Just Outside DC
Blandy Experimental Farm and State Arboretum of Virginia Clarke County Virginia
The 
on left edge of the Google map indicates the 700-acre gardens of the Blandy Experimental Farm University of Virginia research facility
home of the State Arboretum of Virginia.
The 
indicates the location of the nearby 1800+ acres of the Sky Meadows State Park.
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Blandy Experimental Farm and State Arboretum of Virginia is located east of the City of Winchester, Virginia about 60 miles west of Washington, D.C.
If traveling east on Route 50
(John Mosby Highway) the entrance road is a right hand turn onto a hard surface road that leads to the parking area and also to a more
narrow tour roadway around the grounds allowing you to tour the perimeter. A parking area for cars and horse trailers is along this tour route.
The 700 acres grounds and outdoor gardens of the Blandy Experimental Farm and the State Arboretum of Virginia are open dawn to dusk, 365 days a year. They do host special
events so check their website (click here) for their calendar.
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Below is a snip of the campus map for the Blandy Experimental Farm University and the State Arboretum of Virginia.
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The full map of the Blandy Experimental Farm and the State Arboretum of Virginia plus other informative documents are displayed in a
covered seating area near the parking lot. Displayed information included: How to read their plant tags, Arboretum rules,
What is a Boxwood, Blandy Experimental Farm, Virginia Native Plant Society. Click
to access their website and view these documents.
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The above photo of their map shows a dark blue thick line which is the main driveway from Route 50. Other thick lines on this snip of the map
depict pathways
to the largest collection of boxwood cultivars in North America, herb garden, perennial gardens, azalea garden, daylily garden,
pollination garden, and the Virginia Native Plant Trail. As you enjoy touring the grounds you can view over half the world's pine species.
Dogs are welcome but must be leashed within 200 yards of any building and must be under immediate voice command at all times.
The bright red marked area on the map is the building called the Quarters. The central and west wings were added to the Quarters in the
1940s to provide laboratories, kitchen, dining room, library, offices, and dormitory space for students.
The oldest portion of the Quarters dates to about 1830 and is
believed to have served as slave quarters for the Tuleyries estate.
The Tuleyries (at far right side of the map snip) is the original estate of Graham Blandy, the New York stockbroker who, upon his death in 1926, left
700 acres of his 900-acre estate to the University of Virginia. His home and 200 acres remain private and are not open to the public.
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The gift shop is located right off the open airy way you can see in the ground level middle area of the building.
In the photo above, you can see two archways to the left of the airy way. There are white doors seen in those two archways
— these are the doors for the unisex bathrooms.
These bathrooms seemed roomy enough for a baby carriage or wheel chair to maneuver.
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Pathways through the gardens and grounds provide access to this extensive collection of plants and trees. I also
enjoy the beauty of stone and stone work, so I like the stone fence outlining lanes of path areas and the
low outcrops of stone formations hidden among the conifers and woodlawn enhances.
Note: there are signs warning you not to sit on the stone work
because the copperheads like the stones too.
Provided seating offers you the chance to rest as you admire the property, settle your thoughts and listen to the songs and chatter of birds.
Frogs croaking announce your approach towards the pond areas where various water plants add color among the water and rocks.
If you have an interest in specific trees and their location with the grounds, the Arboretum's web site
at (click here)
provides you access to their online collections database. There is also a kiosk at the Quarters which you can use for searching the online database of
the Arboretum's tree collection. This
online search displays a map of the Arboretum with locations of trees.
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There are four ways to tour the Arboretum: online via their website (maps and photos), your own footfalls, vehicles, and horse riding.
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The large black arrow shows the nice parking area for horse trailers. Below
is a detail of that parking area on the map.
There is a water hydrant there and a covered picnic table area. You can see on the map that the horse trail for the
grounds (see the thick pink line) is near this horse paddock area.
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Directions to the Blandy Experimental Farm and the State Arboretum of Virginia
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