Orange County
Diversions

Montpelier, 11407 Constitution Hwy. (Route 20), Montpelier Station.

A Johnny-come-lately as tourist attractions go, the home of President James Madison was opened for public tours in 1987 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It’s very much a restoration in progress, so don’t expect to find a furnished home as at nearby Monticello or Ash Lawn. Do expect to see what was – and will be again when finished – a showplace renowned for entertaining. Started as an eight-room house, it was expanded over the years to the point that when the National Trust inherited it from Marion du Pont Scott, it was a 55-room mansion that the du Pont heiress had made into a hunt-country mecca. Since 1984, it’s been the site of the Montpelier Steeplechase races, staged annually the first Saturday in November. The trust is restoring the house to show both the Madison and du Pont influences. From the excellent gift shop called the Montpelier Store, visitors can now drive up a pretty hillside drive to a new parking area near the imposing home, somewhat the worse for years of neglect. Interior highlights include the Corning Glass fireplace with enormous mirror above in "La Modern" Red Room, all Art-Decoed up by Marion du Pont, the horsewoman. She was also responsible for the Adams Room, the most "furnished" room with a rare Persian carpet, reproduction Steinway piano and gilt ceiling. Another part of the house shows how the Madisons lived. In 2001, the dining room was restored to its 1824 state and a second exhibit of original furnishings showcased the Madisons’ life and style. Behind-the-scenes tours were launched to show more rooms in the historic core than ever before. Visitors can amble through the restored double-tiered gardens, quite a sight against a forested hillside backdrop, walk miles of trails and follow a tree walk brochure that points out 40 trees from across the world. The visitor roadway traverses a portion of the 2,700-acre estate, which has 100 other structures including houses, a bowling alley and stables, plus race courses, thoroughbred horses and working farmlands leased to tenants. On the way out, notice the Montpelier station the owner built in 1910 at the entrance to the estate. Although the train no longer stops, the station lives on as a post office. And Montpelier lives on as a social center for the county, hosting wine festivals, the county fair and such – preserving not only the architecture but also the cultural heritage of the area.

James Madison Museum, 129 Caroline St., Orange.

This small downtown museum is an excellent complement to Montpelier, showing possessions of the president and his wife Dolley, furnishings from Montpelier, presidential correspondence and books from his library. Downstairs is a fine Hall of Agriculture exhibit in tribute to Madison’s farming techniques.

Exchange Hotel Civil War Historic Museum, 400 South Main St., Gordonsville.

Built as a railroad hotel in 1860, this handsome Greek Revival was transformed into a military hospital during the Civil War and later abandoned. A forward-looking group of women formed an historical society to buy it in the 1970s for $14,000; it was recently appraised at $340,000. It’s furnished to illustrate both its hotel and hospital functions and has quite a collection of Civil War memorabilia, from weapons and uniforms to medical artifacts and surgeons’ implements used in the very room in which they are displayed.

Barboursville Vineyards and Ruins, 17655 Winery Road (Route 777), Barboursville.

Virginia winemaking started here in 1976, nearly two centuries after pioneering vintner Thomas Jefferson’s vineyards of European stock were blighted. The Zonin family from Italy were the first in the state to plant viniferas successfully and have many awards to show for them. Barboursville won the 1999 Virginia Wine Competition Governor’s Cup for its cabernet franc, and its ten awards covered the broadest spectrum of wines in the state. Specializing in premium viniferas, winemaker-manager Luca Paschina offers a crisp chardonnay for $11.99, along with riesling, pinot grigio and sauvignon blanc and some mighty fine merlots, pinot noirs and cabernet sauvignons ($14.99 to $24.99) in an impressive tasting room with a Mediterranean facade. Visitors get to sample at least four of the more than twenty wines, some of which are fairly unusual. Seventy-five scenic acres are under grape cultivation and more than 10,000 cases are produced annually. Next to the recently expanded tasting room is an acclaimed new restaurant, Palladio (see Dining Spots). Nearby on the property are the Barboursville Ruins, the Jefferson-designed home of Gov. James Barbour, which was destroyed by fire in 1884. Open to public view behind dense shrubbery, the shell of the mansion is remarkably close to two handsome outbuildings, joined into one and lived in today as the primary residence of the estate.

Shakespeare at the Ruins, Barboursville, (540) 832-5355. The Barboursville Ruins are a spectacular backdrop for the annual Shakespeare at the Ruins in late July and early August. The Four County Players, Central Virginia’s longest-running community theater, stages one of its year’s five productions under the stars, combining Renaissance costumes and music with a Shakespearean play on three weekends. Dinner and wines are available from the winery before the show.

Horton Cellars, 6399 Spottswood Trail (Route 29), Gordonsville.

Although it had been growing grapes behind the Hidden Inn in Orange and producing wines in connection with Montdomaine Cellars south of Charlottesville, Horton Vineyards now has a large new underground winery topped by an impressive sales room looking rather like an English Tudor château. Dennis and Sharon Horton, who have produced a number of award-winners, earned acclaim for their new Horton norton ($11). An oak-aged wine patterned after the 19th-century Monticello Wine Co.’s original claret, it incorporates red hybrid norton grapes propagated in Thomas Jefferson days. Horton has committed to other French Rhone-type grapes, including one of the largest plantings of viognier, a rare substitute for chardonnay. Horton’s 1994 viognier ($20) was rated best in the nation. Wine writers consider the Horton cabernet franc one of the better reds produced in Virginia. Dennis often cooks for special events, such as a spring chili fest and an annual pig roast (all you can eat for $15).

Shopping. Downtown Orange got a shot in the arm with the conversion of its old railroad depot into a transportation center and visitor center with a park beside. New businesses opened, among them Not the Same Old Grind at 113 East Church St. Jim and Nancy Bosket offer specialty coffees and teas, New York-style bagels, sandwiches, baked goods and chocolates, plus a sofa and a few tables for partaking. 

We liked the wares at The Country Mouse, 143 East Church St., an herb cottage where several rooms are filled with baskets, baby and bath things, hats, herbs, spices, organic foods, garden items and great jewelry, especially that depicting animals. The relocated Somerset Shop, part of a larger store at 110 East Main St., has every kind of country gift, handcrafted item and accessory you could imagine. Back near its old home in Somerset is the Old Somerset Print Shop & Fine Art Gallery, an excellent gallery specializing in upscale watercolors, mostly pastoral scenes from the English countryside. We love the paintings of the Blue Ridge Mountains by Frederick D. Nichols, but they are out of our price range. See them at Beth Gallery, Route 678 in Barboursville. Appointments are advised.

Ed Jaffe Gallery, 108 West Main St., Orange.

This 5,000-square-foot studio and gallery – "unlike any other north or south of Manhattan," according to its creator – opened in a former five-and-dime store in downtown Orange in 1994. Sculptor Jaffe had tired of the way traditional galleries showed his sculptures for twenty years on the East and West coasts. As the middleman, "the gallery tends to put up a wall between the artist and the collector," Ed said. He liked having collectors visit his farmhouse-studio in southern Vermont, discovering "a bond that comes from direct contact." He also didn’t care for the way the galleries handled pieces that were as dear to him as family members, so he "pulled all my babies home" and decided to open his own gallery. The question was where. He didn’t want to return to New York City, where he’d worked as a professional photographer, and a Vermont mountaintop was not the place to reach a broad market. His search took five years; the change took five months. The center of his universe is now downtown Orange, which he calls the heart of the nation’s North-South corridor. He converted part of the store into a studio and his living quarters, and the rest is like a museum in need of a few more exhibits. The entire space is devoted to the works of one man, mostly sculptures but some paintings. They carry price tags from $300 to $15,000.

Material excerpted from Inn Spots & Special Places / Mid-Atlantic, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth. Copyright 2003.

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