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Closed
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The Museum will be closed March 31, Easter Sunday, but the Woodland Hike will take place as regularly scheduled.
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UMW Intern
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Adriana Christesen, a Huntington, New York native, is a senior art history major at UMW. Ms. Christesen will be working with education coordinator Michelle Crow-Dolby to plan and implement interactive programs for museum visitors and the second-annual Beeping Easter Egg hunt.
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Preschool Palette
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Children ages 2-5 enjoy a story, garden walk, hands-on art project, and a visit to the art gallery or historic house.
March's theme is ART
 Monday, March 5
Thursday, March 7
Tuesday, March 12
Classes run from 10 a.m. - 11 a.m.
$8/child (Members $5), adults free, pre-register by contacting Education and Communications Manager Michelle Crow-Dolby at 540/654-1851. |
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Friends of Belmont
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Members bring a guest for free!
Chance to win tickets to Historic Garden Day
From now through March 31, Friends of Belmont members are invited to bring up to two guests for a free tour, and while at Belmont, register for a chance to win two tickets to Historic Garden Day in Fredericksburg (Belmont is included on this year's April 23 Fredericksburg tour).
The drawing is open to current Friends of Belmont and their guests. Registration is available only at the Visitor Center on the day of your visit.
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LFL
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This Little Free Library belongs to everybody - neighbors, friends and visitors to Belmont.
Anyone can use it.
Take a book. If you see something you like to read, take it.
Share a book. Return it to any Little Free Library or pass it on to a friend.
Give a book. Leave notes in them. Be a friend to all libraries by helping any way you can.
We support reading for children, literacy for adults, and libraries around the world.
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Governor Designation
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2013 is the Year of the Virginia Historic Home
Read the press release. |
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 Spirituality in the Art of Gari Melchers
Sun, March 17, 2 p.m.
Free for members or with museum admission
Gari Melchers, who maintained a studio in Paris in the 1880s, established his rural base in the small coastal village of Egmond an Zee in northern Holland. There he immersed himself in the daily life of the Dutch working class. Among the most evocative of his paintings are scenes illustrating the prominent role of the Dutch Reformed church in the lives of the local farmers and fishermen. In recognition of the Easter season, Belmont Director David Berreth will talk about some of these paintings and lead a discussion about spirituality in Melchers' art. 2nd Annual Beeping Easter Egg Hunt Sat, March 23 
This program is for visually impaired or blind individuals and their families. Flyer; Read about last year's event.
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Woodland Hike
Sun, March 31
2 p.m.
Virginia Master Naturalists, this informative free hike covers a mile of trails in both woodlands and fields and touches on the historic ruins of Belmont's past. Please wear sturdy footwear and meet outside the Visitor Center.
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Bluebird Trail Improvements
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Carl and Anne Little, Alton and Astrid Dick |
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 Astrid and Alton Dick are starting their third season monitoring Belmont's bluebird boxes. Long-time Virginia Bluebird Society members, the couple has enjoyed placing and monitoring bluebird boxes in several Stafford County locations.
In February, with help from Carl and Anne Little, Stafford County VBS Coordinator, they made much needed trail improvements. An additional box was added for a total of four. The boxes were outfitted with predator guards and placed in the open areas favored by bluebirds.
The Dicks will be checking the boxes starting in early March. They will keep track of the nest building cycle: egg laying, incubating, hatching, and fledging.
We hope you will visit our trails this spring and summer and catch a glimpse of these adorable birds.
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Loaned Painting on Display
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 In The Studio (Gari Melchers and Hugo Reisinger), a 1912 painting by Gari Melchers, has been lent to Gari Melchers Home and Studio at Belmont by New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The large painting (55x48 inches) shows the artist at his easel with the prominent German businessman, arts patron and philanthropist Hugo Reisinger, who was a long-time friend and associate of Melchers. Reisinger worked with Melchers on a number of cultural exchanges, including contemporary art exhibitions, between Germany and the United States prior to World War I. Press Release
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Little Free Library
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Inspired after reading about the emerging
Little Free Library movement, Museum Shop and Marketing Manager Susan Taylor-Schran resolved to bring one to Belmont. Built by Ken Smith and featuring Gari's iconic Studio window, Belmont's own Little Free Library is now open for business.
See sidebar for more information on how a LFL works. Artist Gari Melchers and his wife Corinne were booklovers. Despite his studio schedule demands, Gari Melchers devoted his morning hours to his newspapers, made time for a good novel or history and enjoyed studying the pages of his many art books. Corinne Melchers, too, loved the classics, contemporary novels, biographies and books related to her interests in painting, horticulture, and American cultural history. Her brothers encouraged the couple's interest in books. Brother Leonard Mackall, a bibliophile with a column in the New York Herald Tribune, acquired many first editions and rare books for the couple, many of which relate to the Netherlands where the couple resided for many years. Brother Lawton Mackall was a writer as well, and is best remembered as a renowned restaurant critic, though he was also a humorist, magazine editor and even worked on a Hollywood screenplay. It is fitting that Belmont should become the setting of a Little Free Library project in Stafford County. For decades Corinne Melchers worked diligently to improve the way of life for the people of Stafford County, especially through her charitable work with the Stafford County Public Health Association and the local chapter of the American Red Cross.
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 Gari Melchers was an American artist who lived and painted at Belmont from 1916 until his death in 1932. Born in Detroit in 1860, Gari Melchers was a world famous portraitist and impressionist painter. He was one of the most successful painters of his time, sought out by the rich and famous. She was a beautiful, young art student, and his biggest fan.
They fell in love on an ocean liner and spent their lives sharing art.
More than a hundred years later, the story of Gari and Corinne Melchers lives on in their home, Belmont. Be a part of this story. Come and explore this unique 18th century estate, tour stunning art galleries and hike the 27 acres of garden and trails. Share it with someone you love!
A National Historic Landmark, Gari Melchers Home and Studio is one of just 30 of America's most significant artists' spaces included in the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Historic Artists' Homes and Studios consortium.
Gari Melchers Home and Studio at Belmont is open daily, except Wednesdays, from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
The Museum Shop, which is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., is also the official home of the Stafford County Visitor Center, where visitors can find information about Stafford County attractions, restaurants, hotels and other amenities.
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