Historic Garden Week in King William, VA
Tour date: April 26, 2002
The Garden Club of the Middle Peninsula welcomes visitors to its first Historic Garden Week tour in King William County on April 26, 2002 (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.). Tour tickets will be $20 and may be purchased at the properties or for advance purchases call Mrs. Bette Albert at (804) 769-3596. Box lunches will be available at a cost of $8 by advance reservation through Colossee Baptist Church located in close proximity to the tour. 

Whar Dat Farm is an elegant two-year-old English Tudor home of stucco-timber exterior with post and beam construction, copper roof, Jacobean chimneys, and curved garden walls in a basket weave pattern overlooking a swimming pool and an eight-acre pond. The beautiful gardens, reflecting pools and statuary combined with an interior of lofty ceilings, exposed beams and American, English, French and 19th century Chinese antiques combines to give this home a sense of comfort and a wonderful place to entertain.
 

King William Courthouse with its simple rectangular building and hipped roof, denticulated cornice, and tall chimneys was constructed c. 1725 and is the oldest courthouse in continual use in English America. An outstanding architectural feature is the checkerboard pattern of Flemish bond brickwork, formed by dark glazed headers and red bricks. The judge's dais, desk, chair, and all other furnishings are of natural walnut finish. History is preserved through portraits of past judges, commonwealth's attorneys, clerks of the court and other county leaders.

Chericoke plantation has been the property of the Braxton family (including Carter Braxton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence) and their descendants since the mid-eighteenth century. Charles Hill Carter Braxton, a doctor in the Civil War, built the present Federal style brick plantation house in 1828. Open vistas lead past several dependencies and country gardens to the circling Pamunkey River where a new two-story boathouse invites the younger generations to the "Happy Water," the Indian meaning of Chericoke. Open for the first time for Historic Garden Week, Chericoke is a Virginia Historic Landmark as well as on the National Register of Historic Places.

For those wishing to be transported back to the early days of King William County, a visit to Elsing Green is a must. Proud and regal peacocks herald your welcome, and the stately Queen Anne manor house with terraced lawns leading to the Pamunkey River takes your breath away. Elsing Green is a 2254 acre historic Virginia plantation, a cultural landmark, and a wildlife refuge with fields, woodlands, gardens and marsh. It is a Virginia Historic Landmark and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Grounds only open for Historic Garden Week.

Old St. John's Church, an outstanding example of the colonial mason's craft, stands today essentially the same as when it was completed around 1734. The site chosen in 1731 by the vestrymen was on the colonial road between King William Courthouse and Pamunkey Neck where West Point was settled. During the Garden Tour, the church will be abundantly decorated in the manner of English "Flower Festival" and enhanced with an afternoon harp concert. Open for the first time for Historic Garden Week.

Chelsea is a Georgian manor house built in the early 1700's by Colonel Augustine Moore, descendant of Sir Thomas More, Chancellor to King Henry VIII. The formal rooms are decorated with antiques and art collected by the present owner from England, France, Turkey and Greece. The extensive grounds include a boxwood maze of 5,000 English box, 400 crape myrtle trees, and the brick-walled cemetery where Augustine Moore and his first wife are buried.  This lovely mansion sits on the bank of the Mattaponi River and is open for the first time for Historic Garden Week.