Swannanoa, VA

Last Saturday, a friend and I drove two hours east on I64 from Richmond. One of the things I like to do on a sunny weekend is spend the day driving around and finding the forgotten beauty of Virginia. I have a "new" used bridge camera (a camera between regular digital cameras and digital SLR cameras), and wanted a chance to play with it. My friend has been in photography for a few years now and I've been bitten by the shutter bug recently.

We stopped at this beautiful little church on the way out. Sorry, I thought I got a picture of the sign so I wouldn't forget where we went, but it's not on my SD card. I will ask my friend for a copy of his picture.

Here is a close-up of the window:After that, we drove a few more miles into Waynesboro, VA. We noticed an old hotel up on the mountain that always caught my friend's eye. We found the way to the hotel and ended up driving around the mountain it sat on. There were several high-end homes up there, around a country club/golf course.

A strange unique building peaked out of the trees between the homes and the golf club, with no obvious way of reaching it. A man clearing the side of the road near his property told us it belonged to the Swannanoa estate, which just happened to be holding an open house to the public! For $6, we got to see a beautiful estate being restored to its former glory.

Swannanoa is the sister building to the Maymont mansion/building in Richmond, VA. It was the summer home Major and Mrs. James H. Dooley, a Civil War era lawyer who became a railroad tycoon who also did banking, steel, and land development. By 1911, Dooley was among the super-rich railroad barons, and bought 1000 acres to build the palace of Swannanoa. Finished in 1912, the Dooley's used the summer mansion until they both died. In 1925, the mansion was inherited by Major Dooley's sisters, who were nuns. It has since been a country club that President and Mrs. Calvin Coolidge visited, a University of Science and Philosophy, a commune convent, and a family summer home.

Property has been sold off to build two hotels, including the one that drew us into the area, the golf club, several homes, and I64 was built on the edge of the property. Maymont mansion was donated to the city of Richmond, along with the furniture from Swannanoa.

The current owner, James F. Dulaney, Jr., began restoring the mansion in 2000. He eventually plans to turn it into a European-style "boutique hotel." Count me as a future guest! A new hotel will be built into the mountain near the mansion, with the mansion being used for weddings and other functions.

The details in this palace are amazing! Lots of marble.

Carved wood everywhere.

Painted ceilings, walls, and more. The large window in the back of the hall is of Mrs. Dooley.

Behind the mansion, there is an Italian tiered garden in the same Alabama white marble as the mansion.

There is a water tower and a two-story stone house for the head of the servants. And we found out what that building was that had originally caught our eye! Turns out that the stable is off about 200 yards behind the mansion, which was pretty amazing considering that it held the electric generator! Back in the 1910-20s, only some cities and the wealthy had electricity. The wealthy had their own generators. They must have been noisy to want to house it in the stables so far away! The stables have a basement, with the generator, and a second floor, which held the housing for the coachman and stablehand. There is also a little building on the other side of the stable (hidden in this picture). No idea what it was for.

I do hope this magnificent building is also saved. There was a small horse-drawn carriage visible in the windows, along with a lot of old furniture from the main building. The roof has serious damage, including a large hole near the tower (between the chimneys in the picture). It was clear by how young all the trees are around here that this area was completely clear and a large portion is relatively flat for running horses.

I have many more pictures that I won't bore people with. I want to go back again, when more trees are green. The estate is open to the public the first weekend each of May and June, so I may go back then.

I promise my next post will be craft-related. I just had to share my discoveries from last weekend.