After 83 years managing the historic Charles Gillette designed gardens at the Westmoreland County Museum, the Westmoreland Garden Club has formally disbanded. Today, the last two members of the organization presented the museum with the final money in their treasury: a check for $5,623.61 for upkeep of the President's Garden.
Linda Boatman, Acting President, and Secretary; and Carol Rauh, Treasurer, met with the board and staff of the Westmoreland County Museum (WCM) on Wednesday, Nov. 13 to present the remaining funds. WCM chair Anne Garner received the check and thanked the Westmoreland Garden Club for their years of service creating and maintaining the President’s Garden for the public to enjoy.
(left to right) Carol Rauh, Treasurer and Linda Boatman, Acting President and Secretary, the Westmoreland Garden Club, disbanded the organization Nov. 13, 2024, and donated the remaining funds in their treasury to the Westmoreland County Museum. The donation will be known as The Westmoreland Garden Club- Charles F. Gillette Presidents Garden Preservation Donation.
"Sadly, the Westmoreland Garden Club (WGC) has been compelled by circumstances beyond our control to officially disband. The remaining officers of the WGC have completed the disbanding process with the National Federation of Garden Clubs, of which the WGC is a subsidiary." Boatman and Rauh wrote in their letter to the WCM, dated Nov. 13, 2024.
When first created, the garden won national acclaim for the unique design and theme of the garden. In 1943, the National Garden Club awarded the WCM an award of merit for the President's Garden.
The Old Dominion Gardener magazine, Volume 40, Number, Spring 2009, published excerpts of the garden’s history, as shared by Joyce P. Hobbs in a talk to the Friends of the Westmoreland County Museum and Library.
“The Westmoreland County Museum and Library is believed to be the oldest museum in the Northern Neck, originally built to house Charles Willson Peale’s 1768 portrait of William Pitt, the Parliamentarian largely responsible for the repeal of the Stamp Act. Although several sources were used, a significant portion of Joyce’s information came from garden club minutes dating to 1933....
“In 1933, five women of Montross succeeded in getting community support and collecting money to build a museum to house a legacy of books and a portrait of William Pitt, the Earl of Chatham. The State and County also helped in this expense, but funds were insufficient to allow the basement to be finished. A Westmoreland Garden Club Member, Mrs. H.W.B. Williams, supplied an interest-free loan to the Garden Club and the Women’s Club. This loan supplied $460 and provided the cost for concrete and painting the walls of the basement.”
“In January 1941, presiding garden club president, Mrs. Thomas Lomax Hunter, wife of the Poet Laureate of Virginia commented that, “Here in this fine new building, with lovely interior, part of it under the supervision of the Garden Club, we are surrounded by a clay bank, tin cans, and rubble. The work of the club is clearly cut out for it.” Although the building had been completed, the grounds needed work. Subsequent meetings would see additional land obtained from the county which allowed development of “The Virginia Presidents’ Garden- A Shrine to the Presidents Born in Virginia.”
“In February 1942, Mrs. Henry Mason, garden club committee chair, and Mrs. Hunter, club president, went before the Virginia Assembly Senate Appropriations Committee to request $5,000 for the Presidents’ Garden. The committee voted to give the club $3,000. In 1944, they voted to give the club an additional $3,000. Monies were also gathered through fund raisers including the selling of kitchen mittens, plants, and other items at Stratford Hall during Historic Garden Week.”
“With monies now available, Westmoreland Garden Club accepted Richmond landscape architect Charles Gillette’s plan for the garden which incorporated a brick wall surrounding the garden. Plantings included 100 boxwoods donated by John Ratcliffe, a Richmond florist and 100 hollies donated by Mr. Gresham. Garden club members provided additional plants including boxwood cuttings taken from shrubs at Ashlawn. Busts of Washington, Monroe, and Madison, created by sculptor Attilio Piccirelli, were placed in the garden, and in the center of the garden is a sundial with the names of all eight Virginia-born presidents.”
“In 1943, the National Garden Club presented Westmoreland Garden Club an Award of Merit for their outstanding work in creating the Presidents’ Garden. The is among the few surviving examples of works created by the combined talents of a great landscape architect and a great sculptor and supported and encouraged by the Westmoreland Garden Club.”
Restoration work has begun on the garden, with a committed team of volunteers cleaning, pruning, and working in the garden. The museum is working to secure funding to restore the museum building and grounds.