 
Contact Us
Phone: 877-312-8477
Phone: 304-270-1006
Fax: 304-270-1006
Address
PO Box 552
Falling Waters, WV 25419
|
Valley Homes
Garden Tour Offers Glimpse of the Past
Historic properties, from a former general store to an Arts and
Crafts bungalow, a traditional center-hall Colonial and the oldest home owned by the Washington family in West
Virginia, will be featured in a home and garden tour that spans the West Virginia Panhandle.
The 54th Annual House and Garden Tour of Historic Berkeley and Jefferson Counties is April 25 and 26. The $20 adult
ticket ($5 for children 12 and under) provides admission to the seven featured homes.
Beginning the tour is Laurel Lodge in Harpers Ferry. The 1915 stone house was constructed in the Arts and Crafts
style, with a wrap-around porch featuring a rustic, twig-style railing. Built by Eugene Shugart, a seven-term mayor
of Harpers Ferry, the home sits above the Potomac River and captures a view of Maryland Heights. Renovated between
2005 and 2007, the home now features period Craftsman furnishings and is operated as a bed-and-breakfast.
The Hunter House in Charles Town is next on the tour. Built between 1845 and 1850, it has undergone at least four
renovations, adding rooms, widening a hallway, replacing original wood flooring, installing plumbing and reconceiving
the roofline to provide an attic bedroom.
Harewood, in Charles Town, is the next property on the tour. The oldest of the Jefferson County homes owned by
the Washington family, it was home to George Washington's brother, Samuel, who moved into the house with his wife
and family in 1770. A central section of the home, as well as the kitchen wing, are original to the structure,
and the parlor was the site of the 1794 wedding of Dolley Payne Todd and president-to-be James Madison.
Perhaps the quirkiest property on the tour is the D.S. Griffith House and General Store in Gerrardstown, constructed
in 1813, which remained a store and post office until 1924. Now historically restored, the property features original
store shelving, counters and floors and an upstairs bedroom that, untouched since 1813, recently received an accurate
restoration.
Newcomer Mansion in Martinsburg is a Federal-style brick home that is next on the tour. Built around 1820, the
home displays traditional features, including marbelized baseboards and an original molded chair rail. The basement
features large brick arcades that provide the support structure for the home.
Next on the tour is the Aaron Hibberd House in Martinsburg, which was placed in 1980 on the National Register of
Historic Places and is on the Berkeley County Historical Landmarks Register. Built about 1820, the home is brick,
with a stone foundation and gabled roof. Doors at the front of the home feature original hardware. A stone smokehouse
is at the rear of the property, and a root cellar/dairy is revetted into a hillside. The property also features
a pool and barn.
The Silber-Walters House in Martinsburg, which concludes the tour, received a massive reconstruction after a devastating
fire in 1996. The original structure was central to a 167-acre farm established circa 1800 on the bank of Tuscarora
Creek. Constructed in three phases, the structure centers on a stone house with walls of native limestone that
are 23 inches thick, flanked by brick additions. In reconstructing the home, millwork, random-width pine floors
and all five mantels original to the property were used. Also original to the property is a stone smith shop, which
remains. The property is listed on the Berkeley County Historical Landmarks Register and was added to the National
Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Tour tickets will be available at each house, and individual-home tickets will be sold for $6 ($3 children 12 and
under) Tickets for the tour are available in advance at a reduced rate of $15 for adults, through April 10. More
information is available at the website, shenandoah-potomacgardencouncil.org. |
|
 |
|
