It wasn’t very long, may be about 12 to 14 inches. But I knew what it was and was so overjoyed to have a chance to see it. This necklace was made by Nellie Madison Hite, sister of James Madison. What appear to be brown beads are in fact hair that had been twisted into the shape you see. The hair used for this necklace was that of President James Madison. I was so overwhelmed! Sadly we weren’t able to pick it up or touch it, but to come this close to the man himself! We could never be any closer to him unless we dug him up! It was truly very special!

After we finished with our special viewing, we headed up to the museum at the Historic Society. If you have never stopped by there, you are really missing something special! And best of all, it is free! Their collections are arranged by time periods. You can see items from the Native American’s who called Virginia home before the first settlers arrived to items from the Civil War to famous Virginians such as Arthur Ashe and Thomas Jefferson.

After our visit to the Virginia Historic Society, Brett and I headed over to an area in Richmond called Carytown. We were to meet Terri there for lunch at a place called The Can Can. But we arrived a little early so we took advantage of the extra time and hit some of the antique stores. Carytown is a town inside the city of Richmond. They have been revitalizing this area in what looks like a small town main street area. The shops are wide ranging from antiques to wine to consignment shops to places to eat. It all has the home town feel and it is easy to forget you are in a large capital city.

Our first stop was at Thomas Hines Antique Store. This store covers several store fronts and is what I would call an upscale antique store. When Brett and I entered, it took my breath away. I quickly told Brett that I would “take one of each”. The owner who was behind a shelf quickly responded, “Good, I’ll wrap it up for you.” Mr. Hines has been in the antique business since he was seven years old. Now in his seventies, he was able to point out pieces that would fit our needs for periods of the families various families that lived at Belle Grove. But the one thing that he told us that I hope to remember when we start making our purchases is this. He told us, “Make sure you buy the real thing. Because the people your plantation will attract will be the ones who will know the difference.” What a wise man he is.

From there we headed down the street looking into windows and enjoying the warmth of the sun. The next antique store we found was on a side street about a block away from Thomas Hines’ place. It was called the Sheppard Street Antiques Store. It isn’t a large as Thomas Hines’ place, but it has some really nice accent pieces. One of the first things that drew my attention was a small silver plated tea pot. It wasn’t big enough for an Afternoon Tea Social, but it would have been great for a one or two person tea. I didn’t get it and of course now I wish I had. Maybe I can make it back there again soon.

There was one piece that I got very excited about when I saw it. It was a set of spoons that were of the “Old Colonial Times” style. It is sterling silver and is made by Towle. This is the style I want for Belle Grove Plantation. It has that old charm and classic look that I feel would just be perfect for the dining table. As most of you noticed on the spoon bowls, the bowls are fluted like a pumpkin. I have used this style before at Schooler House Bed and Breakfast and just love the feel and look. I wasn’t able to get this set of spoons though. They are for chocolate dessert service and there were only a few pieces. Maybe soon I can find that set I need.

I did however find one piece that I was able to get. They had a box of items headed to auction and they allowed Brett and me to look through it. I came across a small silver-plated creamer with small feet and a tiny lid on top. When I asked about the price, I couldn’t say no. So one day when you are sitting at our dining table enjoying breakfast, as you reach for this creamer to fill your coffee or tea, you will know how it came to grace our table.

After shopping we met up with Terri at the Can Can. This brasserie is done in the style of a 1920s French Café. We decided to sit outside and enjoy the warm day and soft breeze. Our waiter, John was a lot of fun and very helpful in selecting a dish from their wonderful menu. And believe me it was really hard to select something! It all looked so good!

Brett selected the Croque Madame. This is a variation of the Croque Monsieur, which is an open face ham and cheese sandwich. For the Croque Madame, they add a sun-side up fried egg. But I have to tell you that it is no ordinary ham and cheese sandwich.

The ham is fresh made (no deli slices here) and Gruyere Cheese.

Terri selected the Chicken Crepe. This crepe is filled with chicken and

topped with braised Lentil and Mushroom Ragout and an Apple Brie Fondue.

I selected the Cheese Plate. I didn’t want a lot to eat but this plate was filled with such delights! It has Camembert, Saint Andre and Fourme de’Ambert Cheese with slices of Smoke Sausage and Pate and a side of Green and Kalamata Olives and a Blueberry Compote.

As we sat there enjoying our meal, I could almost swear we were sitting at a road side café in France!

Tomorrow – On to the Virginia House!

Just 7 more hours of work and Brett and I will officially on vacation!

YES!

So what do we have plan for our week off?

Friday, Saturday and Sunday – The Plantation!

Monday – Meeting with Stratford Hall, Home of Robert E. Lee and his Family / Possible a Meeting with a Local Winery

Tuesday – Back to the house to regroup

Wednesday – Off to Richmond! We are going to the Historic Society of Virginia to view some of the Families Pictures and Portraits. Then we are going to tour Virginia House in Richmond. This is a historic home and gardens. We are going to see it with our dear friend Terri.

Thursday – We are going to the Virginia Executive Mansion! We have wanted to see it for a long time! Then it is off to Charlottesville to see our favorite lawyer, Brian. We could never have gotten through the contract without him! Then dinner out for our 26th Wedding Anniversary. Last year for our 25th we went to Louisiana and New Orleans to see 11 Southern Plantation! We are going to end the evening at a wonderful Bed and Breakfast in Orange, Virginia.

Friday – We are off to meet with the wonderful people at James Madison Museum in Orange, Virginia. Afterward we will be going to a meeting at Montpelier, James Madison home and where we fell in love with the history of James and Dolley Madison. After our meeting we are heading back to the Plantation!

Saturday – We have another meeting with one of our other Wineries.

Sunday – Back home to Chesapeake.

It is going to be a very exciting week! We can’t wait to share our adventure and the tons of pictures I know I will be taking! We are going to try to get online throughout the week! So check back for updates!

Don’t forget to check out our Facebook page! We will be updating our status throughout our travels! If you haven’t “Liked” us on Facebook, please do! If you have, please consider sharing us with your friend!

We look forward to sharing! Thank you for all your support!