magnolia grange

This lovely old building is maintained by many local ladies donating their time to lead tours, make items for the yearly Christmas teas, decorate for the holidays - all in an effort to raise necessary funds to keep the building open to the public. In addition, there is a group of ladies who make wreaths and other decorations to sell at Christmas as another major fundraiser that has kept the building open. It would be a shame to lose this historical landmark visit to tight budgets in the county which have caused the Grange to become a "project" for the community. Bless all those that help, and to you who have not been, go for goodness sakes! Touring is free; however, the teas are limited and a fee is involved. There is also a lovely gift shop on the second floor.

This was a beautiful place for the Christmas Tea. I went with a couple of friends and we had a great time. The guided tour was fantastic. The gift shop has a lot of cute items.

Alright, I rated this a three simply because there are so many history sites in the greater Richmond area that do an excellent job. I don't know if this would be on my itinerary if I were visiting from out of town. However, as a local I think that everyone from the area should come at some point. The house itself dates from 1822 and while much of the downstairs has been restored the second floor definitely needs some work. However, the tour was well done. Even though it was a saturday afternoon the tour was comprised of just my family and the tour guide. The guide really took her time with us and was very patient with the two kids that we were watching. She was so pleasant and helpful that it really made for an enjoyable hour.

If you are interested in history, this site and several others in the Chester area offer a chance to step back in history in a pleasant friendly setting. I organized a Christmas Tea for about 15 ladies and we had fabulous food, fellowship and fun!

If you visit this place, you will truly get the feeling what it was like to have lived there. It's great!