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Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden is on property that was Powhatan Indian hunting ground and was once owned by Patrick Henry. Lewis Ginter puchased the land in 1884.

Brief Timeline of the Garden

 

1884

Lewis Ginter bought the property and built the Lakeside Wheel Club, a one-story structure that was later modified and incorporated into Bloemendaal House. The Wheel Club was a destination for Richmond bicyclists.

1897

Lewis Ginter died at the age of 73.

The Lakeside Wheel Club

1913

Grace Arents, Ginter's niece, bought the abandoned Lakeside Wheel Club. She remodeled the structure, adding a second story, and made it a convalescent home for sick children from the city.

Later with the founding of the Instructional Visiting Nurses Association, the convalescent home was no longer needed and Arents moved into the house with her companion, Mary Garland Smith. She called it Bloemendaal in tribute to the Ginter family's Dutch ancestors and developed gardens on the property. Bloemendaal means "valley of flowers."

 

Grace Arents in her garden

1926

Grace Arents died at the age of 78. She willed life-rights to Smith and stipulated after Smith's death the city of Richmond was to develop the property as a botanical garden honoring Lewis Ginter.

1968

Mary Garland Smith died at the age of 100. The city of Richmond took possession of the property. The city investigated plans for a botanical garden but none of them came to fruition and the property languished.

 

 

 

 

The entrance to house when it was Bloemendaal Farm

 

1981

A group of botanists, horticulturists and interested citizens banded together to form the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Inc. to uphold the will of Arents. A lawsuit ensued. An amicable settlement allowed the formation of the Garden. The Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden was chartered by court decree.

Aerial view of the property in 1981

See a factsheet about Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, including more history.