For Immediate Release: March 13, 2007
GARI MELCHERS HOME AND STUDIO TO OFFER GARDEN AND WOODLAND WALK
Fredericksburg, Va. – Gari Melchers Home and Studio is offering a garden and woodland walk on Sunday, March 25, from 10 a.m. to noon. The event is open to the public without charge.
Grounds Preservation Supervisor Beate Jensen will lead the spring walk through Belmont’s gardens and woodlands. Visitors will see the early blooms that herald the season, including the flowering trees and shrubs that fill the gardens with the colors and scents of spring.
The ongoing restoration work of the grounds will be featured as the tour winds through the gardens and into the grove below the summer house. From there, Jensen will take the group through the newly created woodland path. These woods house historic ruins that illustrate Belmont’s past. Discussion will center on the evolution of the woods from pasture to wilderness to ecological balance.
Participants will cover some rough terrain and traverse wet areas, so appropriate shoes are suggested. To register, contact Beate Jensen at (540) 654-1839 or bjensen@umw.edu.
Gari Melchers Home and Studio at Belmont is a 26-acre estate and former residence of the American figure painter Gari Melchers and his wife Corinne. The property, which is part of the University of Mary Washington, is both a Virginia Historic Landmark and a National Historic Landmark. Located at 224 Washington St. in Falmouth, Va., a quarter mile west of the intersection of U.S. 1 and U.S. 17, it is open daily with an admission charge. For more information, call the museum at (540) 654-1015 or visit www.GariMelchers.org.
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