May 2, 2014
Thanks to a New Year's visit to the Carolina's and Folly Beach, we have suffered every since with acute Spring Fever. I suppose that I can thank global warming at least in part for the bizarre weather patterns we have experienced this year … the worst of which is the absence of Spring for the cabin fever-plagued Vermonters. The cure … sun and warm and a few flowers thrown in for good measure. A road trip South would do the trick.
We packed the car and headed for Virginia. We consulted weather.com for the Virginia forecast. There we found severe rain, wind, cold and tornado warnings. I was not encouraged.
Thank goodness for inaccurate weather reports. Other areas in the South were catching hell, but Virginia started to clear by the time we reached it. Our plans called for us to reach the Winchester area by nightfall and to head towards Richmond to visit my nephew and family the next day. Along the way, we were treated to a series of huge farms with mansions centered amid the rolling hills and accented with the Blue Ridge Mountains in the background. Our interim destination was Falmouth, VA, just outside of Fredericksburg where Anne had attended college. Located there was Belmont, the home and studio of artist Gari Melchers.
The setting of the Melchers homeplace was just what we needed. Everything was pristine and the grounds were bursting with the colors of spring flowers, and blossoming shrubbery and trees.
Wisteria lined the picket fence in the front.In the rear of the property was a walking trail down to the river. Through the redbuds and dogwoods, the rapids of the Rappahannock River were visible below.
We arrived just in time for the first house and studio tour of the day. We entered the house and were greeted immediately by a short, elderly lady with a distinct southerns Virginia accent reminiscent of South Boston, VA where we grew up. The lady was dressed impeccably … seemingly as pristine as the property itself. The tour was a real treat. Melchers was destined to be the artist he became. Son of a artist himself, he was sent to Paris for his art education where he soon excelled. He lived in worked for 25 years in the Netherlands and later in New York. A prominent portrait painter to the famous and wealthy of his time, although his real passion was painting the common man much like the work of Rockwell. The one thing he never experienced was the life of the starving artist … it seemed his success was meant to be. He came to Falmouth seeking a rural retreat from the hustle and bustle of New York. After his death, his wife eventually willed the home, his studio and the contents of each to the State of Virginia.
Melchers had several studios over the course of his career, but his favorite was the last, the one located at his home, Belmont. The studio today house his old desk, palette, brushes and tools. In addition, were severe rooms adorned with his paintings.
The remainder of our visit was spent enjoying the grounds and the sunshine we needed so badly.
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| The garage |
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| Trellis on the long walkway |
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| Garden sculpture |
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The Spring House  |
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