Staunton Garden Day :: Part Two
Today I’ll share the final two houses that my mom, aunt, cousin, and I toured on Saturday in Staunton as a part of garden week in Virginia. Be sure to check out part one if you missed my post yesterday.
Fourth on our tour was 521 East Beverly Street, Merrillat House, a mid-19th century Gothic Revival originally constructed in 1851 as a four room cottage. This house overlooks the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind as was built by one of the school’s first superintendents.
The final house on the tour at 605 East Beverly was Oakdene, a Queen Anne built in 1893. The house was beautiful both inside and outside. The magnificent landscaping was originally designed by A. A. Farnham in 1934. Farnham was a landscape architect and professor at VPI who also designed gardens at the Hotel Roanoke and Hollins College.
Who wouldn’t want to sit here?
Wouldn’t this be a perfect place to spend a weekend evening in the fall?
This turn table has a crank to turn the car around so that backing down a long, steep driveway isn’t necessary.
We were told that the arched window was believed to originally contain stained glass.
I’d be happy to quit teaching and be the full-time gardener here!
Don’t you wish your garden shed was this charming?
The next two pictures shows you just how steep the hill is in the backyard.
We noticed that the house next to Oakdene had a “For Sale By Owner” and an “Open House” sign in the yard, so we of course had to check it out. It’s one of my favorite styles, a Craftsman bungalow.
Isn’t it adorable? Want to know something funny? When we knocked on the door, the owner who greeted us was one of my old YMCA buddies who moved from my area to Staunton a few years ago. I knew through Facebook that she recently built a new house and moved, but I didn’t know where she used to live in Staunton. Isn’t it ironic that I knew the owner of this adorable home? I can’t imagine that it will take long for this home to sell.
Staunton is a charming town and if you are ever in the Shenandoah Valley, you should consider a visit.
Staunton was just named one of the top 20 small town by the Smithsonian Institute just last week. Glad you enjoyed your visit.
What a treat for you. Thanks for sharing your photos with us. I LOVE home and garden tours!
I am in LOVE with that outdoor fireplace. What a wonderful spot to enjoy with guests or family. I love the craftsman bungalow too!!
A turntable driveway – now that’s the height of luxury.
Lovely tour! Thank you for sharing all the beautiful pictures and I always love hearing the history of the homes.
I hope your friend whose home wasn’t on the tour benefits from the garden tour and is able to sell her home! What a fun surprise that you knew her!
Beautiful homes. I would love to do this tour. So much fun!
I want the outdoor fireplace! Oh, the parties we would have! What a great tour!
I love the open house – what a small world!
Kerry at HouseTalkN
Hi, I’m visiting from Serenity Now’s link party. I’m dying over that outdoor fireplace! Seems to be one of those things you don’t think of wanting but once you see it, you *have* to have it. 🙂 Thanks for sharing, that tour was beautiful! Take care!
Wow, what a wonderful tour! It’s always nice to see “other parts” and those homes there sure are beautiful – loved the gardens!
Thank you Paula for taking us to a tour ride on this wonderful place, I felt as if I was visiting myself. Nice pictures.
Thanks for taking us on the home tours with you, Paula. The outsides of the homes are fun to see but I’m like you and think it would have been lovely for the garden clubs to have their lovely arrangements shown in visitor photographs. Do you think they do that to prevent would-be theives from checking out the insides of the homes? I saw your post over at “Weekend Bloggy Reading”.
I came to Staunton back in 1991 with my mom to bring my little sister to a visit at Mary Baldwin! I loved it there and from all those great photos of houses there, I would love to live there!
I love home and garden tours! Sadly, I haven’t been on one in years, and I suspect it will be a while before I can do those again. One of my favorite trips was to Newport, RI, to see the mansions there. Those were quite spectacular, but I also love smaller home tours as well. I’d love to sit and enjoy some tea on some of these patios you shared!