Rock Hill forever: Charlottesville's not-so-secret gardens
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A view of the Rock Hill estate in the 1950s.Photo courtesy Daniel Bluestone -
Meet our hostess, Carol Garges, one of hundreds of volunteers who've been working on restoring the gardens since last year...Photo by Dave McNair -
...to reveal acres of elaborate stone walls and stairs...Photo by Dave McNair -
...some preserved ... -
...some built to last hundreds of years.Photo by Dave McNair -
Deer roam just yards from the main road.Photo by Dave McNair -
Garges then leads us on the stone stairs up the steep hillside...Photo by Dave McNair -
Above a babbling Schenk's branch...Photo by Dave McNair -
Even the crumbling sections have a kind of beauty.Photo by Dave McNair -
Ah, to sit and ponder the wonders of the Rock Hill Gardens, where there's nothing to get hung about.Photo by Dave McNair -
The chosen 250 Interchange design and its relationship to the Rock Hill Gardens.staff illustration
Forget about the impending Meadowcreek Parkway and the 250 Interchange project for a minute, as well as the fabulous history of the nearby eight-acre Rock Hill estate, once the site of a circa-1820 two-story Federal style house (which, thanks to a mischievous youngster, burned down in 1963). Forget that famed architect Eugene Bradbury once called it home, and that the Rev. Henry Alford Porter, minister of Charlottesville’s First Baptist Church (Park Street), who bought the place in the 1930s, created the extensive rock gardens that one UVA architectural historian has called the "most complex residential garden landscapes in all of Charlottesville."
Forget its history as a controversial segregation-era school in the 1960s. Forget that it's now the overgrown back yard of the Monticello Area Community Action Agency (MACAA), which has expressed interest in selling the property to the City.
Forget the City's and the Federal Highway Administration's promise (broken?) to restore the garden and add it to the park system as part of the new interchange project. Forget the limbo the property finds itself in while an army of volunteers has been busy unearthing its treasures and trying to restore the gardens to their former glory.
Forget about all the politics and the history, which you can read about in two Hook stories, Burned and bypassed: Rock Hill has a ghost of a garden, and Unhidden treasure: Rock Hill estate gardens revealed.
Just go take a look at it. (Or enjoy a musical online slideshow tour)
You've driven by it hundreds of times. Go take a walk through the gardens. That's what we did with volunteer Rock Hill gardens restorer Carol Garges on Wednesday, June 29. Garges and over 200 other volunteers have put in about 2,000 hours of work since they began clearing away brush, repairing walls, and adding plantings and features to the gardens last year.
"It's an incredibly unique place," says Garges, "and we just hope it can be preserved."
The front of the gardens has been revealed to passing traffic on 250, showing the elaborate stonework found on site (a result, as UVA architectural historian Daniel Bluestone put it, of the Rev. Porter's "private public works project" that provided work for the unemployed during the 1930s). Invisible from the road, however, the back half of the gardens may be even more impressive, weaving along the babbling Schenk's Branch creek bed and featuring stretches of the rock wall that rise 10 to 15 feet high. Gloriously high tulip poplars abound, and stone steps ascend into the treetops.
Ideally, Garges says, she hopes the City purchases the property from MACAA, restores the gardens, and builds a new facility for the Parks & Rec department, which then can showcase one of the City's architectural jewels.
But is that likely to happen?
"I'm aware of some exploratory conversations that have occurred along those lines," says Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris, "and all I can say right now is that I'm intrigued by the possibilities."
Indeed, with $27 million in Federal funds earmarked for the U.S. 250 interchange project, which could get under way by the end of the year (depending on the outcome of a lawsuit filed by those opposed to it), you'd think the City could could set aside something for the preservation of the gardens.
What's more, that May 2010 memorandum-of-agreement between the City and the Federal Highway Administration calls for a rehabilitation plan for the gardens, reconstruction of the front wall that will need to be removed for the interchange, and for the City to pursue ownership of the property and open it to the public.
Of course, these days that's more easily said than done.
"Obviously it's largely dependent on funding being
available to purchase the [Rock Hill] property," says Norris. "Right now, there are no funds allocated in our budget for it."
12 comments
If we could get the Paramount Theatre renovated mostly with private money, I bet money could be raised to launch a public garden such as this. There are LOTS of big players in this city and county who could be interested if the project proceeds just the right way. The city would benefit immensely from a park/botanical garden such as this. Thank Dunbarton Oaks, or Maymont, or Gypsy Hill, or Central Park. Might want to reconsider the extension of the Rio-Melbourne connector we just built!!!
Rock Hill Plaza, no thts to 70's. Rock Hill Mall, nope, 80's. Rock Hill Gallareia, uhuh, to 90's. Rock Hill Green Space and Casual Gardens. Yea...that feels just right.
This is a zoning/weed ordinance plain and simple. Let your property get overgrown and see what happens.
Just because MACAA owns it, why is it immune to ordinance? They let it go derelict, then it was celebrated that volunteers cleaned it up.
Also, look at the SIX FOOT TALL weeds growing along the city's CAT transit bus shop on Avon St. extended in the county. Albemarle should cite and fine the city for derelict property.
What a nasty properties, both MACAA and CAT, right there in entrance corridors.
Vittorio- go cut the "weeds" at CAT as a volunteer. C-ville does not have to be all blacktop, concrete & grass, . I mowed that place in the 80's. & remember when Rock hill academy was there , there are huge steps on across from the rescue squad. That rock hill was all forest at one point & revert back to such. I have been all through this place as a kid. rt. 250 & McIntyre corner is worth more then 2 million, & hope it is part of interchange & become an " extension" of McIntyre park , whats left of it from construction.
Great article. Thanks for sharing the history and photos. I tip my hat to the volunteers working on the project.
Add me to the list of those who'd like to see Rock Hill turned into some sort of botanical garden. But who knows what will happen to it because of the 6000 pound gorilla called the Meadowcreek Parkway.
As for the 6ft weeds at a bus stop, don't know about that but have noticed something that is a real disgrace. The concrete under the benches outside in front of the Transit Center is filled with litter-cigarette butts,food wrappings, drink cups, etc. People are such total slobs, cannot walk a few steps to a trash can. Much rather see tall weeds and other vegetation, at least that is of use to birds, butterflies, and other other wildlife. Thats why I have little enthusiasm when there is talk about the need for increased "access" to our parks, especially McIntire.
Homo slobbus will just trash it.
Add me to the list of those who'd like to see Rock Hill turned into some sort of botanical garden. But who knows what will happen to it because of the 6000 pound gorilla called the Meadowcreek Parkway.
As for the 6ft weeds at a bus stop, don't know about that but have noticed something that is a real disgrace. The concrete under the benches outside in front of the Transit Center is filled with litter-cigarette butts,food wrappings, drink cups, etc. People are such total slobs, cannot walk a few steps to a trash can. Much rather see tall weeds and other vegetation, at least that is of use to birds, butterflies, and other other wildlife. Thats why I have little enthusiasm when there is talk about the need for increased "access" to our parks, especially McIntire.
Homo slobbus will just trash it.
'"...the extensive rock gardens that one UVA architectural historian has called the "most complex residential garden landscapes in all of Charlottesville."'
Damned with faint praise.
Thank you for these wonderful photos.
Sorry...and thank you to those who have volunteered to beautify the spot. Who knows what will come of your efforts but what a community-building gesture.
What a treasure indeed! It's a mystery to me how so many folks have no inkling as to the value of gardens. I read a Japanese proverb once that I latched onto, for I have always employed the use of rocks in my various gardens. It goes something like this: Once you get your rocks properly arranged in your garden, your heart is right.
Dang...and all that time wasted trying to get them off... Thanks Ginny!!