Around Colonial Williamsburg - Maymont, Richmond

We are settled in a lovely apartment at Powhaton Plantation, Williamsburg for 9 nights. There are so many places to visit from here, and the countryside is gorgeous. The area is very old, dating back to the first English settlers in the early 1600s. There is an old plantation house on-site with restored gardens and a lake which is very photogenic.

On our first trip we crossed the James River on a car ferry and drove to Richmond to visit the Mansion and Gardens of Maymont. Richmond is a very busy city, full of museums.Grand houses and statues line the wide avenues. Maymont is right in the city center but sheltered by the 100 acre parkland. The house was not a mansion by European standards but was built and furnished by railroad magnate James Dooley and his wife Sallie May. Having no children, the house was left to the city upon their deaths, and has remained exactly as it was in 1925. The gilded wall decor, tiffany stained glass windows and Swan-shaped bed were quite unique amidst the ornate furnishings, corner ceiling lights and beautiful fireplaces. Most memorable was the dressing table, made of 2 long twisted tusks from near extinct narwhales. Downstairs was a 1925 kitchen with all the accoutrements of hard domestic work in a Victorian home.

The park and outbuildings were lovely but we enjoyed the gardens the best. The Italian garden had a long arbor of wisteria, and a rose garden above a natural waterfall which cascaded down the rocky shelf. At the bottom was the most beautifully restored Japanese garden surrounding a long lake of koi carp, with typical arched bridges, pagodas, Japanese maples and stepping-stones. There was a fresh view every few steps and it was a joy to spend time there