1850’s Farmhouse Frontier Culture Museum Staunton Virginia

By 1850, the Mid-Atlantic states were well connected with roads and transportation being easily accessible. Farmers could trade their goods with states to the north and south. Most farmers grew wheat and tobacco which were in high demand.

Crafting was still going on but not so much a necessity any more. Travel and trade allowed some people to become specialized in their area of expertise. Early settlers had to know how to provide for every need in life. The 1850 farmers and homeowners could share and make money from the goods they chose to trade or sell.

Newspapers and books were more readily available. Most families were now embracing the new culture and abandoning homeland practices. Families had married outside their culture and a new American way of life was being integrated.

Around this time, good farming practices became constant. Guano was used to fertilize the soil and crop rotation was common. Machinery took over a landscape once trodden by horses and oxen. Agriculture societies set about educating farmers by supplying pamphlets and material on better soil management.

The large cooking fireplace was replaced with a cast iron cook stove much to the delight of the housewife. Canned and processed foods made an appearance and along came the prepackaged medicines. Grooming products began to make life sweeter.

When the big rush of settlers went west, many were Virginians who knew how to break the land and carried that pioneer spirit that tamed the West. Then gold was discovered in 1849 which drove men to leave their families and search for easier financial futures.

Families would follow when the money started coming in—-but for some the money never came and all fell to ruin. Some men passed their lives quietly in California as their family maintained as best they could the farms back East.

Families who chose to continue farming in the East would spend most of their extra income on buying new land and expanding the farm. 23% of the population in Virginia were slaves. Slave freedom would not be seen until the mid 1860’s. This region would see the war between the states in just 10 years.

When the Civil War arrived, many of the farms were looted and robbed of their surplus so the troops could be fed. Some of the farms became battlefields and others would see their men go off to fight and never return.

Many of these beautiful farms still stand today and one of them is reconstructed at The Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton Virginia. The pictures today are from my recent visit to the area.

Now let’s tour Jefferson’s Monticello Flower Walk

Thomas Jefferson built a grand manor which he named Monticello which means hillock or little mountain in Italian. It was the mountain of his youth and he had inherited it from his father. There is a larger mountain, Montalto or high mountain,just beyond and above the estate.

Jefferson had ornamental and useful plants. We’ll talk about his vegetable garden and orchards in another post. His flower beds lined the perimeter of his front lawn. He had visited English gardens in the late 1700’s and was inspired by their nonconforming appearance. He liked the winding paths and flowing nature which invited you to continue on exploring the blooms in season.

He used his flower beds as a botanical lab to try new varieties that would be useful in Virginia. He and his groundskeeper kept meticulous notes. The flower beds were almost solely attended to by his daughter and grand daughters. Jefferson traveled a great deal and once wrote home to tell them how a new garden was to be planted. He said the present gardens would not hold the vast amount of varieties they wished to plant. So they created the winding flower walk and several oval beds between the walk and the external perimeter of the lawn.

Earlier pictures of Monticello do not show a manicured lawn as is the case today. It was a natural lawn and at times very overgrown. It is suspected that it was cut with long knives about twice a summer. So I pictured it as more of a meadow like scene with flowers of all sorts and varieties growing around the edges.

The gardens were also used a seasonal calendar. The children would run out daily in the Spring so they could be the first to report the bulbs pushing out of the soil. Each season had a display of beautiful flowers and textures. You always knew what season it was by glancing at the garden. This was important to Jefferson. He concentrated on always knowing what time it was and encouraged something productive going on at all times.

He did not believe in idle minds or bodies. He also had a clock on his front portico and it would loudly chime out the time of day so the workers knew where they needed to be at that particular hour.

So it was in the summer of 1808, the garden walk began. Several times throughout that year, parcels would arrive which contained interesting and exotic plants. Jefferson’s daughters and grandchildren would anxiously open the packages and wonder at the foreign names and descriptions.

Jefferson kept detailed written observations of bloom times and fruit and flowering seasons. He wrote about pests and fertilization methods. He was a very accomplished man. From the website Monticell.org:

(Born April 13, 1743, at Shadwell, Virginia; died July 4, 1826, Monticello) Thomas Jefferson — author of the Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, third president of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia — voiced the aspirations of a new America as no other individual of his era. As public official, historian, philosopher, and plantation owner, he served his country for over five decades. Notice that he died on July 4th!

Jefferson was such a visionary personality and we owe much to his purchase of the Louisiana Purchase which acquired the land between Virginia and Colorado! Jefferson was a voracious reader and sold his books to the government which started The Library of Congress. His last great service to his country was the establishment of The University of Virginia. He believed that everyone should be allowed to learn and develop their goals in life.

He did not manage his money well and upon his death at age 83, he died almost penniless. He had acquired huge debts.

The gardens were restored and donated in 1940 to Monticello by the Garden Club of Virginia. You can purchase seeds from the gardens at the Monticello online Shop.

Enlarge the photos for better viewing and quality. If you hover over a picture with your mouse, it will give the name of the plant. You are free to use my photos but if you return often and use them for multiple projects, then please consider a donation at Flowergardengirl.org.

Monticello’s Flower Walk and Staunton Virginia

Over the Labor Day holiday, Mr D and I visited Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello in Virginia. I’m just writing about it now and will present the whole trip over the coming days. The mansion was grand and the vegetable and flower gardens were spectacular. It will take me a week to write and show the photos.

A very special thank you to my oldest son. He lives in the area and played host to mom and dad this weekend. He took us to all these places and stopped every time his mom wanted to take a picture. Thank you son!

While dad and son were fly fishing, I also visited the Frontier Museum which takes you from the homes and lifestyles of 17th century England, Ireland, and Germany to the early 19th century in America. Real homesteads were purchased and reassembled on site. The purpose is to demonstrate how America is a melting pot of customs and building styles from these three countries.

I took hundreds of photos of Staunton, Virginia which has successfully kept its downtown area popular and thriving. The architecture is more interesting than you can imagine. Retailers still decorate the store fronts and I spent several hours walking every squre inch so you could experience it too.

And you can not visit the area without traveling in to the mountains——

I look forward to bringing you this set of posts from Stauton, Virginia and the surrounding area.

If life could be so good…………

This is an adorable little girl whose mommy dressed her in bright sunny attire. It perfectly reflects the kind of day everyone should have at the beach.

A Podcast on The Sunshine Lavender Farm

I added this podcast to my Charlotte History Examiner site. Thought I’d share it here too. You can use my search feature to read more about this farm or you can head over to

Sunshine Lavender Farm’s site and check them out for yourself.

Kraving Kettle Korn Kan Kause Konfusion

To be a burro must be bliss. What a happy little guy who seems oblivious to the camera in his face. He had a buddy.

Valle Crucis North Carolina and The Mast Farm Inn

I love North Carolina more than there are apple trees in one seed. Which means, it’s endless. As far back as my memory will take me, I’ve come to these mountains to celebrate the beauty in every season. You can see from the picture above that The Smoky Mountains are named appropriately. I’ve rarely seen my mountains on a clear day but rather it is the norm to see them cloaked in this magical misty presence. The picture was taken today about about 3pm. MrD and I drove up to Valle Crucis, Vale of the Cross, for the day. My destination was

The Mast General Store and The Mast Farm Inn.

Sunshine Lavender Farm

The Sunshine Lavender Farm in Hillsborough, North Carolina had an open house this weekend. The weather was perfect except for that humidity we are dealt on hot summer days. We try to ignore it best we can. The sky was ultra blue and a few wispy clouds offered some welcome shade ever so often. And the color lavender was everywhere.

I tried very hard to stay clean and presentable until Helen Yoest from Gardening With Confidence arrived. I was at the farm early and she came about two hours after I’d already laid on the ground shooting pictures of the lavender against the ultra blue sky. I had also walked all over the farm several times and participated in the hands on activities.

So when Helen got there, I was in a mess. So she took a picture right away. She’s going to post it on her blog soon. You’ll have to go check it out. Helen was fortunate to have Tina from In The Garden visit her in Chapel Hill and you can read about that visit HERE. It is loads of fun to meet fellow blogging buddies and I couldn’t wait to meet Helen.

I was so impressed with Helen and her children. Her 3 children are mature and engaging. Helen is a tall slender lady with a real Southern genteel personality. I expected her to be professional and she was. She’s in the know about everything and made my head spin as she caught me up to speed on who is who is the gardening world. You can follow her tweets @GWConfidence so you can be in the know too.

So we walked around the farm admiring the hens and rooster . We talked about her couple of next projects. She’s going to see Les @ A Tidewater Gardener. I want to go see Les too. So I was jealous when I found out. Look out Les, she’s going to pick your brain about woodies. What is a woodie? Should you be worried. Helen is obsessed with weepers so if you could find her a woodie weeper, she’ll talk about it for ages to come.

Here is a really funny story on Helen. You can tell she’s a true gardener. Not more than a few seconds after we met, she exclaimed there was a tick on her back. I said what? She said there is a tick on my back and she then proceeded to pull it off and squash it. I never in a million years would have expected this very proper well spoken lady to act like this was pulling lent out of a belly button—but she did. The she said—-oh good—it’s not a deer tick. I said Helen—you smashed it to pieces–how can you tell it’s not a deer tick. She just smiled and we looked to admire the Sunshine Lavender Farm homestead. Helen got out her camera and took pictures and we forgot all about the tick.

The homestead is a two story craftsman with big front porch and screened in back porch. The house is a buttery yellow with a most attractive red front door. The front looks very Americana with it’s flag and blue accents. I loved the two potted petunias planters on the front stoops.

Tents were set up around the farm with folks advertising and selling their goods. There was a lavender barn chock full of lavender stems to purchase, a gift shop that sold all things lavender, a little ice cream cart that sold vanilla lavender flavor, and so much more.

Helen and I stood by the chicken coop admiring how it was made. Helen made friends with two little boys who were tormenting the chickens with a stick. She was able to talk with them and guide them toward better behavior without them even knowing they had been corrected. It was a true show of her kind and loving approach to kids and nature. I loved that moment. I thought–she really is who she says she is.

We had the best time and I’m looking forward to visiting her some time in the not so distant future. She’s got a teasing twinkle in her eye that makes you think every visit will be one to remember. I stayed on at the farm a bit more. The lavender smelled really good and I was enjoying watching the ladies in their hats. It’s good to be around gardeners even if you don’t know a single one. There is something good and wholesome about that sort of atmosphere. I never tire of it.

More tomorrow!