From Woodlawn-Sandy, turn left on Rt. 620 for 0.5 miles to Cherry Walk. After touring house return to Rt. 360 and proceed to Tappahannock to continue tour.
Built on a colonial site by Carter Croxton, of Revolutionary War fame, the house remained in the family and was home to Alexander Woodford Broaddus, a county notable, who left it to his youngest daughter, Woodley, later Mrs. A. S. Acree. She guarded the property zealously for almost 100 years until her death in the mid 1970s. It was bought by the Rowlands in 1982.
The house is a four-bay brick dwelling with dormered steep gambrel roof. Of particular note are the five supporting outbuildings: two dairies. a smokehouse, a summer kitchen, and a privy. A much-enlarged early barn, a plank corncrib, and a late 19th century blacksmith's shop have also been restored.
Beverley Wellford Rowland, who has strong ties to this area dating to the 17th century, designed and planted the gardens after extensive research. Her plan included a formal herb garden, Mr. Rowlands vegetable garden which mirrors the design of the herb garden, a fruit plot, and a swimming pool with surrounding perennial borders filled with native and drought tolerant plants. The gardens reinforce the historic integrity and rural simplicity of the house and outbuildings and attest to the owners' continuing hands-on involvement with the project.
The entire site, including 97 acres, house, and all outbuildings, is listed on the Virginia Register and the National Register of Historic Places and is protected in perpetuity by an historic and open space easement donated by the Rowlands to the State of Virginia.
Open for the first time to Historic Garden Week visitors. Mr. and Mrs. Walter Speed Rowland, owners.