One of the most difficult things for me as I travel is to gain access to Civil War sites that are on private property or that are preserved but not open to the public. They form the majority of places on my bucket list. These are often properties that served as hospitals, headquarters, camp grounds, earthworks and in some cases parts of battlefields. One way I do this is to look at the variety of self guided tours available each year during Virginia Historic Garden Week.

Every year the Garden Club of Virginia runs Historic Garden Week. This year it’s from April 26 to May 3. To paraphrase their brochure- For one week each spring, visitors can tour inspired private landscapes, public gardens and historic sites across Virginia, enjoying our beautiful state at the peak of spring. In addition, more than 1,000 world-class floral arrangements created by Garden Club of Virginia members will enhance tour properties. This beloved statewide event will include unique tours organized and hosted by 48 member clubs located from the foothills of the Shenandoah Valley all the way to the beaches of Tidewater.

I am not a gardener but the part of their description above that appeals to me is the “touring private landscapes” and “historic sites”. Often several of the sites have relevance to the Civil War. This is the link to this year’s guide book with images below of sites with Civil War relevance on some of those tours. This post covers two tours one in Front Royal that includes Riverside and the other in Staunton and Mount Sidney that includes Belvidere Farm. This post is open for comments if anyone would like to add information about either of these sites.

Riverside– Stonewall Jackson stopped here during the Battle of Front Royal and wrote a note to Belle Boyd thanking her for the information she provided regarding Union forces prior to the battle. Sheridan also visited the home during the 1864 Valley Campaign (link to the National Historic Register application). The information from the NHR below states Jackson spent the night here, this conflicts with information from Jedediah Hotchkiss that he spent the night on the battlefield near Fairview.

From the NHR application  files- Riverside was the scene of constant activity during the Civil War. General “Stonewall” Jackson occupied Riverside the night of the battle of Front Royal, May 24, 1862. Union General Philip Sheridan stayed at Riverside twice in 1864. A trap door to a sub-basement where the family hid valuables is intact in a first-floor closet. Letitia Blakemore was the mother-in-law of Major James R. Richards and came to live at Riverside in the late 1850s. She kept a detailed diary from 1859-1865 that is now in the possession of Riverside’s current owner, Mrs. John A. Wilson. The diary is a rich and invaluable record of daily life before, during, and after the Civil War. It is also particularly important in that it documents the conditions at Riverside during the Civil War. The May 24, 1862, entry describes activities at the house and verifies that Jackson spent the night at Riverside: Last night the soldiers were coming in town til 12 o’clock and such shouting and cheering I never heard before. I did not close my eyes with sleep the whole night. Our men have been bringing in prisoners all day. They have a great many. Mr. Richards has five wounded men at the house and a house full of well ones. General Jackson, Colonel Ashby, several officers and several relatives with Bet’s boys spent last night.” General Sheridan also stayed at Riverside in October of 1864. Letitia’s diary describes his visit: October 11- Last night General Sheridan and aids came to supper and lodge. He has been very kind and promised Bet everything she asked, cows and bacon and Rush’s release. October 16- Generals Sheridan and Torbert with their staff and other officers came in last night, had their supper taken in the dining room and all sat in the parlor. Sheridan and staff lodged in the rooms, Torbert had 3 tents.

A second tour shown below involves Belvidere Farm– from the Farm’s website- “A 65-acre working farm, historic Belvidere is situated on the battlefield where the Battle of Piedmont was fought in 1864 during the Civil War. It was occupied by both sides during the battle and served as both a Confederate field hospital, and as a headquarters for the Union commander during the battle, with hundreds of Union troops bivouacked in the front yard. The local Staunton, Virginia archives record that 2nd Lieutenant William McKinley, later President of the United States, took a bribe to spare the barn from pillage during the Shenandoah Valley Campaign. The McCue family founded the farm in the 1830s and lived there for five generations until it was purchased in 2009 by the Meyer Family and lovingly restored.” The farm lies to the west and on the other side of the Middle River from the main battlefield. I have not been able, as of yet, to verify the information above.

In the next post on Garden Week I’ll talk about the tour in New Kent County where one of the sites served as a camp for the Army of the Potomac during the Peninsula Campaign.