Fairfax Historic Garden Week Tour

Discover over two centuries of history on this driving tour in Fairfax. One countryside home features a restored log cabin on its landscaped grounds, adding charm to the modern amenities of this estate. Certified as an Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary, a second home attracts an abundance of birds with its verdant gardens. Visit the oldest home in Fairfax City, which was donated for preservation by Kitty Pozer, a founder of The Garden Club of Fairfax, as well as Historic Blenheim and Civil War Interpretive Center. Enjoy the exquisite floral arrangements designed by club members showcased in each home. What a great way to spend a Spring Day…and get lots of ideas!

The Garden Club of Virginia celebrated its centennial in 2020. As part of the Garden Club of Virginia’s 89th Historic Garden Week, the tour will be one of 29 statewide tours held April 23-30, 2022, featuring some of Virginia's most picturesque gardens and private homes. Historic Garden Week is the nation’s only statewide home and garden tour and is touted as "America's Largest Open House." Proceeds from this celebrated event fund the restoration and preservation of more than 50 of Virginia’s historic public gardens and landscapes and more. Iconic landmarks such as Mount Vernon and the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library, and Green Spring Gardens locally, have been restored to their original splendor due to the hard work of thousands of volunteers, the generosity of countless home and garden owners, and visitors from around the world who enjoy the tours each year. For 89 years, Historic Garden Week tours have contributed to both Virginia and regional economies as well.

For more information about our Fairfax Tour, and to buy tickets online, go to www.vagardenweek.org . Tickets are $40 and may be purchased in advance on-line at www.vagardenweek.org/tickets/ . Go to www.vagardenweek.org for information on all the exciting Historic Garden Week tours statewide. Masks will be required indoors. Tickets will also be available on the day of the tour for cash or check.

Questions? e-mail fairfax@vagardenweek.org .

Tickets include entrance to two private houses and their gardens, an historic cabin and two historic homes, one with an in town public garden.

Important Information: Our tour is a self-driven tour with much walking, stairs and uneven surfaces. Sensible shoes are very important. We regret that tour houses are not wheelchair accessible. Strollers are not allowed inside the tour houses. Houses may be viewed in any order. Please refrain from using cell phones, wearing high or sharp heels or taking photographs inside tour homes. Children under 17 must be accompanied by an adult at all times. Participating homeowners, volunteers of the Garden Club of Virginia and the Garden Club of Fairfax are not responsible to accidents occurring on the tour. Masks are required for indoor visits.

Taraworth - 11035 Brookline Drive, Fairfax VA 22030

At the end of a quiet cul-de-sac, this Southern Colonial brick home built in 1966 on 2.4 acres is bordered by the Country Club of Fairfax golf course and the East Fork of Popes Head Creek. The house, decorated in an English country style, has extensive custom millwork, and retains much of its original design. A brick pathway leads from the street through the front garden to a two-story covered front porch spanning the entire length of the home. The front porch has views of the golf course, a small fruit orchard, and the expansive front gardens including a large fountain. Visitors are welcomed into the green foyer, which boasts the original checkerboard marble floor, a large art deco walnut bar and an 1860s French bronze. The spacious living room boasts three seating groupings, crystal chandeliers, a marble fireplace, walls of Monticello yellow, and paintings by the homeowner. The sapphire blue dining room features raised paneling and custom built-in cabinets original to the house, and an antique mirrored silver plateau on a mahogany American empire dining table. The colonial inspired kitchen and laundry have cherry cabinets, leathered granite countertops, copper accents, and herringbone brick pattern floors matching the antique brick accent walls. The breakfast room showcases a chestnut bibliothèque from Québec. The property is a certified Audubon at Home Wildlife Sanctuary and has a stream, two freshwater springs and an amphibian pond. The rear of the property is wooded with mature trees. Inviting pathways lead to a dining area, a “secret garden” with colorful glass orbs, and a clearing with a metal gazebo housing a statue.

Mulberry Manor - Access by shuttle only. Parking for shuttle at 5635 Revercomb Court, Fairfax, VA 22030

This Colonial home on 12 acres was built in 1988. Additions by the homeowners make the home distinctly contemporary, with an open floor plan and walls of windows overlooking backyard koi ponds with three waterfalls and a footbridge. Flooring throughout the home is reclaimed random-plank heart pine. Art collections include four bronze statues, five original Mucha lithographs and a pastel obtained at auction from Clyde’s, where the homeowners met. An entire bedroom suite and office are custom-built of wild black cherry from West Virginia. A back-lit, stained-glass panel in the piano room is from an old English abbey. A host of other antiques and contemporary items are artfully blended throughout the house. The kitchen is a large functional space with state-of-the-art amenities and rustic touches such as reclaimed ceiling beams and wood posts, an oven surround of Civil War-era brick from Baltimore, two hammered-copper sinks and counters of polished granite, honed granite and poured concrete. Outdoor rooms and garden areas include a cottage garden, shade gardens, a vegetable garden, a “Peaceful Garden” with a Celtic cross-shaped walking path, a firepit, two brick patios with dining areas, a sport court, a pool and pool house, a pond and a newly acquired historic barn. A pre-Revolutionary War-era cabin behind the main house was used as a hunting cabin by Lawrence Washington, half-brother to George Washington. The renovated cabin has a living-dining area with a stone fireplace. A narrow staircase leads to the upstairs bedroom and bath with all-natural wood floors, walls and ceiling.

Historic Blenheim and the Civil War Interpretive Center - 3610 Old Lee Highway, Fairfax, VA 22030

Historic Blenheim is a c.1859 central-hall plan Greek Revival-style brick farmhouse built by Albert Willcoxon just prior to the Civil War. It is nationally significant for the voluminous quantity and quality of Civil War inscriptions. More than 122 signatures, pictographs, games, and thoughts were left on the house walls by Union soldiers during their occupation of the Fairfax Court House area in 1862-63. This "diary on walls" provides insight into the life of a typical soldier and the effect of this war on local residents--such as the Willcoxon family--and free and enslaved people of African descent. In the Civil War Interpretive Gallery, wall inscriptions and pictographs from the house are reproduced with full-scaled photographs in the replica attic. The gallery also includes an illustrated timeline of Civil War events, artifacts that interpret the everyday soldier, biographies of several of the wall signers, and temporary displays. Open 10:00 a.m.– 3:00 p.m. Restrooms available. https://www.fairfaxva.gov/government/historic-resources/historic-blenheim

The Ratcliffe-Allison-Pozer House - 10386 Main St, Fairfax, VA 22030

The Ratcliffe-Allison-Pozer House was built in 1812 by Richard Ratcliffe, the City's founder and expanded by 1824 by the Allison family. This charming brick house is the City's oldest residence within what was the original six-block Town of Providence. The daily activities of some of its 12 owners and occupants are interpreted for visitors, illustrating commercial and domestic change along Main Street during the 19th and 20th centuries. The last two owners were Kate Waller Barrett, a prominent social reformer, and her daughter, Kitty Pozer, the first gardening columnist for the Washington Post as well as writer for other gardening magazines. Following her mother's death, Kitty purchased the house with her husband, Charles Pozer. Kitty deeded the house to the city in 1973. Following her death in 1981, the City purchased her extensive property that extended to North Street to create the Kitty Pozer Garden, a passive park showcasing Kitty’s gardening tastes intertwined with meandering pathways and benches beneath a tall tree cover. Kitty Pozer was one of the founders of the Garden Club of Fairfax and an officer in the Garden Club of Virginia. Open 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. www.fairfaxva.gov/government/historic-resources/ratcliffe-allison-pozer-house