Northern Neck Cultural Landscape Symposium

October 22-24, 2010

More detailed information about site visits, speakers and fees will be posted soon.

Each year this residential symposium takes a different theme. For 2009, Stratford Hall, in cooperation with the Menokin Foundation, presented a program entitled "Cultural Landscapes of Virginia’s Northern Neck: The Art and Mystery of Building in Early Virginia." This year's symposium will emphasize the landscape, particularly those formally designed landscapes of the colonial and early national periods. It will examine in depth the gardens and "big house" landscapes that were a necessary complement to colonial plantation seats.

Who Should Attend
The Stratford Hall symposia are intended for those who are entirely new to the study of cultural landscapes and architectural history. However, those who already enjoy knowledge of Virginia's early history and material life will encounter exciting ways of thinking about these topics anew.

Participants will find themselves in stimulating company with many opportunities to discuss the lectures and tour destinations in congenial settings. By the symposium's end, participants will have taken a fresh look at the early history of Virginia's Northern Neck landscape and how it has intersected with larger trends in American history.

Special Needs
Our tours will take place rain or shine. Walking around at Stratford Hall and other tour destinations will be a necessary part of the symposium experience. Please notify us when you register if you have any physical or medical conditions that may interfere with walking at a normal pace or negotiating stairs. Also, let us know of any dietary restrictions you may have so we can make every effort to accommodate you.

Symposium Highlights

• Lectures by scholars highly respected for their expertise in colonial Virginia's history, landscape and material culture
• Private visits to a series of Northern Neck houses and gardens, most of which are rarely available for close study
• A special tour and analysis of the Stratford Hall mansion in its relationship to adjacent gardens and landscape features
• Lodging and fine dining in the pastoral setting of Stratford Hall

For more information and/or to be put on a mailing list for the symposium brochure, please contact Program Director Ken McFarland at (804) 493-8038 ext. 1558 or email kmcfarland@stratfordhall.org.