The MHC Heritage Museum at 1 E. Main St. is the tour headquarters for Historic Garden Week on Wednesday, April 22. The three houses that will be open for tours are 928 Mulberry Road, home of Dr. James Julian; 1 Dan-Lee Terrace, home of Dr. Andrew and Mrs. Anna Gehrken; and 9 Dan-Lee Terrace, home of Dr. Benton and Mrs. Debra Lewis.
Help is needed at the museum to welcome visitors. It’s a simple matter of asking people to sign the guest book, or handing out papers, or pointing out the elevators. You can do it sitting or standing. Spend two hours volunteering, and also enjoy tours of the three houses on the tour with a complementary ticket. For more information, email MHC Heritage Museum director Holly Kozelsky at 276-201-4697, or call the museum at 276-403-5361.
The Tour
A shuttle bus provided by King’s Grant will drive visitors to and from the museum headquarters and the houses; parking is across from the museum in the Broad Street parking lot. Another shuttle stationed at Dan-Lee Terrace will drive visitors up and down the sloped driveways. Tour-goers also may park along Mulberry Road and Dan-Lee Terrace.
The tour will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 22. Tickets to the tour cost $25 and are available at the MHC Heritage Museum and also online at https://gcvirginia.org/historic-garden-week/tickets/. Day-of-tour tickets will cost $35. (Tickets are free for those who volunteer for 2 hours at the tour headquarters.)
Once home to the country’s wealthiest residents per capita, Martinsville enjoyed prominence in the mid-1900s as a leader in fashion and industry. The houses and gardens showcased on this year’s tour include representatives from the town’s glory days, including the homes of former Globman’s proprietors on Dan-Lee Terrace and the Fagg’s drugstore owner on Mulberry Road.
The Tour Headquarters
A special exhibit and activities in the MHC Heritage Museum highlight the history of those houses and their owners, who played significant roles in the development of Martinsville’s business district and civic improvements. The exhibit, “A History of Setting Style,” shows the tricks and techniques behind formal table settings and flower arranging. It also lists the multitude of women’s social and civic organizations in Martinsville-Henry County during the mid-1900s and has other highlights from that time period.
Tour ticket-holders will receive free admission to the museum, which they may tour. There, they also will be able to create flower arrangements to keep, and they will receive information on how to create flower arrangements and formal table settings. Vendors, including for arts, crafts, native plants and food, will be set up at the museum.
