Gordonsville -- Rocklands

In 1851 the 2,200 acre estate was assembled and developed by Richard Barton Haxall, member of a prominent Richmond, Virginia family, and used primarily a summer retreat. The house was renovated in 1905 by owner Thomas Atkinson with front porch columns deaccessioned from the Virginia State Capital. In 1926 subsequent owners Charles and Doris Kellogg Neale had the house remodeled by William Lawrence Bottomley and the grounds landscaped. Umberto Innocenti installed the English Garden and worked with Charles Freeman Gillette on the formal landscape proximate to the manor house. Southwest Mountains can be seen from this property, which was granted conservation easement by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation. Also the house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is registered as a Virginia Historic Landmark. In 1998 the current owners restored the house and other structures and designed two themed gardens, the French Garden and the Italian Garden on an axis with the English Garden. Many artifacts were imported and installed on the property, notably a 12th century stone tower disassembled in France, shipped and reassembled by a master stone mason. Antique iron fencing that surrounds the three formal gardens and the swimming pool court was acquired from Richmond, Philadelphia, upstate New York, and England. Antique iron gates came from Smithfield Market in London. The English Garden retains the Innocenti design of four parterres with boxwood and shrub roses shaded by magnolia. The garden has a central fountain, antique putti on garden walls and French marigold in a planter. A perennial bed in the English Garden is planted with hydrangea, boxwood, peony, yew, chrysanthemum, hardy begonia, and several groundcovers including English ivy. On a patio overlooking the French garden there are mid-19th century benches that were made by Stewart Iron Works in Cincinnati, ornamented with a 1st century marble Roman capital found in Syria. Stone stairs to the French garden are 19th century imported from France, comprised of three monolithic pieces, also reassembled on the property by the French mason. A horseshoe-shaped terrace at the entry to the French Garden predates the current owners; some plantings include box, magnolia, cotoneaster, wax leaf begonia, chrysanthemum, Boston ivy, and French marigold. The fountain in this garden is 19th century in the style of Louis XIV and imported from France. Gothic style columns supporting the pergola are French imports while the marble urns on the stairs were found in Westchester County, New York. Additional plants in the French Garden include David Austin roses, eastern red cedar, Carolina jessamine, and Japanese spirea. The terracotta statues are antiques from France and England, the English limestone sundial is 19th century. The Italian Garden features Carrera marble statues of the four seasons commissioned in Italy. Other 19th century features include a stone basin, three-tier cast iron fountain, mural and wrought iron spindles. This garden contains pin oak, Japanese maple, azalea, Stella d' Oro daylilies, dahlia, ageratum, and French marigold. A brick and stone wall in the style of Achille Duchêne terminates the formal gardens. Embedded in the wall is an 11th century scallop-shaped stone known as a symbol of the pilgrims (rest stop for religious pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela, Spain) found by the owners at a prior property in France. Additional gardens include a front entrance walkway and gardens in the front and rear of the house, a motor court garden, the walkway to the English garden, a kitchen garden with herbs, vegetables, blueberries and fig, and an orchard. The total number of plants on the estate is 4,831 at last count.