March 11, 2013 / Joanne Yeck

Colonial Williamsburg: Another Boxwood Story

Governor’s Palace Garden and boxwood maze during a Spring rain.

Colonial Williamsburg, Williamsburg, Virginia. Photo by David M. Doody.

In response to the March 5th post, I was reminded that one of the largest collections of boxwood to go to Colonial Williamsburg came from Avon Hill in Nelson County, about a mile upriver from Howardsville, in sight of Buckingham County across the James River.

Avon Hill had been in the Lewis family for many generations and, in 1936, Annie Lee Harrower wrote this for the Virginia Historical Inventory: “The large yard [at Avon Hill] was famed for its boxwood. The Lewis’ shipped over $5,000.00 worth to Williamsburg several years ago.” In 2003, William Giannini (a local resident) and John Moore, a Lewis descendant, both attested to the fact that the Williamsburg Foundation purchased several railroad flat car loads of boxwood from Avon Hill to be planted at the restored Williamsburg in the late 1920’s.

That’s a lot of boxwood!