To showcase sites in northern Essex
Rich in history and lying along the scenic Rappahannock River, this year’s Middle Peninsula Garden Club Tour, part of the Garden Club of Virginia’s Historic Garden Week (HGW), will showcase Tappahannock and the pastoral northern part of Essex County on Friday April 26. Enjoy a scenic drive along U.S. Route 17 to access the five properties that represent four centuries of architecture, rich history, pastoral landscapes, gardens, and river vistas. This will be the only HGW tour in the area occurring on Friday, April 26.
Located on the Rappahannock River in the upper end of Essex County, two of the properties on tour are historic Wheatland and Mountcastle House.
Wheatland is a historic plantation home built in 1848 by an early ancestor of the current owners. Wheatland’s steamboat wharf, originally constructed in 1890s to handle river traffic and rebuilt in 1916 after a fire, is the only one still in existence in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
In contrast, Mountcastle House is a modern farmhouse, completed in 2022 as a vacation home, which sits high above the Rappahannock River. From the land’s edge, you see a peninsula and a wide expanse of the river. The interior is bright and airy and features earthy, nature-inspired tones and textures with pops of bold colors.
Three unique properties are on tour in the town of Tappahannock:
Thornbury is a stately two-story Greek-Revival home built between 1915 and 1920, which is situated on a green expanse of lawn that overlooks the Rappahannock River.
Little Egypt, which dates to the 1750s, is graced with 200 year-old cedar trees, gardens and mature shrubbery, which make this three-acre property a place of serenity and beauty. The current owners redesigned the barn on the property to create a library with soaring shelving, hand-wrought ironwork, and thousands of books.
The Essex Inn, which currently serves the Tidewater area as a bed and breakfast, is an impressive brick Georgian mansion in the heart of Tappahannock. Built in 1850, the Greek revival style structure of white stucco over brick sits atop a high English basement. Twice this house was occupied by Union troops and served as a medical facility when former physicians, including the original owner, Dr. Rhone, owned the property.
In addition to the lovely homes and gardens on tour, the Essex County Museum will offer discounts to tour ticket holders in its Rappahannock Gift Shop. The Tappahannock Art Gallery (TAG) will sponsor a plein air painting event for TAG member artists at one of the homes on the tour. Other businesses in Tappahannock will be offering discounts on the tour day.
Advance tickets ($35) may be purchased at middlepeninsula@vagardenweek.org ($45 on the day of the tour). Across the street from Essex Inn is the beautifully restored 1710 Tavern (314 S. Water Lane), where visitors may pick up pre-purchased box lunches between 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. Pre-orders are available until April 19 by visiting info@1710tavern.org. or by calling 925-6710.
For information about the Middle Peninsula tour and all 30 tours throughout Virginia that are scheduled April 20-27, please visit www.vagardenweek.org. A statewide pass providing access to all the tours during Historic Garden Week is also available on the website.
The Garden Club of the Middle Peninsula, a member of the Garden Club of Virginia, works to promote gardening among amateurs, to protect native trees, wildflowers, and birds, to encourage conservation of natural resources, to promote civic planning, to encourage roadside beautification, and to aid in the restoration and preservation of historic gardens in Virginia.
