Howard Shockey & Sons, Inc. Sponsors Free Admission and New Extended Hours
Beauty in Botany on View in Glen Burnie through October 31, 2015
Winchester, VA 3/27/15…The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley’s Glen Burnie House and Gardens will open for the 2015 visitor season on Wednesday, April 1, with a free admission opening day underwritten by corporate sponsor Howard Shockey & Sons, Inc. and a new exhibition of botanical art in the Glen Burnie House.
According to MSV Executive Director Dana Hand Evans, Howard Shockey & Sons, Inc. supported the expansion of the Museum’s free admission program last year, enabling the MSV to offer year-round free admission every Wednesday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. The firm has renewed its support for 2015 and is also underwriting an expansion of the free admission hours. New this year and during the weeks between Memorial Day and Labor Day, the Glen Burnie House and Gardens will be open free of charge each Wednesday from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m.
In addition to enjoying expanded summer hours of operation, those who visit the house and gardens this season will experience new and renovated garden spaces and see Beauty in Botany, the first in a series of exhibitions to be displayed in the Glen Burnie House following its recent renovation.
On view in the drawing room of the house, Beauty in Botany features 22 botanical-themed works by seven celebrated regional botanical artists. Works included in the exhibition range from scientifically precise botanical illustrations of various stages of a plant’s life cycle to more expressive renderings of flowers. On view through October 31, Beauty in Botany includes works by artists Christine Andreae, Debbie Bankert, Janet Brome, Ann Currie, Lara Call Gastinger, Vicki Malone, and Donald Beekman Myer.
According to MSV Director of Gardens Perry Mathewes, eight of the plant subjects featured in Beauty in Botany are also found in the Glen Burnie Gardens, including butterfly weed (Kathie’s Spring Garden and the picnic area), peony (Kathie’s Spring Garden, the Perennial Garden, and the picnic area), daylily (Perennial Garden and South Lawn), pansies (various spots throughout the garden), cardinal flower (Kathie’s Spring Garden), Joe Pye weed (Kathie’s Spring Garden), Japanese anemone (Kathie’s Spring Garden and the knoll area), and hosta (Kathie’s Spring Garden, the picnic area, and the Water Garden).
Along with early spring blooms, visitors to the MSV on opening day will see new garden spaces under construction. Work is underway on the installation of Kathie’s Spring Garden—the first major addition to the Glen Burnie Gardens—and garden crews are enlarging and relocating the Museum’s Rose Garden. Weather permitting, the new Spring Garden will open in late April and work on the Rose Garden will be complete by June. Both major garden projects were made possible through private gifts to the MSV. Kathie Perry Werner provided funding for the Spring Garden, and support from Beverley and Steven Shoemaker and the James L. and Mary Jane Bowman Charitable Trust allowed the MSV to improve accessibility in the Pleached Allée and to redesign and replant the Rose Garden.
Those interested in getting a behind-the-scenes look at the new garden additions are invited to join MSV Director of Gardens Perry Mathewes at 10 a.m. on April 1 for a free guided garden tour. Offered on the first Wednesday of each month, the free Garden Walkabouts also highlight the newest blooms in the gardens.
The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, which includes the Glen Burnie House and Gardens, is located at 901 Amherst Street in Winchester, Virginia. The MSV is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. The Museum is open year-round; the house and gardens are open April through October. On days other than Wednesday, admission—which includes entrance to the house, gardens, and Museum—is $10 for adults and $8 for seniors and youth (age 13 to 18). Museum admission is always free to ages 12 and under and to MSV Members. Additional information and details about spring garden programs and workshops related to Beauty in Botany are available at www.theMSV.org or by calling 540-662-1473, ext. 235. – END –
About Glen Burnie House and Gardens:
The Glen Burnie House sits on land that Winchester-founder James Wood settled in 1735. Wood’s son Robert built the oldest portions of the house in 1793 and 1794. Descendant Julian Wood Glass Jr. (1910–1992) became the house’s sole owner in the 1950s; with partner R. Lee Taylor (1924–2000), he transformed the Glen Burnie House into a country retreat surrounded by six acres of formal gardens. After Glass’s death and as a condition of his will, the house and gardens opened to the public in 1997. Tours of the house and gardens are self-guided.