Once again it’s that sweet time of year when the annual Lewisburg Home and Garden Tour opens to the public some of the area’s most beautiful homes and gardens. Mark your calendar for June 13 and 14 to view the five homes on this year’s Tour schedule. Come take in the amazing long range vistas from homes situated at the tops of mountains and feast on the well-appointed homes in Historic Lewisburg. Gardens will feature gazebos and arbors as well as garden vignettes that adorn decks. Take the time to walk through these beautiful gardens that are only open to the public during this Tour.
Additionally, on Friday evening, June 13, the public is invited to attend a wonderful presentation on WV’s Botanic Garden in Morgantown, hosted by Dr. George W. Longenecker, the Botanic Garden director. This event will be held at Carnegie Hall.
Friday evening at 6 p.m. a reception in the Board Room of Carnegie Hall will be held to meet Dr. Longenecker. Refreshments of light hors d’oeuvres and beverages will be on hand. At 7 p.m., Dr. Longenecker will treat the attendees to an insightful view of the vision that has begun on an 82-acre site in Monongalia County. Check out their site at: wvbg.org but plan to get the newest insights at this event. Tickets for the two day event available at the door of Carnegie Hall, or if you’d like to just enjoy the presentation, there is a $5 admission for the evening.
Tickets for the two day event are $25 in advance or $30 on Saturday and are available now from any Garden Club member and may also be purchased at the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau in Downtown Lewisburg. On Saturday, tickets will also be available at the General Lewis Inn as well as at each of the Tour Sites.
Make a day of it and enjoy complimentary Tea and Cookies to be served at the General Lewis Inn in Downtown Lewisburg from 2 to 5 p.m. The Tour tickets also entitles participants to 10 percent off at Stella’s, the Livery Tavern or The Front Porch.
A description of the Homes and Gardens on view this year are as follows: Cottage Belle Home and Gardens
The Gardens at Cottage Belle are a unique collection of “garden rooms, sculpture, gathering areas and exterior space” 20 years in the making, by the owners and landscape designer, Josh Polan.
Entering from Washington Street, there are steps that rise to a “formal receiving room” where the turf is a reservoir which flows through a narrow passage of stone walk to a “gazebo/Juliet balcony/cottage garden room,” and then again narrows to the lowest space, an oblique turf pond terminated by a raised stone cutting bed and copper faced shed backed by a grove of bamboo. Large perimeter trees, herbaceous beds and perennials on a small lot complete a very personal and intense collection. Views through the garden back to the cottage are cleverly composed with complementing architectural elements – a trellis amongst African sculpture, leading up to a side room with a fire table on a flagstone terrace, and defined on the east by a green barrier to busy Holt Lane.
Cottage Belle is a two-bedroom cottage with an “in the garden” atmosphere, eclectic art, architectural lighting, seasonal cool slipcovers, simple accessories and careful color to enhance the summer season. Cottage Belle – with its original portion constructed in 1922, and believed to have been purchased from a Sears Roebuck catalog, is a cheery home enhanced with skylights, French doors and bare windows to show off the outside gardens. The home was redesigned and refurbished in 1991 to be a simple cottage within a sensuous garden and furnished for the everyday living of two adults and brief family gatherings of eight to ten. Color, Quality, Casual.
The Gaujot House
This all-brick custom designed home, built by McCoy Builders in 2005, is traditional, yet casual. The five-bedroom and four and one-half-bath home is enhanced with a beautiful front porch for relaxing on a summer’s day.
Located in the prestigious Greenbrier Pines Subdivision, the home’s main level offers comfortable and casual living. Its open floor plan is augmented with unique architectural designs, high ceilings and arched windows that showcase a stunning art collection. The collection includes works of art by Lynn Boggess, Max Hayslette, Pamela Gatens, Jessica Roczniak Grist, and Alan Anderson’s jeweled Christmas tree collection.
The open floor plan continues throughout the home with window and floor bays located in the kitchen and the master bedroom, and the basement’s great room and office, providing lovely views of nature. The lower level is a full-finished basement with a large recreation room, an exercise room, two bedrooms and a bath. One bedroom is also used as an office. A beautiful view of the wooded area in the back of the home can be enjoyed from the recreation room and the office, as well as from the deck or the stone patio on the lower level.
Harmony Hill
Situated near the top of White Rock Mountain in the Greenbrier State Forest, Harmony Hill commands a stunning view of the Allegheny Mountains. The 6,000-square foot home was designed by its owner and built from yellow pine logs. It is one of the homes in the 4,000-acre Overlook at Greenbrier that includes unspoiled woodlands, mountain streams and waterfalls. From the wrap around porch, visitors will have a memorable view of the surrounding mountains and the Greenbrier Valley.
A stone fountain built of Greenbrier River stone sits at the front entrance of the house. The gardens incorporate various styles of color theory where one will find several fountains, gazing globes, a collection of bird houses, and natural root sculpture. A walkway of sandstone, some of which are heart-shaped, inter-spaced with stone patios beckons a casual walk through the landscape.
After entering the house, guests will be amazed with the great room as they look up at the 26-foot Greek-cross-structured-ceiling with supporting posts of cedar tree trunks. The home is furnished with fixtures and furniture handcrafted by artisans from throughout the world. Of particular interest will be an antique mirror collection and many family heirlooms.
The Garden at Marfield
The Garden at Marfield is a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat. It was designed by the owners with hand-crafted gazebos, storage buildings, swing arbors and a collection of over 50 named Japanese maples, as well as other distinctive trees and shrubs. The Garden features authentic art pieces and two hand-dug ponds with a connecting 50-foot stream.
When the Marfield was purchased in 1971, the back garden was a horse pasture and the perimeter was a mass of greenbriers, barbed wire, poison ivy and locust trees. The owners not only cleared the property themselves, but also designed and constructed the Garden, and continue to maintain it.
The Garden at Marfield was invited to be a part of a special tour of Lewisburg gardens in 2007, at the request of internationally known perennial specialist, Andre Viette, from Fishersville, VA. The unique garden has been featured several times on the Lewisburg Home and Garden Tour, but not since 2002. After 43 years, the Garden continues to be a work in progress, making it exquisitely beautiful year after year.
The Mourges Home
This contemporary log home is nestled in the Allegheny Mountains and overlooks The Greenbrier Resort. Surrounded by hardwood and evergreen forests, this rustic house of 14-inch round logs, blends naturally into its setting. The lofty stone porch is built of Muddy Creek Mountain sandstone.
Inside, visitors will find furniture made of reclaimed lumber and a floor of wormy chestnut from trees that may have populated the surrounding mountains before chestnut trees were lost to a blight that began in the early 1900s.
The Spencer Garden
The Spencer garden is designed in raised vegetable beds with crushed pebble paths and herbaceous perennial beds on each side of the backyard. The spruce trees and yews outline the property and give the feeling of a large outdoor room. Garden plants and shrubbery have been purchased from Blue Ridge Farms (Williamsburg), Riverbend Nursery (Caldwell), Milmont Greenhouses (Waynesboro, VA), etc. Josh Polan, owner of Riverbend Nursery, assisted in the design of the gardens.
The Spencer Garden was established in 1992, and has been carefully nurtured by the owners ever since. New shrubbery and perennials are added when needed. The owners place emphasis on creating an array of color by having a selection of perennials blooming throughout the growing season.
The Vass House
Designed by local architect, Ed Roach, the Vass House was built by the Main Street Building Group that is well known for the many homes they have built at The Greenbrier Sporting Club. It is located in wooded Greenbrier Pines, Lewisburg’s newest residential development. The one-story house was influenced by the design of The Greenbrier Hotel cottages. Situated on two acres, the lot has been professionally landscaped by Josh Polan of Riverbend Nursery.
The interior of the house was decorated by Leisa Campbell and the owners. The living area and kitchen are open allowing contact between guests and the owners as they work in the kitchen. Visitors will want to rest a spell on the back porch that overlooks a small lake that was envisioned by the owners.
