Ballantyne Magazine covers news, events, real estate, restaurants, shopping, health, schools and business in the upscale Ballantyne Area of Charlotte, NC.
Issue link: https://ballantynemagazine.epubxp.com/i/467929
BALLANTYNE | escape D RIFTS OF DAFFODILS AND MASSES OF PINK AZALEAS SURFACING across Virginia's landscape signal the arrival of Historic Garden Week. Every April the Garden Club of Virginia stages this eight-day, statewide event with 32 tours featuring 200 spectacular homes, horse farms, plantations and their unforgettable gardens. Known as "America's Largest Open House," Historic Garden Week ranks with England's Chelsea Garden Show and the Tulip Festival in Holland — and this garden extravaganza is only a half-day drive north of Ballantyne. Now in its 82nd year, Historic Garden Week takes place Saturday, April 18, through Saturday, April 25, and typically lures 30,000 people, many of whom consider this pilgrimage an annual rite of spring. "I get amazing calls from all over the world," says Karen Cauthen Miller, director of Historic Garden Week. "The people who come are incredibly loyal, returning year after year, often from very far away." Tour proceeds, totaling $17 million to date, fund the nonproft organization's mission of restoration and preservation of Virginia's historic gardens. Today, nearly 50 active Garden Club of Virginia restoration projects are underway. Home Base Charlottesville is an ideal home base for Historic Garden Week because of its central location. Prestigious lodgings include Keswick Hall, a 1912 Italianate mansion on 600 acres; the Clifton Inn, member of Relais & Chateaux; and Boars Head Inn, a Charlottesville landmark. Top-notch 'America's Largest Celebrate Spring at Virginia's Historic Garden Week April 18-25 t t n Open House' By Nan Bauroth 80 BALLANTYNE MAGAZINE SPRING 2015