Mansion Grounds

Valentine-Jackson Memorial Garden
The Valentine-Jackson Memorial Garden commemorates the lives of the enslaved Valentine and Jackson families, recognizing and honoring the sacrifices and contributions they, and all enslaved African Americans, made to Virginia. Brought to Richmond with the household of Governor David Campbell in 1837, members of the Valentine and Jackson families corresponded by letter with their families still living and working on the Campbell’s farm in Abingdon, VA. Excerpts from their poignant letters are highlighted along the Valentine-Jackson Memorial Garden walls.

Gillette Garden
Constructed in 1956 and restored in 1999 by the Garden Club of Virginia, the Gillette Garden at Virginia’s Executive Mansion was designed by Richmond landscape architect Charles Gillette. A space once designated for the current governor’s livestock, the Gillette Garden today is occupied by dogwood blossoms, English boxwoods, Virginia cedars, azalea, two crepe myrtles and a striking statue of the Greek nymph Daphne, along with native plant and flower varieties.

Utilized primarily by enslaved African Americans, the brick Cottage on the property included a kitchen on the first floor, which was used to prepare the first family’s meals, with living quarters situated above it. The historic kitchen within the Cottage was equipped with a wood burning fireplace and stocked with non-perishable Virginia crop staples for cooking.

Beginning in the 1840s, several kitchen functions were relocated to the basement of the main house. By the start of the Civil War the majority of the cooking was done in the basement of the Executive Mansion and the Cottage’s kitchen quarters then served as a laundry facility.

Entering the early part of the twentieth century, the Cottage and kitchen quarters were converted into a guest house and have since served various purposes for Virginia’s first families who have resided in the Mansion.

First Lady Sally Buchanan Floyd requested the construction of two greenhouses during her residence at the Executive Mansion between 1849 and 1852. Since then, the greenhouse has endured numerous evolutions: surviving the fire that scorched Capitol Square at the end of the Civil War and undergoing restoration in the 1950s, removal in 1998 and reconstruction in 2012.  Today, the greenhouse provides crops that are homegrown, fresh-picked and used almost daily by our chefs in the kitchen.

“Working in the greenhouse is such good therapy,” says Tony Griffin, DGS superstar and the Executive Mansion’s go-to-guy for all things gardening. 

As automobiles began to outnumber horses and buggies, the Executive Mansion’s carriage house and stables were converted into garages. The shift from housing horses to cars resulted in surplus space, allowing for the modification of the carriage house into flexible rooms to be used at the governor’s discretion. Over the years, these rooms have acted as office spaces and storage areas.