Today, nearly 1,000 visitors will make their way onto the grounds of Chautauqua Institution, journeying along Vincent, through Miller Park, and down South Lake Drive, taking in some of the most beautiful architecture and horticulture Chautauqua has to offer.
Every two years since 1954, the Bird, Tree & Garden Club has hosted the House and Garden Tour, showcasing various homes and gardens throughout the grounds and highlighting the wide variety in architectural styles, interior design and gardens of Chautauqua.
“It’s a big event, you know,” said Rosemary Rappole, chair of the BTG House and Garden Tour. “We have over 900 people coming in (from) off the grounds. They just flow in, and they’re so happy.”
Rappole said the House and Garden Tour is BTG’s largest fundraising event each season it’s put on — and by far the most popular. While the tour draws in about 100 or so Chautauquans already on-grounds, the vast majority of the rest of the tour’s attendees come from house and garden clubs across Western New York and Pennsylvania, as well as some other locals eager for a glimpse of the homes at the Institution.
The House and Garden Tour is certainly an all-day engagement, beginning this morning with a lecture from Betsy Burgeson, the Institution’s supervisor of gardens and landscapes, at 9:30 a.m. in Smith Wilkes Hall. Burgeson’s lecture is titled “The Neglectful Garden — Low Maintenance Plants for Gardeners with Limited Time,” providing a primer on easy-to-care-for plants for new or busy gardeners.
Following Burgeson’s lecture, the House and Garden Tour will officially commence at noon. Attendees will be able to choose their own route through all of the homes and gardens, most of which are clustered together in three areas on the grounds. At each location, they will be greeted by a volunteer docent to show them around the interior of each home, or a master gardener for a walkthrough of each garden.
The houses and gardens will remain open until 5 p.m., allowing attendees time between each stop on the tour, as well as opportunities to stop for complimentary refreshments at Smith Wilkes or to explore the rest of the Institution grounds. But many attendees may want to spend all five hours exploring the incredibly wide variety of houses and gardens.
“We try to have a variety — we don’t want them all to be the same style,” Rappole said, highlighting that no two houses on the tour were like each other. “We have a few large houses on South Lake Drive; we have the Miller Cottage, which is the oldest one, (built) back in 1874; we have a tiny little house just off of Miller Park. It’s called the Dixie — it’s adorable, but you can walk through it in two seconds. … We look for variety.”
Chautauquans who have not yet purchased tickets for the House and Garden Tour but would like to attend can visit the BTG’s Welcome Table, located at the Main Gate Welcome Center, to purchase one beginning at 8 a.m. — though supply is very limited.
The amount of behind-the-scenes work that goes into planning the House and Garden Tour is almost unfathomable, Rappole said, and the end product will certainly be worth the work — and the wait. But most importantly, in the eyes of Rappole, is that attendees have the chance to catch a small glimpse into the lives of Chautauquans, getting to know them through the four walls inside of which they all live.
“It’s a (tough) job putting it together, but it’s really fun,” Rappole said. “It’s fun getting inside the houses, and it’s fun getting to know the owners.”
