Special Projects
Carr's Hill Brochure
Some time after I moved into Carr's Hill, I discovered in an entry-hall desk, copies of two monochromatic brochures—one describing the house's furnishings and art work, and the other, the Carr's Hill gardens. Reading through the booklets, I noticed that objects documented in the brochures and objects actually existing in the rooms of the home's public areas did not consistently match. The mismatch was a result of furniture and art work having been moved into and out of the house and gardens having been redesigned over the years.
Discussing the discrepancies with John, who over the years had seen many of these booklets happily carried off in the hands of Carr's Hill visitors, I recognized that revised information about this historical home and public landmark was called for. With 13,000 visitors to the house most of whom have specific questions about a piece of furniture or art work, or rugs, or light fixtures, or wallpaper, and always about the gardens and its plants, we believed the brochure to be a wonderful way to help visitors reflect at home on their visit to the University.
So, we went to work on one full-color brochure that would document the delights of the public spaces of this McKim, Mead & White design. Hiring an architectural photographer, who produced scores of gorgeous photos (most of which we used later in our Carr's Hill book), we conducted research on the furniture that had been donated by generous alumni. At last, in 2007 the brochure was printed, and began flying out the door.
Carr's Hill Book
Two hundred years of University history fill the gardens and the halls of Carr's Hill, where the perfume of flowers mixes with a haunting sense of one's predecessors. The place is profoundly atmospheric for both residents and visitors. Once there, most of us want to know more about it.
In the course of producing the brochure and all the while cognizant of the house's upcoming centennial, I realized that there was much more Carr's Hill history to capture in print than would fit in a small booklet. So, Nancy Ingram and I set to work on all kinds of research by combing Internet and archival sources and by soliciting memoirs from former residents of Carr's Hill. After a while, we had a pretty good sense of topics that we wanted developed in the book: basic history of Mr. Jefferson's planning of the University; the history of the little hill on which the house stands; the story of Stanford White's work on all the University's buildings he designed; and the family histories of the University's seven presidents, all of whom resided at the top of Carr's Hill in its eponymous house.
We already had a number of wonderful photographs from the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library and from two local photographers, Peggy Harrison and Eduardo Galliani, so we next hired a writer, Margaret Klosko, to do more archival work and to write a text. The result of this work, a lovely illustrated history of one of the University's architectural jewels, was published in 2009 and is available for purchase here.
Garden Week
During the seven years I lived in Carr's Hill, it had been my great pleasure to help the University participate in Historic Garden Week in Charlottesville and Albemarle County. In 2009 I was the University liaison with the Garden Club. One of the first things I initiated for the event was the creation of a Garden Day Website, which provided information about parking and times various gardens at the University would be open for public viewing. Web Communications developed a site that links to both the U.Va. and to the Virginia Garden Club's Websites. For Garden Week 2009, I also helped coordinate the events taking place in the Pavilions.
During the entire year, it was my job to oversee the management of the Carr's Hill Gardens. I worked with head gardener John Sauer, and with Carr's Hill executive manager Cindy Coleman to make sure the gardens were the best they could be.
Visit the Garden Week Website.