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Boxerwood Gardens

Arboreta in VirginiaBotanical gardens in VirginiaNational Register of Historic Places in Rockbridge County, VirginiaNature centers in VirginiaParks on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia
Rockbridge County, VirginiaUse mdy dates from August 2023Woodland gardens
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Boxerwood Nature Center and Woodland Garden is a 15-acre (6.1 ha) arboretum featuring both native and unusual plant specimens, located within a larger preserve at 963 Ross Road near Lexington in Rockbridge County, Virginia, United States in the Shenandoah Valley. Established as a private garden in 1952, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015. The Arboretum contains thousands of labeled trees and shrubs, including 1,300 cultivars, with fine collections of dwarf conifers, magnolias, dogwoods, rhododendrons, azaleas and Japanese maples. Examples of its collection include: 163 varieties of Acer palmatum (Japanese Maple), Abies nebrodensis (Sicilian Fir), Acer buergerianum (Trident maple), Acer griseum (Paperbark Maple), Acer pensylvanicum (Striped maple), Aesculus parviflora (Bottlebrush Buckeye), Aesculus pavia (Red Buckeye), Aesculus x carnea 'Briottii' (Red Horsechestnut), Chaemaecyparis obtusa (Hinoki Falsecypress), Chionanthus virginicus (White Fringetree), Cladrastis kentuckea (American Yellowwood), Cryptomeria japonica (Japanese Cedar), Halesia tetraptera (Carolina Silverbell), Ilex verticillata (Winterberry), Liquidunbar styraciflua 'Corky' (Corky Sweetgum), Malus 'Red Jade' (Red Jade Crabapple), Picea omorika 'Pendula' (Weeping Serbian Spruce), Syringa reticulata (Japanese Tree Lilac), Taxodium distichum (Baldcypress), Taxus species (Yews), Thuja occidntalis (American Arborvitae), and Viburnum prunifolium (Blackhaw viburnum). Boxerwood Nature Center has a PlayTrail, a nature playground designed especially for young children. Kids can run through the plant tunnels, float leaves down the mini creek, make pies in the mud kitchen, climb tiny house mountain and more. The rules include "make noise," "touch anything," "get dirty," and "have fun". There is also a Fairy Forest where children can build their own fairy structures, and a wetland walk where visitors can cross the zigzag bridge over the garden wetlands. In fall 2016, a pollinator garden was added to the gardens.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Boxerwood Gardens (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Boxerwood Gardens
Ross Road,

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Wikipedia: Boxerwood GardensContinue reading on Wikipedia

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N 37.777222222222 ° E -79.465277777778 °
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Ross Road 959
24450
Virginia, United States
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Thorn Hill
Thorn Hill

Thorn Hill is a historic home located near Lexington, Rockbridge County, Virginia. It was built in 1792, and is a two-story, five bay, brick I-house dwelling. It has a side gable roof, interior end chimneys with corbelled caps, and a two-story, one-bay wing. The front facade features a colossal tetrastyle portico with Doric order columns. The property includes the contributing log smokehouse, frame kitchen, frame servants house and loom house, and barns and farm outbuildings. Thorn Hill was the home of Col. John Bowyer, a central figure in Rockbridge County's formative years.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.The property has historically been closely associated with nearby Washington and Lee University (W&L). In 1782, Bowyer was appointed one of the first trustees of Liberty Hall Academy, which eventually became W&L. John Robinson, a principal benefactor of Washington College, and Judge John Brockenbrough, founder of the W&L Law School, lived at Thorn Hill. More recently, Thorn Hill was a dairy farm, and the house itself largely fell into disrepair. In 2004, Bill Johnston and Paul Elliott bought Thorn Hill, spending more than $1 million restoring the property and adding various amenities, including a large pottery studio where the original kitchen (which was built away from the main house to prevent the main house from burning down in the event of a fire) once stood. They also added a scenic driveway and lush gardens. In 2008, the pair attempted to sell the property. Unfortunately the house went on the market the week before the collapse of Bear Stearns. Over the next several years, they kept cutting the price without attracting a buyer. In 2013, the owners decided to auction the house.Current Washington and Lee Trustee Bennett L. Ross and his wife Alyson Moore Ross were the high bidders during the auction, stating that they "...were interested in buying Thorn Hill because of its ties to Washington and Lee." In 2021, the owners formally opened a bed and breakfast called the "Thorn Hill Inn", featuring refurbished original outbuildings with modern amenities as well as a fitness and yoga center.