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Three 'beautiful' homes featured in annual House Tour
Just how many beautiful houses are there in Rappahannock County?
If you ask the Episcopal Church Women of Trinity Church, the answer is, “An infinite number.”
And this year, just as in the past 51 years, they have chosen three of them for their annual fall Dried Flower Sale and House Tour on October 18 and 19.
This, the 52nd year of the only fund-raising event of the women of the church, is no exception to over a half century of opening beautiful houses for people to visit and admire. As they try to do each year, the women have chosen houses representing a different time in the history of the county.
Since the early 19th century, Bowling Green on Resettlement Road has looked down its driveway to the road in an austere and stately fashion, while at the end of that century, the Sabol House at 509 Main Street in Washington came together, perhaps, from a farrier’s and a stable, to anchor the corner of Harris Hollow Road. And up past Flint Hill, through a narrow gravel road, the brand new Patria shows a European facade to a visitor.
Bowling Green
Bowling Green is now owned by Charles and Mary Preston who have decided to make their current life’s work the return of the wonderful house to its former glory. They are allowing house tour guests to share in the transformation with the renovation still in its early stages. What is apparent for all to see in this brick three over three home are the high ceilings, wide-planked floors, mantled fireplaces, curved staircases and intricate wood trim of that era. In the formal living room, the trompe-l’oeil ceiling and wall painting has been attributed to either a Frenchman or an Italian (two equally good stories), and dates from the turn of the century.
The Prestons are furnishing the house with period antiques and reproductions, and the carved and inlaid woods of the butler’s desk, bookcases, sideboards and sofas speak to the seriousness of the era. Bowling Green’s place in Rappahannock history is not confined to its beginnings or to its many owners, Kidwell, Clatterbuck, Jordan and Gibson, whose names figure greatly in county life. It is attached to another century as well, and another significant event in Rappahannock’s history.
When the Shenandoah Park was set up in the 1930s, families were moved to Resettlement Road and the government purchased Bowling Green to serve as the engineering headquarters for the park.
Originally there was a log structure on the property but that is now gone. The next home was a stone house, still part of the structure, but not yet renovated. A graveyard contains many unmarked graves, but the headstone of Moses Gibson is now a part of the floor of the front portico.
Carolyn Sabol's house
In the town of Washington, Carolyn Sabol owns a home that for many years belonged to the Lynns whose family founded Wakefield School. It certainly is a house “in town” compared to the other two, with a tiny front cottage garden and a disciplined back yard with a fountain, statuary and plantings. This town house clearly is made up of two distinct parts with a brick exterior on one part fronting Main Street, and stucco on the other facing Harris Hollow Road. Inside the division can be seen in the flooring. One part, perhaps the farrier’s, is original worn brick floors, and the other has wide-planked pine flooring. Carolyn has furnished the home with fascinating and interesting pieces attesting to her interest in animals, especially dogs, antiques, and Oriental artwork and furnishings. There are four fireplaces, with original oak and pine mantels and surrounds, a tiny circular staircase, a bar hidden behind bookcases, and even, according to one expert, a wooden house underneath the stucco
The entryway and dining room walls are personalized randomly with faux brick paintings. Two large Chinese plaques mark the transition between these two rooms. The dining room opens out to a screened porch and highlights a leaded glass china closet as well as an old dining table and chairs. Oriental rugs are shown off by the polished brick floors.
Lisbeth Sabol, Carolyn’s daughter, a sculptor living in Hawaii, is represented by several of her pieces as well as by some early paintings of family pets. The living room features a walnut linen press from the 1800s. two demilune English carved oak tables, and other fascinating pieces. The other section of the home contains, on the first floor, Sabol's office and a kitchen. The kitchen fronts on Harris Hollow Road and is furnished with an Irish pub table, an American cherry step-back hutch and Quimper faience plates of unique design. Upstairs there are three bedrooms, one with a fireplace, and three full baths.
Patria
The late Dr. Werner Krebser and his wife Fran built Patria after traveling in Europe, especially Switzerland, and putting together favorite parts of the homes they had seen. This collaboration has produced a lovely home sitting high on a knoll and giving the visitor a unique (for Rappahannock County) air. Its vista appears abruptly when the narrow, leafy country lane opens up to show the stream, bridge and then Patria. The property, which backs up on the Shenandoah National Park, was purchased by Dr. Krebser in the 1970s; the original house burnt down.
The house was completed in 1999. Peter Kramer provided many of the fine wood details and some furniture pieces. Most of the pieces are of the Gothic Revival style; chests and armoires are over 10 feet tall. Leaded glass windows, ornate fireplaces, carved tables, formal landscapes and other decorative details add a unique air to the interior. A wonderful, modern kitchen provides ample space for entertaining.
Downstairs the basement opens into a large party room decorated with antique hand-made farm implements, furniture from Fran’s family and art from many Rappahannock artists. As one exits through the French doors to a patio off the lower side of the house a beautiful high stone wall with a trickling water fountain frames the view to the east. The wall and fountain are another of Dr Krebser’s personal touches.
A curved patio with more of Dr. Krebser’s stone walls on each side graces the back of the house and opens to spectacular views both east and west over rolling pastures to the Blue Ridge. An arbor graces one side of the patio with a flowering hibiscus giving shade to a dining area. This home successfully combines a unique blend of European and Rappahannock details. Each year the house tour features three Rappahannock homes as well as the Middleton Inn, an 1840s Federal style brick manor house owned by Mary Ann Kuhn, which serves as the tea house. It is located in the town of Washington.
This year the homes exhibit a variety of fascinating facets of life in the county, old and new structures, rural and town sites, historical and personal histories, and classic and eclectic styles. These combinations personify much of what endears the county to its residents and visitors.
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