Northern Neck Virginia House & Garden Get-Together

Edie invited the Take Joy Society members to her vacation home on the Northern Neck of Virginia so that we could go on the Northumberland County House & Garden tour during Virginia's Historic Garden Week.  There were four of us in all who were able to get away for three days and two nights.  Unfortunately photos were not permitted inside the houses, but I will be telling you a bit of their history.

We set out in the rain mid-morning on Tuesday. . . .

After about three hours of driving we stopped at Edie's usual place for lunch on her way down to Northern Neck.  As you can see, we had lots of food and ended up taking the leftovers with us. . . .

By the time we crossed the Rappahannock River to the Northern Neck of Virginia an hour later the rain had moved on. . . .

Edie's house is in a small community of "tent" houses, built in 2006, designed to look like the tent houses from the camp meeting era. . . .

She found the place when she was doing research at the local Steamboat Era Museum for her children's book.  If you recall I wrote about it here.  She'd just wanted to see what one of the houses looked like and ended up buying one.  I can see why!  The house and its setting are charming.  And there is so much to explore in the area with all the little communities tucked away in the "nooks and crannies" created by the various tributaries. . . .

As we passed the Community Pool we stopped to check that out.  Here we are standing under the huge Wisteria arbor designed to have the look of a camp meeting tent. . . .

Edie refers to her house as the "River House" because a creek that empties into the Rappahannock backs up to all the houses.  There is a community dock where they can launch their kayaks for exploring the river and all the other little creeks in the area. . . .

This is the view of the first floor from the back of the house. . . .

We decided it would be a good idea to draw numbers for which bedroom we would each have.  Edie took us upstairs to show us the master bedroom and her little "cubby" bedroom that she would sleep in (a walk-in closet converted to a bedroom for her grandchildren).  Here she is showing us a map of the area. . . .

Then we headed to the lower level to see the two bedrooms down there. . . .

This is the screened-in back porch at the back on the house off the kitchen.  It is where we ate all our meals. . . .

As soon as we'd taken our luggage to our rooms we gathered in the kitchen to make tea. . . .

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It was hard to drag ourselves away from the quiet setting overlooking the woods leading down to the creek but we noticed the time and needed to get going if we were going to visit any shops before they closed!  Objects is an art gallery gift shop with local artisan handcrafted items. . . .

The rain had returned as Edie drove us around to see some of the hidden-away spots along the waterfront. . . .

Back at the house we realized we didn't want a big supper.  Chris had brought asparagus from her garden for breakfast, along with eggs from her hens and the crumpets and strawberry jam she had made.  So we co-opted the asparagus and with the leftovers from lunch we had plenty to eat.  Here Chris is preparing the asparagus. . . .

You can see by our faces we are really enjoying ourselves. . . .

We each got a quarter of a sandwich, a few french fries and fried okra to complement the asparagus. . . .

That evening Cindy showed us how to make necklaces from broken pieces of tea cups with flower motifs. . . .

(1) Cindy had broken the discarded tea cups into pieces and sanded the rough edges (2) Here she is cutting through the back side of silver plumber's tape to cover the edges (3)  She applies the tape to the edge (4) Then burnishes it with a plastic spoon to smooth the edges.  She used an exacto knife to remove some of the tape if it overlaped too much.  The last step was to glue on the piece that the chain is threaded through.

Ta-da!

The next morning before breakfast we sat on the front porch with our coffee and watched the birds. . . .

Chris soft boiled our eggs. . . .

We had a few pieces of asparagus left over. . . .

Then it was back on the front porch to watch the wildlife some more. . . .

We left a little early so that we could stop by a nursery to look for plants for Edie's garden, then went on to Heathsville for the house and garden tour.  Our first stop was Westlawn.  The weather was threatening but the little bit of rain we woke up to had left the area. . . .

Westlawn was built c. 1932 and added on to by the current owners when they bought it in 2012.  There is a second smaller house on the property built in 1965 that the owner uses as his office and to house his collection of Civil War books and artifacts.  Both houses were filled with 18th and 19th century antiques. . . .

Throughout the house and outside were the flower arrangements put together by the Northumberland Garden Club. . . .

We saw many huge trees on the tour.  This one is a Deodar Cedar. . . .

There were several nooks with interesting flowering bushes. . . .

A Garden Club arrangement in the pool area. . . .

This tree was in the back yard. . . .

Westlawn was on the edge of town so we got back in the car and drove into Heathsville.  Rice's Hotel dates back to c. 1795.  Here we browsed the gift shop and then walked through the several rooms of re-enacters working on colonial-era crafts. . . .

We were able to walk to all but one of the remaining houses on the tour.  As we passed by the Old Jail (built in 1839 and used till 1958) we stopped in to hear what the penal system was like in the 1800s.  Then we found our way to St. Stephen's Episcopal church's fellowship hall where our lunch was waiting for us. . . .

We'd pre-ordered our lunch of turkey sandwich with cherry cranberry chutney, quinoa black bean salad, fresh fruit, decadent brownie, and iced tea.  St. Francis stood at the entrance welcoming us.  We shared the table with three other ladies who lived in the area and told us a bit of the history surrounding the town and the steamboats that plied the waters up until the 1930's. . . .

Next on the tour was Chicacoan Cottage.  Built in 1790 it was one of two houses for the overseers of Springfield Plantation, owned by John Heath who was one of the seven commissioners who established Heathsville. The first time it was privately sold was 1891.  The current owners, who did extensive landscaping, bought it only just a year ago.  They also moved the English basement kitchen upstairs to the main floor. . .

photo credit:  realtor website

The twin house, The Academy, was restored in the 1990s, but the owners elected to leave the dormers that had been added earlier.  They live full-time elsewhere but maintain the house as a repository for their many antiques. . . .

A quick stop at the St. Stephen's Thirft Shop, then on to the next house, Oakley.  Built in the late 18th century by John Hughlett, of Hughlett's Tavern, the house has been added onto through the years.  It still has the original pegged random width flooring and woodwork. . .

One of the outbuildings on the property. . . .

We had to drive to the last house on the tour.  Roanoke is located just west of town on 600 acres.  The first section (the first two windows closest to you) dates to c. 1765.  It was four rooms with four separate entrances.  The middle section with the covered porch was built in the 1800s and later joined to the older section.  You will see in a later photo that another section was added on ten years ago on the other side of the house.  The same family has lived in the house since 1852. . . . 

This is an outbuilding next to the house that was moved over a bit so that the new wing could be added. . . .

The interior is quite cozy. . . .

It even has a loft. . . .

You can see the newest addition on the right. . . .

This is the view from the back yard. . . .

It was now 4:45 so we headed back to the River House to rest a bit before we set out for Merroir Restaurant situated along Locklies Creek overlooking the Rappahannock. . . .

Edie told us about their first time there....They'd eaten their dinner in the outside dining area as the sun was setting and the super moon was rising.  She didn't think it could be more perfect until she saw several dolphins near the shore.  We'd saved the dining out for this night so we could eat outside overlooking the river but it had grown colder.  But that wasn't a deterrent.  We just wrapped up in the blankets provided by the restaurant. . . .

Some of the dishes we had. . . .

We debated whether to have dessert but then ice cream was mentioned, so we elected to stop along the way back to the River House.  But first we had to walk out onto the pier to search for dolphins.  No such luck, but we did see the setting sun paint the sky with shades of lavender and rose behind the small islands in the river. . . .

Then as we crossed over the bridge to Northern Neck we were treated with a beautiful sunset. . . .

Back at the house Edie got out her Bananas word game.  It is much like scrabble but without the board. . . .

Chris used some of her letters to spell out JOY--very fitting for a Take Joy Society get-together. . . .

The next morning we enjoyed another breakfast by Chris of soft-boiled eggs and crumpets. . . .

We helped Edie plant the flowers we got for her at our nursery stop the day before. . . .

Then she took us on a walk down the path through the woods that led to the pool and the kayak dock. . . .

We walked down to the water through the marshy area.  The creek is tidal and when the tide is out it is "mud flats" as Edie calls it. . . .

It is high tide when we are there.  Edie's house is behind the trees in the middle of the photo. . . .

We walked back through the woods stopping to admire the flora. . . .

You can go HERE to download a more complete description of the houses.

Thank you Edie for hosting our stay in Northern Neck, Chris for providing the breakfasts, Cindy for providing the materials and instructions for our craft, and Carol for providing our tea and snacks even though you couldn't be with us! 

❤️Take Joy❤️