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(A gallery of photos follows the story below. Photos by Titus Mohler)

The Franklin Tour: Homes & Gardens Along Historic Clay Street set an outstanding tone Saturday, April 26, to start the Garden Club of Virginia’s 2025 Historic Garden Week, which runs from April 26-May 3.

The Franklin Tour was hosted by the Franklin, Elizabeth River and Nansemond River Garden clubs and featured five properties: Woods Hill at 1501 Clay St., The Drake House at 1404 Clay St., The Thorpe House at 1009 Clay St., The Russell House at 722 Clay St. and The Elms at 717 Clay St.

Holly Gizzi, one of the chairpersons of the Historic Garden Week Franklin Tour, said, “I believe that the tour went wonderfully. Everything flowed. We were able to beautifully pivot around many hurdles.”

One of those hurdles arose due to a two-vehicle crash that occurred in the area of Clay Street and Hunterdale Road shortly before the tour’s 10 a.m. start.

“The accident was a disadvantage that I believe turned out to be an advantage because of the traffic flow going to The Thorpe House, which we were concerned about,” Gizzi said. 

She noted she had to serve as the crossing guard there for a while because the police officer hired to do that had to be elsewhere. 

She said things did slow down for a bit, but people were able to easily maneuver around the light once they figured out that their GPS would re-route them.

“Everything I’ve heard from all the different attendees (about the tour) was very positive,” Gizzi said. “They were blown away by the plein air painters and the floral design and how unique and different each individual home was on the tour.”

Among the special features of the Franklin Tour experience were local plein air painters stationed at each home on the tour, sometimes more than one per home. 

Oxford Languages defines “plein air” as “denoting or in the manner of a 19th-century style of painting outdoors, or with a strong sense of the open air, that became a central feature of French impressionism.”

A wet painting sale and reception took place immediately following the end of the tour day at 4 p.m. at Rawls Museum Arts in Courtland.

Gizzi provided a general ballpark estimate for how many people attended the Franklin Tour, noting that it was right around 475.

She indicated that as of Tuesday, April 29, she was not sure about how much money the Franklin Tour had raised, as receipts were still coming in, but she said tour organizers are looking to have that number around the middle of May.

Proceeds from Historic Garden Week go to fund the restoration of Virginia public gardens and a research fellowship program.

Gizzi expressed gratitude to a variety of people for helping the Franklin Tour be such a success.

“I want to thank the tri-club, which is the Elizabeth River, Franklin and Nansemond River Garden clubs, for all of their partnership and just how we are such a team, which I loved,” she said. “And I would also like to thank the homeowners and how much time and effort and energy they put into just making this tour amazing for each visitor. That is a lot of work.

“I also want to thank our sponsors, our advertisers and also the plein air painters for just adding a whole other layer of beauty into this day,” she continued, “and then the Rawls Museum Arts for the reception afterwards and, of course, all who came after and joined us in the celebration.

“It was a pretty magical day,” she said. “The weather turned out beautifully — so many things to be grateful for.”

She extended “a big thank you” to Kris Carbone.

“She is the president of the Garden Club of Virginia, and she came to the tour, and we took the entire tour together,” Gizzi said. “(The Franklin Tour) really did have an enjoyable day of many types of visitors from all over, and I’m very thankful for everyone’s hard work, because that’s a year-long process that came together.”