There are a number of lovely, accessible greenspaces in and around Abingdon. The Urban Pathway, which begins near the Muster Grounds, passes through town by way of Depot Square, the Market Pavilion, and the grounds behind the Martha Washington Inn. It then proceeds alongside the railroad bed to the east side of town as far as Landon Boyd Park. Along the way the Pathway crosses Pecan St. only steps away from Abingdon’s best known attraction, the Virginia Creeper Trail. The first leg of the Creeper Trail is popular with local residents and visitors alike. There are always people walking, alone or in groups, walking dogs and occasionaly riding horses. And, of course. lots of people on bikes. But you would have to walk a good distance away from town to enjoy a unique natural setting. You could actually hike to the Trail’s terminus on Mount Rogers, 30 miles away, although it is not recommended. (There is at least one recorded instance of someone doing it.) [Blanton, The Plow, p. 11] You could venture by car up North of town towards Meadowview to view the Community Gardens at Fairview Farms or as far afield as the Chestnut Restoration facility outside of Emory. But whichever way you go, you would be hard pressed to see anything as remarkable as the historic gardens of Old Abingdon
In 1923 the James River Garden Club in Richmond, Va. published the second edition of a book featuring Historic Gardens of Virginia. This astonishingly beautiful book includes two entries for Abingdon: The Meadows, also known as “Mary’s Meadows,” and Carpet Hill.
The Meadows
“The Meadows is far from Tidewater Virginia; twenty-three hundred feet above sea level, and in the midst of the Alleghany Mountains. It was almost frontier in the year 1819 when the big garden, covering two acres, was planned and most of its trees and shrubs planted.” [Gay Robertson Blackford, HistoricGardens of Virginia, p. 349]
“In 1817 Captain Francis Smith and his wife purchased a three thousand acre estate in south Abingdon, naming it ‘Mary’s Meadows’ for their five year-old daughter. In time, Mary married Wyndham Robertson, later governor of Virginia…, and father of Frank S. Robertson. Governor Robertson and his family lived in Richmond and spent their summers at the Meadows until the Civil War. Thereafter, the Meadows became the permanent residence of the Robertson family. Celebrated for its beautiful two-acre garden filled with ornamental shrubs, plants, flowers, fruit trees, and vegetables, the Meadows original plantation house was an unpretentious dwelling at the time Frank S. Robertson came to Abingdon.
“Robertson’s beloved Meadows burned many years ago and the present house was rebuilt on the original foundation.” [“The Meadows,” L.C. Angle, Jr. and Edwin T. Hardison, p. 40]
Carpet Hill
“Situated in the southwest corner of Virginia, in Washington County, is the quaint old twon of Abingdon, headquarters of the first pioneers west of the Appalachian Range. It was founded in 1788, and is said to be the first town incorporated west of the Alleghanies.”
“One of the most notable places in this section was Carpet Hill, the White homestead and the center of the gatherings of that family for more than a hundred years. The name originated from the mantle of blue grass that covered the slope and was heavily carpeted with violets in the spring.”
“From the house, situated on the top of a gentle rise, could be seen nearly thirty miles distant, Mount Rogers and White Top, the two highest points in Virginia, with an altitude of five thousand six hundred and seventy-eight feet above the sea level.” [Historic Gardens, Margaret White Wilmer, p. 353]
“Recently Carpet Hill was sold to the Presbyterian Church as the site for Stonewall Jackson College.” [ibid, p. 355]
Panicello (Panacella)
“Panicello was one of the legendary homes of Abingdon. Standing on 8.75 acres in the area around (behind) Abingdon H.S., it was built by Judge Peter Johnston and, prior to its demise, was the oldest occupied house in Abingdon.”
Abingdon Virginian, 4/29/98, p.1
“The first family to own Panicello after the Johnston heirs sold house and land were the George V. Litchfields. Perhaps these owners transformed the house to its most elegant pinnacle, since they were enthusiastic as host and hostess to the community friends they enjoyed. It is mentioned in an old account that the dining room paper had peacock feathers on it, and over the dining room table hung a peacock feather fan which waved back and forth to stir the air in the room and banish houseflies.”
“The Reminiscences of Garland Minnick,” From the 1976 Survey, Remembrances of Panicello. The Appalachian, April 2009, p. 42
“Before the Civil War when George V. Litchfield had purchased Panicello and its lands, Mrs. Rachel Litchfield devotedly planted lovely flower gardens with beds of every conceivable variety of bloom which could thrive in the soil and climate of the region. By 1919 these beds were neglected, most bushes and shrubs were dead. The most obvious survivors were four vitae shrubs planted near the dwelling; they were roof high when the Minnicks moved in.”
“The Reminiscences of Garland Minnick,” p. 43
“The Flower Garden of Panacella,” by Mary Cosby Penn
- “Walking the Line: Impressions from a walk on the Abingdon Branch Line,” Bill Blanton. The Plow, Nov. 1, 1977
- Historic Gardens of Virginia, 2nd ed., Edith Tunith Sale, Editor. The William Byrd Press, Inc. Richmond, Va. (1923)
- “Old Homes and Gardens,” Minnie Baugh. The Journal Virginian, Abingdon, VA (1939)
- “The Meadows,” L.C. Angle, Jr. and Edwin T. Hardison, HSWCVa Bulletin, Series II, No. 23 (1986)
- “Panicello, The Boyhood Home of General Joseph E. Johnston, Researched by Melissa Abell Watson (HSWCV) Source: The Appalachian, April 2009 (p. 38-44)
- “Historical Homes of Abingdon, Virginia: Panacella.” Source: Pastmaster Journal, Jan. 2006 (p. 86-87)
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