Vintage Virginia
Vintage Virginia and the Vintagers
Edwardian Era 1880 - 1920
The Edwardian era was a time of tremendous technological and innovative social change in both England and the USA. The abundance of the Industrial Revolution brought about a new wealthy class of society who splurged on upscale travel, haute cuisine, elegant fashion and sporty entertainment. It was from the bully-for-you personality of Teddy Roosevelt to the intellectual Woodrow Wilson in the U.S. presidency, including:
- Art Nouveau
- Ragtime
- George M. Cohan patriotic musicals
- Lost Generation authors
- Suffragettes marched on Washington
- Wright Brothers flew their first plane and
- Model Ts were rolling off the assembly lines!
This Gilded Age is still celebrated, not only in film —Titanic and Out of Africa — but by groups of dedicated Vintagers who have pursued their interests to include the classic resorts and hotels of the era, sports activities and equipment, English sportsman clothing, vintage automobiles and the social lifestyle and manners of an era still alive in Virginia!
Find the following Gilded Age sites in Virginia:
Vintage Accommodations
| Sporting Life | Garden
Estates | History & Heritage
Transportation | Art
& Entertainment | Equestrian
Events | Virginia Wines
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| The Homestead in Hot Springs |
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| Martha Washington Inn |
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| The lobby of the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond |
Hot Springs - The
Homestead, a spa resort in the Allegheny Mountains, was majority owned by
none other than financier J. Pierpont Morgan during this era. Sports such as
equestrian activities, golf, lawn croquet, fly fishing and carriage rides became
popular along with "taking to the waters" of the hot springs. The
West Wing, opened in 1904, "became a favorite of the entire Vanderbilt
clan." Skeet shooting and skiing can also be enjoyed at this year-around
resort.
Abingdon -
The Martha
Washington Inn is considered one of the most elegant hotels in the nation
with its period antiques and furnishings. Built in 1832, it began as a private
residence for Gen. Francis Preston and his family. In 1858, it became a college
for wealthy young women and was named Martha Washington College. It remained
a college throughout the Edwardian era but was closed during the Great Depression.
Richmond - The Jefferson Hotel, named the "Best Hotel in America" byForbes Magazine in 2000 is "reminiscent of a more gracious era." Teddy Roosevelt stayed here as well as Charles Dana Gibson, creator of the "Gibson Girl." He and Irene Langhorne celebrated their engagement here in 1895! Another famous guest of the era was Louis C. Tiffany, the creator of Tiffany stained glass.
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Meadows of Dan - The Primland
Resort offers Orvis-endorsed recreational activities such as wingshooting,
flyfishing, sporting clays and horseback riding.
Lynch Station - The Merritt Hutchinson Resort and Conference Center in the Blue Ridge Mountains offers horseback riding trails, three stocked lakes for fishing and croquet, all sports appropriate of the era.
Halifax County - Falkland Farms Hunting Plantation is now open to the public. This 7,643-acre plantation supports a variety of game. During the regular gun season, running hounds are used — "the dawgs." The plantations offers packages that include lodging and meals. Horseback riding and a 13-station sporting-clays range awaits sporting Vintagers, too.
Shenandoah Valley - The George Washington and Jefferson National Forests were established under President Teddy Roosevelt, a great outdoorsman, who founded the National Park Service.
Middleburg - The National Sporting Library houses more than 12,000 books on horse and field sports such as horseracing, foxhunting, fishing, shooting, steeplechasing, horsemanship and sporting art.
Fairfax - The National Firearms Museum displays more than 2,000 historic firearms in 14 galleries. See classic guns, such as the Double Gun, especially popular during clay shoots of the era.
More shooting ranges, hunting preserves, wildlife watching — other popular pursuits of Edwardian society.
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| Maymont in the spring |
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| Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden |
Richmond - Maymont
— Virginia's Gilded Age Treasure — was built by James and Sallie
May Dooley in 1893. Tour this Romanesque-style mansion with its magnificent
gardens and rolling landscape, which has not been altered much since Dooley's
time. See the everpopular Carriage Collection, too.
Richmond - Lewis
Ginter Botanical Garden was property once owned by Lewis Ginter, a prominent
Richmond businessman in the late 1800s. His niece Grace Arents, an avid gardener,
bought the property after his death and created a foundation in her uncle's
honor. Visitors can enjoy more than 30 acres of spectacular gardens, including
elegant Victorian-style gardens popular during the Gilded Age.
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| Woodrow Wilson Birthplace in Staunton |
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| John
Fox Jr.'s The Trail of the Lonesome Pine is performed every summer in Big Stone Gap. |
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| Morven
Park has the the only museum of foxhunting in the world. |
Danville - One of Central Virginia's
premier historic sites is the Birthplace
of Lady Astor, the first woman to sit in the British House of Commons, was
known in Virginia as Nancy Langhorne. Her sister, Irene, was immortalized as
the Gibson Girl, the international fashion ideal of the era.
Richmond - The Virginia Historical Society offers the most comprehensive collection of Virginiana in the world. Do a bit of genealogical research of your family here, look through the society's collections, such as sheetmusic, to see what was popular during the era!
Leesburg - Morven Park, home of Virginia Gov. Westmoreland Davis in 1918, is a Greek Revival mansion on 1,200 acres. While there, visit the Museum of Hounds and Hunting, the only foxhunting museum in the world, and also home to the Winmill Carriage Collection.
Staunton - The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library is the birthplace of 28th U.S. President Woodrow Wilson who served from 1913-1921.
Big Stone Gap - The John Fox Jr. Museum was the home of the famous mountain author of Trail of the Lonesome Pine, the nation's first novel to sell a million copies! The book depicts the great coal and iron ore boom in Southwest Virginia and the beginning of the mining industry in Virginia. Fox was an avid outdoorsman who served with Teddy Roosevelt as a Rough Rider.
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| Flying Circus in Bealeton |
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| See
automobiles from the era at the Virginia Museum of Transportation. |
Luray - The Car
and Carriage Caravan Museum features an 1892 Benz, one of the oldest cars
still running! Also, see a 1908 Baker Electric, a 1913 Stanley Steamer and even
Rudolph Valentino's Rolls Royce, among other vintage cars from the era.
Roanoke - The Virginia Museum of Transportation showcases antique automobiles as well as carriages and steam and diesel locomotives of the Guilded Age as well as exhibits of the nation's early mining industry in Virginia.
Hood - The Roaring Twenties Antique Car Museum is Virginia's largest family collection. The oldest car is a 1904 Carter Electric Motorette. Also, enjoy antiques, advertising pieces and automobilia, such as old gas pumps.
Richmond - The Virginia Aviation Museum features the Wright Brothers' 1899 Kite, their 1900, 1901 and 1902 Gliders! Other airplanes on display include ones manufactured during this era of first flights, such as the 1916 SPAD VII, 1917 Curtiss Military Trainer Jenny and a rare 1917 Standard E-1.
Bealeton - The Flying Circus Airshows every summer feature class bi-planes May through October as well as antique car shows with Model Ts.
Art and Entertainment of Edwardian Society
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| Original
Tiffany lamps in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts collection |
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| Shenandoah
Shakespeare performs at Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton. |
Richmond - The Virginia
Museum of Fine Arts has one of the most extensive collections of Art Nouveau
art as well as British sporting art, works from the Arts & Crafts movement
of the era and Faberge jeweled eggs from Czar Nicholas. The museum acquired
the Kreuzer Collection of Art Nouveau jewelry and belt buckles produced in the
period between 1890 and 1914. The Sydney and Frances Lewis Gallery showcases
decorative Art Nouveau furnishings, Tiffany lamps and sculptures, too. A must
see for Vintagers!
Richmond - The Edward V. Valentine Sculpture Studio in the Richmond History Center was visited by many celebrities, including Woodrow Wilson, Oscar Wilde and Victor Hugo. Valentine was a major 19th-century sculptor who specialized in portrait sculpture. Visitors can see more than 400 of his works.
Norfolk - The Chrysler Museum of Art is the place to see American Modernism of the early 1900s, strongly influenced by French painters, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso.
Staunton - The Blackfriars Playhouse is a 300-seat indoor theater where the Shenandoah Shakespeare theatre company performs. As authentic to William Shakespeare's 1619 Globe, Blackfriars is a theatre in the round! Edwardian society thrilled to performances by Shakespeare.
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| Steeplechase,
harness and track racing events are popular sports in spring and fall. |
Lexington - The Virginia Horse Center is a world-class facility on 600 acres in the Shenandoah Valley. It has a 5-mile cross country course, an indoor coliseum, show arena and seating for 4,000. Events are scheduled every weekend with approximately 350-400 horses.
Virginia means horse country for all equestrian sports, such as polo, steeplechase and track racing as well as the perfect place for horseback-riding trails that stretch through hunt country and meander through woodlands and along the beach.Virginia is for Horse Lovers!
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"Good wine is a necessity of life for me," said
Virginia's very own Thomas Jefferson. Although Prohibition of the early 1900s
prohibited wine making, today Virginia has more than 80 wineries and
almost all of them are open for tours and tastings! Many of them are in Jefferson's
old territory of Albemarle County, where winemaking resumed after the Civil
War.
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