For some, the thought of gardens might ignite distant memories, like playing as a child in the backyard and seeing your grandmother diligently attending to her petunias. But Historic Garden Week in Virginia, which dates back 90 years, brings a surprising sense of scale to the home and garden scene.
“It’s considered the largest open house in the country,” Linda Wenger, co-chair of the Williamsburg Garden Club, said.
This year’s iteration features nearly 200 homes and gardens across the commonwealth. Nearly 30,000 people are expected to attend.
The statewide effort runs through Friday, with events from Winchester to Virginia Beach. Tuesday is the big day for the historic area, with a day of tours spanning Colonial Williamsburg and the College Terrace neighborhood by William and Mary.
“We have beautiful homes, beautiful gardens, beautiful countryside,” Wenger said. Her club handles the local endeavor, with 75 members and 300 volunteers helping to make it possible.
“This is probably the largest tour we’ve ever done for Williamsburg,” she said.
The goal is for every garden to be unique. Some of the gardens on display are fully developed and some are still being worked on. Some are more explicitly modern while others fully embrace their colonial roots. The gardens in Colonial Williamsburg are more traditional, while College Terrace offers more modern sights, with one home featuring a farm that includes a chicken coop and homegrown vegetables.
“It all fell into place because of the homeowners who agreed to do it,” Wenger said. “We couldn’t do it without them.”
Gregory Klich is one such homeowner. His College Terrace abode is featured in the event. It’s a contemporary take on Georgian architecture, with glazed header bricks and reminiscent of the Colonial era and an attached garage typical of today. Out back, a colonial variety of boxwoods, white roses and geraniums surround a pool.
“It makes the house look a little timeless,” Klich said.
Inside his home, historical reproductions of light fixtures, textiles and wallpaper might convince guests that it’s centuries old. But it’s the newest house in the tour, having finished construction last year.
“You go from 18th to 21st century,” Wenger said. “It’s covering that sort of A to Z.”
This year marks Wenger’s first time chairing the event, although she’s attended “many, many years” in the past, all over the state. She was surprised by how elaborate the process has been, but she also credited the Garden Club of Virginia for providing guidance and resources.
“I don’t feel we’ve been thrown to the wolves,” she said. She and her club have also relied on local sponsors like Colonial Williamsburg, Towne Bank and the William and Mary Alumni Association, which is offering its alumni house as the tour headquarters for Tuesday.
“We are fortunate to have that generosity in the community,” Wenger said.
“We’re happy to help out a community effort,” Cindy Gillman, the director of business development for the Alumni Association, said. “This is a great community.”
Gillman’s own home was included in the tour several years ago, and she was eager to help out once more.
“It’s just amazing how much work goes into it,” she said, hoping attendees will see and appreciate that. “It truly is a Herculean effort.”
The impact of the festivities extends throughout the area.
“It brings in an amazing number of people from all over the state,” Gillman said. During their time here, those people might choose to shop at Merchant’s Square or the Premium Outlets before grabbing dinner at a local hotspot.
“It’s a great way to spotlight Williamsburg,” she said. “There is a lot to see and do in Williamsburg.”
Bob Harris, the senior vice president of tourism for the Greater Williamsburg Chamber and Tourism Alliance, has attended Garden Week in the past. He echoed similar sentiments.
“We benefit from it more than we realize,” he said. “It’s wonderful for our retail sales. They eat well and drink well.”
He said Garden Week primarily attracts women from their mid-thirties to their mid-sixties, but it’s appeal could be broadening as it’s “starting to see more couples.”
The event is part of the the chamber’s ongoing Williamsburg Spring Arts event, which aims to encourage visitors during a typically slower time of year for the area.
“Williamsburg is probably at one of its prettiest points in the spring,” Harris said, adding that it’s something locals can easily take for granted in their daily lives. But Tuesday’s tours, which offer a glimpse into private locations that are generally inaccessible, provide a change of pace.
“It’s always exciting to go through and see what other people have done,” Klich said.
Volunteers will be present outside and in each room of the homes, offering assistance and information the history and design of each property. Klich’s house will have 14 volunteers inside.
“It personalizes the tour a lot,” Harris said.
Proceeds from the event go toward garden restoration projects across Virginia. Over the past 45 years, Garden Week tours have brought in more than $425 million across the state. Preservation is at the center of it all.
“That’s probably the key element of all this,” Wenger said. “Virginia is such a historic state.”
She’s confident that guests will “love seeing what Virginia has to offer.”
Birkenmeyer can be reached by phone at 757-790-3029.
Want to go?
Garden Week in Williamsburg runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday. Tickets are $40 in advance and $50 on the day, available online at vagardenweek.org/main/tickets. Guests are encouraged to park in the lots around Merchant’s Square or in the N. Henry St. parking garage. Tour headquarters are William and Mary Alumni House, 1 Alumni Drive. Shuttles will transport ticket holders between sites. Rain or shine.
