MSV to Offer FREE Garden Admission This Friday

Museum Celebrates National Public Gardens Day with Free Admission and Garden Activities

Winchester, VA 05/03/11…In celebration of National Public Gardens Day, the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV) will offer free admission to its six-acre Glen Burnie Gardens from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. this Friday, May 6.

Along with free garden admission, the Museum will offer several free opportunities for visitors to experience the site’s landscape. First, gardeners of all skill levels are invited to help the Museum with grooming and planting during the Gather in the Gardens volunteer maintenance session which starts at 9 a.m. Beginning at 10 a.m. and throughout the day, visitors may learn the stories behind the creation of the Glen Burnie Gardens on Stories in the Soil, a free audio tour (adult and children’s versions), or celebrate the outdoors by bringing a bag lunch to enjoy in the garden picnic area. In addition and also throughout the day, youngsters will be able to explore the gardens with a Can You Find This? seek-and-find game. Finally, at 2 p.m., those interested in learning about the trees in the landscape are invited to join a free guided walking tour, ”The Trees of Glen Burnie.” Led by MSV Gardens and Grounds Manager Mary Stickley, this tour will highlight both old and new trees in the landscape and include a discussion about tree maintenance.

With Friday’s activities the MSV joins more than 500 North American Public gardens that are participating in the National Public Gardens Day celebration. Presented by the American Public Gardens Association, the event is a national day of celebration to raise awareness of America’s public gardens and their important role in promoting environmental stewardship and awareness, plant and water conservation, and education in communities nationwide.

Opened to the public in 1997, the Glen Burnie Gardens were created in the latter half of the twentieth century. The six-acre gardens—which are only part of the site’s extensive 254-acre landscape comprising the largest green space in the city of Winchester—surround the Museum’s Glen Burnie Historic House and include everything from intimate garden “rooms” to a magnificent Grand Allée. The gardens feature numerous fountains, a Chinese garden complete with a pagoda, a Water Garden pond that is home to golden trout, sculpture, garden “folly” structures, and the historic Family Cemetery. A garden Visitor Center presents the landscape’s history and displays a fully-furnished miniature of the Glen Burnie Historic House.

Originally created to support Museum benefactor Julian Wood Glass Jr.’s (1910–1992) formal lifestyle and entertaining, today the gardens are open for the public’s enjoyment and serve as an MSV learning tool. Along with twice-weekly Gather in the Gardens maintenance sessions where volunteers can hone their knowledge by working alongside Museum horticulture experts, the MSV offers monthly Tuesday Garden Talks from April through November, free weekly Garden Explorers children’s’ programs in June and July, and a festive, free Tomato & Garlic TasteFest event in August.

The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley complex, which includes the Glen Burnie Historic House and Gardens, is located at 901 Amherst Street in Winchester, Virginia, and is open from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. On days other than Friday’s National Public Gardens Day, admission to the Museum’s Glen Burnie Gardens is $6 for adults and $5 for seniors and youth ages 7 to 18. Garden admission is always free to children ages 6 and under and MSV Members. Additional information about this summer’s garden activities at the MSV is available at www.ShenandoahMuseum.org or by calling the Museum Visitor Information Desk at 540-662-1473, ext. 235. – END –


Contact: Julie B. Armel
540-662-1473 ext. 225
armel@shenandoahmuseum.org