Not only buildings but also the grounds and landscape bring us back to the past. Join the MHC Historical Society on March 15 as Debbie Lewis, a former Garden Club of Virginia (GCV) president, talks about historic gardens.

The MHC Heritage Museum is the site of one of the GCV’s 41 historic landscape restoration sites. The grounds, of the former Henry County Courthouse, were transformed into a tree-lined plaza perfect for outdoor events and as a gathering spot which follows the tradition of Martinsville’s Public Square. The restoration was overseen by Landscape Architect William D. Rieley in 2012.

In all, the GCV has completed 129 restorations at 52 different public spaces in the Commonwealth (see https://gcvirginia.org/our-work/landscape-restoration/restoration-projects/). These are the landscapes you know and love — Monticello, Montpelier, Poplar Forest, Executive Mansion Capitol Square, Mount Vernon, major universities and more. Funds for the restorations come from Historic Garden Week, which in Martinsville will be observed on April 22.

Lewis and her husband, Dr. Ben Lewis, live in the house built by Dan and Claire “Sis” Greene of the Globman family, 9 Dan-Lee Terrace, which is open for this year’s Historic Garden Week tour. That property was one of the three original Globman properties on the road which all were landscaped under one plan by Landscape Architect and Planning Consultant Hugh Harris of Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1954.

Everyone who attends this program will receive free perennial plants and/or bulbs for their own gardens because, of course, gardeners love to share and spread the beauty!