Support from Howard Shockey & Sons, Inc. Allows MSV to
Continue Expanded Free Admission Program

Winchester, VA 5/31/17…Thanks to continuing support from builder Howard Shockey & Sons, Inc., the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV) is offering free evening admission until 8 p.m. on Wednesdays between Memorial Day through Labor Day (May 31 through August 30, 2017).

These free, weekly summertime evening hours expand the MSV’s existing free Wednesday admission program offered year-round during daytime hours.

According to MSV Executive Director Dana Hand Evans, Howard Shockey and Sons, Inc. has sponsored the weekly free-admission program since the renovation and reopening of the Glen Burnie House in June of 2014. Since that time, Evans notes that more than 18,000 people have visited the MSV on Wednesdays at no cost. According to Evans, the continuing support from the Shockey firm allows the Museum to offer the program year-round and expand it during the summertime to include evening access to the MSV.

Located on the largest green space in the City of Winchester, the MSV includes galleries, seven acres of gardens, and the Glen Burnie House.

Exhibitions in the MSV tell the story of the Shenandoah Valley and display permanent collections and rotating exhibitions. Special exhibitions currently on view include Dynamics of Desire: The Evocative Works of Jim Costello featuring more than 20 works by modernist painter Jim Costello and This Must Be the Place: The Art of Landscape presenting 300 years of landscape art from the collection of MSV benefactor Julian Wood Glass Jr. In the drawing room of the Glen Burnie House, landscapes, waterscapes, and paint-decorated furniture created by Valley artist Radford Wine are on display in the exhibition Tones of a New Day: The Works of Radford Wine. Art and the Animal, a traveling exhibition including more than 60 works of animal art created by members of the Society of Animal Artists will open in the MSV Changing Exhibitions Gallery on June 3.

Home to generations of Wood and Glass families, the oldest portions of the Glen Burnie House date to the 1790s. Inherited by Julian Wood Glass Jr. in 1952, the house was transformed into a country retreat and surrounded by formal gardens designed for entertaining.  The seven-acre gardens include fountains, statues, and an extensive variety of plants. Visitors are encouraged to bring picnics to enjoy in the gardens. In the event of inclement weather (lightening or thunder), the gardens will not be open during the free-admission evening hours.

Along with being the general contractor for the Glen Burnie House renovation project and a current maintenance project for the exterior of the Museum building, Howard Shockey & Sons, Inc. is working with the MSV to implement the Museum’s Master Plan for its 214-acre campus. The installation of a network of hiking and walking trails—accessible to the community year-round and at no charge—is among the notable items included in the Master Plan.

A regional cultural center, the MSV is located at 901 Amherst Street in Winchester, Virginia. The MSV galleries and exhibitions are open year-round; the house and gardens are open April through December. On days other than the extended summer Wednesday hours of operation, the MSV is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (11 a.m. to 4 p.m. January through March) and admission is $10 or $8 for seniors and youth ages 13 to 18. General admission is always free to youth ages 12 and under and to MSV Members. Additional details are available at www.theMSV.org or by calling 540-662-1473, ext. 235. –END–

Above: An aerial photo of the MSV. At 214 acres, the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley is the largest green space in the City of Winchester and the only working farm remaining in city limits. Photo by Shaun Galang.