Friends of the Claymont Mansion Garden

05/25/2022

It’s peony season in the old garden. I am grateful to see many more blossoms of Festivus Maximus (white with red streaks), and even a pure white variety (with a greenish cast).
What’s missing is any deep red peonies.
A couple of irises too for good measure.

03/08/2022

Spring is on the way

08/13/2021

https://www.facebook.com/100001523066901/posts/3291372574256812/?d=n

08/12/2021

The work group that’s been here this week has done a lot of cleanup, and the lowest staircase is now visible again. 😺The collapsed stone wall is too.😭

08/08/2021

Another 1946 photo. The rose garden in the foreground, an unidentified white shed in the background. You can see the climbing roses draped on the supports.

07/04/2021

Open house at the mansion.

Exhibit on Pioneering West Virginia Photographer
On Display at Historic Claymont Court
Friday’s and Saturdays 11:00-1:00 through July 31.

An exhibit celebrating the work of West Virginia native Frances Benjamin Johnston is on display during July at Claymont Court in Charles Town. The exhibit, “Frances Benjamin Johnston: West Virginia Icon,” is sponsored by the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia (PAWV) with a grant from the West Virginia Humanities Council.

“The exhibit includes enlargements of approximately twenty rare photographs from the Library of Congress collection that embody Johnston’s career over the span of sixty years. A native of Grafton, Johnston was a trained artist and photojournalist who worked as a portrait photographer for high society in Washington, D.C. including Teddy Roosevelt, Booker T. Washington and Mark Twain. She transitioned into photographing gardens of the rich and famous during the 1920’s. The exhibit includes a diverse range of her work from ruins of slave quarters to grand mansions, including Claymont Court, which she photographed in 1905. 'It is a genuine bonus that photographs of Claymont Court and grounds are part of the exhibit – they are stunning and we are anxious to share them with the public.”

The exhibit is free and open to the public and can be viewed through July 31 on Fridays and Saturdays only from 11:00 to 1:00 at Claymont Court, (take the Mansion Drive entrance off Huyett Road). Groups of more than 20 people are asked to call ahead to reserve a time. For questions and information, message us on Facebook or call 304-725-4437.

Note: Due to the Historic Preservation of the building there is no handicapped entrance.
COVID POLICY: Following WV Guidelines, those that have not been vaccinated must wear masks.

06/10/2021

I’m thrilled to have discovered that Frances Benjamin Johnston photographed Claymont in 1905 as part of a Carnegie-underwritten series of photos documenting early American houses. Here is her photo of the stairs and walls from the lawn down into the upper terrace of the garden.

05/06/2021

I wanted to let everyone know that four rose bushes have been ordered. Two of them will be direct replacements for roses that had survived there into the 90’s but were subsequently lost. Two others are personal choices .

04/25/2021

Historic photos of tulips in the cutting garden in April 1947.

04/10/2021

The unique species tulips ( so sweetly fragrant!) on a bank of one of the gardens three terraces.

04/10/2021

The most tenacious and characteristic old rose still living at Claymont is Rosa Russelliana, a rambler type. She has a very strong damask scent, and a musk on the foliage that smells slightly like apples.
It reaches 16’, and was growing on one of the pergola columns. Two stock photos.

04/10/2021

A troubling development is that several peonies have this leaf curl going on, which I saw last year as well