A New Museum to Celebrate the Shenandoah Valley

Mr Glass, in the words of museum director Jennifer Esler, "Bought the best of breed in American furniture." She said he also loved European painting and was particularly fond of English portraits. He liked good design and it governed his collecting, and it was his longtime wish to have a museum.

On his death, Glen Burnie house and its collections passed to the Glass-Glen Burnie Foundation that he created to establish the museum, which occupies about 250 acres in the middle of the city of Winchester.

An extraordinary setting for the collections was designed by Mr Graves, displayed against a pleasing interplay of light and space. Visitors enter the museum into a four-story circular architectural lantern that draws the eye upward. The upper lobby has a vaulted ceiling in Venetian blue with gold "Giotto" stars; local legend has it that Shenandoah means "daughter of the stars." Stars are a recurring theme at Glen Burnie as well: the stair hall cornice is decorated with gougework and stars.

Mr Graves designed a building in which Mr Glass's eclectic collections and the art, culture and history of the Shenandoah Valley meld nicely. It is contemporary and traditional at the same time.

In the words of Harpers Ferry, W.Va., consultant John C. Newcomer, the place is "Fabulous!" A lender to the exhibitions, Mr Newcomer said he was "simply blown away" by the museum and the valley-oriented collections on view. He added that the museum's fine collections and the accomplished presentation of the entire history of the Shenandoah Valley makes the new facility a place with something for everyone of every age and interest.

In addition, Mr Newcomer said the gardens that Mr Glass restored along the lines of formal Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century English garden designs are, in a word, "Glorious!"

The museum comprises four main galleries, each with its own powerful draw.

The Julian Wood Glass Jr Gallery showcases the furniture and art gathered by Mr Glass and used, for the most part, in his New York and Tulsa homes. It is divided into three sections: the art of landscape, the art of portraiture and the grand tour.

A gilt sofa that was purchased by Queen Charlotte for Buckingham Palace is on view. The circa 1815 piece is upholstered in the same blue velvet that matched the room in which it was used. Made of ash and oak by George Smith of London, the piece is stamped "Windsor Castle D-R Room 234." Mr Glass acquired it from a dealer in New York. It is displayed in the grand tour segment beneath Sir Thomas Lawrence's portrait of Lieutenant General Sir Herbert Taylor of the Coldstream Guards, who was secretary to the queen. Other of Mr Glass's prized English portraits by Gainsborough, Romney and Sir William Beechy are on view in the same gallery.

The museum boasts four important Seymour pieces that Mr Glass acquired in the 1960s. Until recently they stood in an upstairs bedroom at Glen Burnie house, out of public view. They are now on permanent view in the Glass gallery.

They include a lady's tambour secretary that was one of the early pieces that John and Thomas Seymour made not too long after arriving in Boston from Maine. A dressing table by Thomas Seymour is thought to have been inspired by the French coiffeuse form. A later Thomas Seymour mahogany lady's worktable is fairly restrained, but its handsome veneers and detail bring it to life. The fourth Seymour piece on view is a unique bow front chest of drawers made between 1810 and 1817 in Thomas Seymour's shop in the regency style then popular in England.

Adjacent to the Glass gallery is the Miniatures Gallery, which features the R. Lee Taylor collection of miniature houses. Completely and elegantly furnished, they are displayed in a gallery whose vaulted ceilings, according to Mr Newcomer, make a visitor feel as if he or she is walking down the street of a village. The entire collection, which numbers more than 4,000 pieces, was gathered over 30 years by Mr Taylor, who was the curator of the gardens at Glen Burnie. Not all of the collection is on view, but what is displayed is spellbinding.

The Shenandoah Valley Gallery explores the historic, cultural and decorative arts traditions of the valley. Here, Mr Graves designed a structure within a building using the stylized timber construction evocative of area barns. All the wood used is timber salvaged from the standing forest or trees that have died. All the framing is handwrought mortise-and-tenon construction.

The range of collections within includes furniture, ceramics, painting, metal work, baskets, textiles and folk art, all made in the Shenandoah Valley. A good part of that collection is the approximately 500 decorative art objects, recently purchased by the museum, that had been gathered over 54 years by area dealers and collectors Mildred and Bruce Helsley.

Winchester was a busy center of cabinetmaking in the Shenandoah Valley; prime examples of work by early craftsmen are on view.

A circa 1795 tall clock made for Glen Burnie house by Goldsmith Chandlee is one of three such clocks in the museum's collection. It is considered a perfect example of Shenandoah Valley craftsmanship and remains in Glen Burnie house. Chandlee had a brass foundry and shop in Winchester where he made clocks, surveyors' compasses, telescopes, money scales and other instruments. Two other of his clocks are on view in the museum itself, along with surveying instruments.

Among the enviable valley ceramics on view is an earthenware inkstand by John Bell incised "Winchester / March 12th 1825." Museum records suggest that this is the first documented tin-glazed ceramic object made in America.

The inkstand has pierced holes to receive tiny receptacles for sand and ink. Bell's mark appears in raised lettering on the upright extension of the back. The town and date are incised in script on the back, as well. John Bell was the oldest child of potter Peter Bell Jr and he was first mentioned in his father's account book at age 14. By the time he was 18, John Bell was transporting pottery from Hagerstown to Winchester, where he later moved to in 1824, married and had a son.

A later water cooler by Solomon Bell is decorated with molded images of the story of Daniel in the lion's den, design elements common to other pieces by Solomon Bell. It is earthenware decorated with a vibrant lead and copper glaze over a slip wash.

An interesting slip-decorated vase that is also on view was made by Christian Adam or his brother Jacob between 1813 and 1835 in New Market, Va.

Valley furniture includes a circa 1819 sideboard by George Kreps, a circa 1820 drop leaf table by George and Walter Weber and a Twentieth Century valley piece, a circa 1916 slat back armchair attributed to Samuel Wagner.

Among the notable pictures of the valley is "View of Winchester Virginia, 1856," by Edward Beyer that gives a detailed perspective on the town that is the heart of the valley. Beyer was renowned for his views of Virginia.

A slant front desk made between 1800 and 1817 by Martinsburg, W. Va., maker John Shearer is on loan. Jennifer Esler, director of the museum, describes the desk as "eccentric" and its maker as an "iconoclast." Shearer wove political commentary into his furniture. He frequently added design or decorative elements to express his feelings about his patrons. Occasionally he inscribed his sentiments about his patrons on the pieces.

Another Shenandoah Valley piece on loan is a circa 1795 Chippendale walnut bookcase on stand with glass doors that is attributed to the Frye Martin group of Winchester.

The History Gallery looks at how valley residents lived over the ages. Four sample dwellings, with the accoutrements of daily life, are on display. A rock shelter defines earliest life in the valley. A 1750s log cabin is furnished based on the first inventory of the Frederick County. Two kitchens, one from the 1830s and another from the 1930s, look at the differences a century wrought. The exhibit traces the society of the various periods and the effects of war, the Revolution, the French and Indian War, the Civil War, on what was at the time the frontier.

First up in the Changing Exhibition Gallery is "Virginia Landscapes, Watercolors by Pierre Daura," a selection of the area artist's views of the historic Shenandoah Valley. Daura was a Spanish artist who arrived in Virginia in 1934 and painted exquisite views of the valley.

Glen Burnie house itself is furnished with Wood and Glass family heirlooms and pieces that Julian Wood Glass Jr acquired specifically for the house. Mr Glass began his collections early: as a child he would save his money to buy art; as a young man he made regular "grand tours" of Europe to look at art.

The Goldsmith Chandlee tall case clock has stood in the house since it was made; the dining table was made in the valley in the late Eighteenth Century and the mirrors in the dining room were made by John Elliot of Philadelphia. A group of silver cups by Philadelphia smith Joseph Richardson Sr were made for James Wood Jr, a Revolutionary War brigadier general and later governor of Virginia.

Family portraits of Wood and Glass family members by Winchester artist Edward Caledon Bruce also remain on view in Glen Burnie house. The museum holds the largest collection of Bruce paintings.

Mr Glass made stellar acquisitions for his restored house, a number of which came from Philadelphia. They include a federal mahogany armchair from around 1805 that was made in the Haines-Connelly workshop, two easy chairs in the style of Thomas Affleck and chairs by James Gillingham.

When it came to paintings, Mr Glass indulged himself. He filled the drawing room alone with paintings he loved. Above the fireplace is Rembrandt Peale's circa 1850 portrait of George Washington, whose first campaign James Wood managed. The families later intermarried. The walls are hung with portraits by George Romney, Lionel Constable and Philips Wouwerman; landscapes by Thomas Doughty, John Frederick Kensett and Jasper Cropsey.

Part of the Glass-Glen Burnie Foundation is Rose Hill, the Glass family homestead and site of the Civil War's First Battle of Kernstown on March 23, 1862. The Glass family and the Wood family became connected with the 1832 marriage of Colonel James Wood's granddaughter Catherine to Thomas S. Glass, the son of Samuel Glass II, the owner of Rose Hill. That property is not yet open to the public.

The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley is at 901 Amherst Street, Winchester, Va., and is open Tuesday through Friday 10 am to 4 pm; The Glen Burnie Historic House & Gardens are open annually from March 1 through November 30. For information, 540-662-1473 or www.shenandoahmuseum.org.