Historical Society’s fall tour
Published 12:12 pm Wednesday, October 3, 2018
- LCHS will travel Oct. 20, to “Swannanoa” near Afton, VA, the mountain retreat of Lunenburg native Sallie May Dooley and her husband, “Major” (honorific title) James Dooley, wealthy Richmond attorney and millionaire post-Civil War businessman. Their amazing Richmond home, Maymont, bears Mrs. Dooley’s maiden name, “May.” Although Swannanoa is not in the meticulous condition as when it was completed in 1912, the “marble mansion,” an Italian Renaissance Revival villa, remains very impressive and is evidence of the wealth acquired by enterprising businessmen in America’s “Gilded Age.”
The Lunenburg County Historical Society recently announced that its fall tour, Saturday, Oct. 20, will be to Swannanoa, the “summer place” of Sallie May Dooley and her millionaire husband, James Henry Dooley. Mr. Dooley, a wealthy businessman, had the mansion built on the crest of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains as the couple’s retreat from the city of Richmond.
The Society toured Lunenburg-born Sallie May Dooley’s childhood home at Lunenburg Court House (now Waverly Estate) in Dec. of 2016. The group toured her Richmond home, Maymont, last fall. This year the group is bound for her mountain retreat, Swannanoa in the Blue Ridge Mountains, when the fall foliage should be at its peak, with lunch at the Blue Mountain Brewery Restaurant.
LCHS will be making the trip to Swannanoa by car caravan. Travelers do not have to be members of LCHS to participate.
The Society is fortunate that Dale Weary, director of Maymont Estate in Richmond, will be joining the group for the tour. Weary will share her vast knowledge of the Dooleys and Swannanoa and will provide copies of her research for members of the tour group.
Pre-register no later than Monday, Oct. 15. To register or further details about the tour email woodpark1@earthlink.net.
