Glen Burnie Gardens Day also includes Free Children’s Activities and Free Guided Tours
Winchester, VA 7/13/11…This Saturday, July 16, the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV) will offer free admission to its Glen Burnie Gardens and Museum galleries during Glen Burnie Gardens Day from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. The family-oriented event will also include an antique and modified car show, also free of charge, from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m.
Along with free admission and the free car show, Glen Burnie Gardens Day will also include free guided tours. In the gardens, The Trees of Glen Burnie tour will take place at 10:30 a.m.; inside the Museum, the free guided tours will take place in the Museum’s Julian Wood Glass Jr. Gallery at 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. In addition, throughout the day children may explore the gardens with the free seek-and-find game, Can You Find This?, and experience the Museum galleries with The Letter G, another free seek-and-find activity.
According to MSV Executive Director Dana Hand Evans, Saturday’s event is a fun, economical opportunity for families to discover the Museum together. She noted that in order to provide everyone in the Valley with opportunities to enjoy the Museum, the MSV waives admission fees to either the gardens or the galleries during several events throughout the year. July’s Glen Burnie Gardens Day, however, is the only event during which both garden and gallery admission fees are waived on the same day.
A popular addition to Glen Burnie Gardens Day last year, Saturday’s Antique and Modified Car Show is anticipated to be among the highlights of this year’s event, as well. Coordinated by the Shenandoah Region of the Antique Automobile Club of America (SRAACA), the display will showcase antique and modified cars that are at least 25 years old. According to SRAACA President Curt Mason, nearly 80 cars are registered for this year’s event, including a 1909 Ford Model T, a 1940 Packard, a 1964 Corvair, and a 1972 Rolls Royce. All cars will be parked on the lawn between the gardens and the Museum.
In addition to the car show, throughout the day visitors are invited to explore the Museum’s six acres of gardens, which include a Grand Allée of crab apple trees, hundreds of blooming rose bushes, precisely trimmed boxwood hedges, statues, fountains, colorful perennials, a Chinese Garden, and a Water Garden featuring a pond stocked with golden trout. Visitors may also tour the gardens’ Visitor Center to learn the story of this historic landscape, as well as see the amazing, fully furnished miniature model of the Glen Burnie Historic House that is on display there. For those who wish to see the actual house, which is just steps from the Visitor Center, docent-led tours will be offered for just $5 per person. Built in 1794 by Robert Wood, son of Winchester founder James Wood, today the house is presented as it was furnished by Museum benefactor Julian Wood Glass Jr. (1910–1992).
During Glen Burnie Gardens Day visitors may also experience the Museum galleries for free. Designed by renowned architect Michael Graves, the 50,000 square-foot Museum includes the Shenandoah Valley Gallery, which tells the story of the Valley through interactive activities, audio and video presentations, and displays of objects made in the Valley, including ceramics, furniture, textiles, metals, baskets, folk art, and paintings. Nearby, the Julian Wood Glass Jr. Gallery displays the fine and decorative arts collection assembled by the gallery’s namesake and includes furniture, decorative objects, and paintings by such artists as Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788) and Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830). Finally, the ever-popular R. Lee Taylor Miniatures Gallery presents a fascinating collection of furnished miniature houses and rooms. (The Changing Exhibition Galley will be closed during this event, as the Museum’s next exhibition—Goya, Dali, Warhol: Masterpieces of World Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts—is now being installed and will open July 29.)
Visitors who work up an appetite touring the car show, gardens, and galleries will be pleased to know that not only will the Museum Café be open from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m., but Shaffer’s also will be at the MSV with its famous pork barbecue, too. Based in Woodstock, Virginia, Shaffer’s has been serving the Valley barbecue since 1952. For Glen Burnie Gardens Day, Shaffer’s will serve a pork barbeque sandwich, chips, and coleslaw platter for $6 and hot dogs for $2. Ice cream will also be available for purchase.
For those seeking a special souvenir or gift, the Museum Store will be open throughout the day. And, finally, before they leave for the day, all visitors will want to enter the drawing to win a one-year Family Membership to the Museum (a $75 value) or a $25 gift certificate for the Museum Store. The drawing will take place at the conclusion of the day; winners are not required to be present.
The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley complex—which includes the Museum, the historic house, and the gardens— is located at 901 Amherst Street in Winchester, Virginia. The site is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Additional information is available online at www.ShenandoahMuseum.org or by calling 540-662-1473, ext. 235. – END –
Contact: Julie B. Armel
540-662-1473 ext. 225
armel@shenandoahmuseum.org
