Gari Melchers Home and Studio at Belmont will offer daily “Holidays with the Melchers” guided tours of the 1790s historic house from Monday, December 10 through Wednesday, January 2. The museum is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. Tours run on the hour, starting at 10:30 a.m., and are included in the regular admission price of $10 for adults, $9 for seniors and $5 for students.
Docents will recount how American artist Gari Melchers and his wife, Corinne, spent the holiday season at Belmont in the 1920s and ’30s using excerpts from diaries, letters and archival photographs, her personal recipes, oral histories and other research material. Interior house decorations designed and installed by K2 Designs and exterior fresh decorations by the Town and Country Garden Club will set the holiday scene. Visitors also will be able to view the special exhibition, “J.C. Leyendecker: America’s ‘Other’ Illustrator” in the studio gallery.
Gari Melchers Home and Studio is a 26-acre estate and former residence of the artist Gari Melchers and his wife Corinne. The property, which is operated by the University of Mary Washington, is both a Virginia Historic Landmark and a National Historic Landmark. Located at 224 Washington St. in Falmouth, a quarter mile west of the intersection of U.S. 1 and U.S. 17, it is open daily with an admission charge. The museum also serves as the official Stafford County Visitor Center.
For directions and other information, call (540) 654-1015 or visit the museum Web site at www.GariMelchers.org.