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We are pleased to announce that painter, illustrator, and art instructor Eric Westbrook will be judging our fine art entries this year!

Eric lives and works in the Washington DC area. His current and former teaching venues include The Yellow Barn at Glen Echo, The Smithsonian, and VisArts in Rockville, MD. He is an experienced judge of art shows and competitions. 

Eric’s landscape and portrait paintings are frequently exhibited in solo, and group shows and are held in public and private collections.

His illustrations have appeared in the publications of prominent corporate, government, and editorial clients nationwide. Eric received a Bachelor’s degree in art and design at the University of Maryland, College Park MD. His formal training in figure and portrait painting continued at the Art League School in Alexandria, VA, and the Washington Studio School in  Washington, DC. 

Eric Westbrook’s work has been described as an “art of observation”—a reference to the artist’s close observation of a subject, both for its surface details and for the structure and rhythm of its underlying forms. At the same time, the work itself repays observation: the more the viewer sits with it, the more what drew the artist to it in the first place is revealed.

His work can be viewed at ericwestbrook.com. 

15545 Butchers Row

The Mahlon Janney House also known as Market Hill is an exquisite example of Federal-style architecture. It was built in 1801 by Edward Dorsey for Mahlon Janney, son of Waterford’s founder. Located on Butchers Row, named for a historic slaughterhouse, this charming residence boasts 4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms, and sits on just over 1/3 of an acre.

Originally, the main entrance faced Main Street atop “The Big Hill,” but later renovations moved it to its current location. The home was a medical practice for Doctor Edwards in the early 19th century and underwent significant changes in the mid-20th century, including the removal of interior partitions and the addition of a new wing.

By the early 1900s, Market Hill had fallen into disrepair until the Waterford Foundation restored and resold it. The Acheson family, who purchased the house in 1948, placed it and an adjoining lot in a conservation easement to preserve its historic integrity. In 2020, a new owner dedicated to historical preservation acquired Market Hill and has worked to restore its original beauty.

Market Hill is open through the courtesy of Camilla Strongin.

Holly Heider Chapple is the creative director behind Holly Heider Chapple Flowers, a luxury wedding flowers brand and owner of Hope Flower Farm and Winery based here in Waterford. Holly is the mother of seven children and contributes much of her success to her late husband Evan Chapple’s contributions to their business and family. 
After traveling the world to teach her design aesthetic, she and her husband Evan set their sights on a twenty-five-acre farm just outside the village of Waterford. Here they grew flowers and provided educational workshops. The farm boasts beautiful flower fields and prop closets full of inspiration for editorial spreads. In 2020 with travel and weddings shut down, they opened their beloved Hope Flower Farm to the public and began the next phase of their career by sharing their love of flowers with their community. 

Visitors to Hope Flower Farm enjoy the vision and dream born from Holly and Evan’s love of flowers. The farm not only offers educational workshops, cut your own experiences but also has a fantastic gift shop and is now a farm winery for tasting and experiencing all the farm has to offer. 

Holly Chapple Floral Design Challenge*

Join us Friday, October 6th at 9:15 am as international floral artist and Waterford resident Holly Heider Chapple returns to her roots, just as she did when she was starting her floral career, using items foraged and harvested from her garden to make beautiful arrangements. Holly will walk the three Second Street gardens, harvesting flowers & greens as she goes, and then return to the Ephraim Schooley House garden to complete her arrangement, talking us through her process.

Gardens include the Charles Merchant House, the Ephraim Schooley House and Mahlon Schooley House. History docents and master gardeners will also be available to discuss these historic gardens.

*Early Bird Ticket required. Hope Farm is offering a 15% off wine, gifts, and flowers for all Waterford Fair guests that show their lanyard ticket upon arrival to the farm on Fair weekend, Oct. 6-8, 2023.

40170 Main Street

Open on Friday: 1:30pm to 5pm

Talbott House is the original portion of the Talbott’s Tavern property, which was constructed by Joseph Talbott, a disowned Quaker, in approximately 1810 when Waterford had a thriving retail environment which included several taverns.  (The red brick house immediately adjacent to Talbott House on the left was an addition to the Tavern constructed in approximately 1811 and generally referred to as Talbott’s Tavern).  Together they operated as a Tavern throughout most of the 1800’s.)

Today, Talbott House and Talbott’s Tavern are part of what is informally called “Arch House Row.” These residences have undergone considerable changes since the early 19th century: Interior partitions have been adjusted as families intermarried, sold and resold portions, or adjusted to suit their own tastes or needs. Doors, windows, porches, balconies, siding, even gables, all have changed over time.

Joseph Talbott, Jr. was born in Waterford in 1774 to a Maryland Quaker family but was dismissed in 1796 “for joining in light company, frolicking and dancing.” By 1801 he further blotted his record by marrying a non-Quaker and owning or employing a slave. He eventually sold the successful business in 1815 to Presbyterian Nathaniel Manning for $5600 and set up a new hotel in Frederick, Maryland.

Loudoun County’s earliest bank, was said to have been formed here or in the addition next door; the trustees later moved the Bank across the street to 40149 Main Street, which had a cellar vault. This has also been the site of the auctioning of some slaves in about 1820. The village was founded by Quakers, but enslaved African Americans lived in town and on surrounding farms alongside their free neighbors. The hotel/tavern went through a series of owners and businesses over the years, including a butcher shop and grocery store.

A later iteration of the property, The Loudoun Hotel, was the last commercial enterprise here in the 1920s, before being purchased by the Chamberlin brothers. Edward and Leroy Chamberlin, brothers from early Waterford families began their extensive restoration efforts in the village with this block of buildings in the 1930s.

Talbott’s Tavern is open through the courtesy of Skip Couser.

15550 High Street

Open on Friday: 10am to 5pm
**Please enter from the Old School Driveway, follow pedestrian signs and docent’s instructions.**

Robert Walker built this lovely Queen Anne style home for his spinster sister, Edith, in 1897. He located the house on a portion of his property, Huntley Farm, and designed it to face his house next door instead of the street. A brick walk connected the two homes and remains to this day. The Edith Walker house is a blend of Victorian and Colonial Revival architectural elements with many distinctive features such as the wraparound porch that serves as a spacious summer living area. There are two pedimented dormers, three gables and a sleeping porch over the front entrance, each clad with a different style shingle. The main body of the house boasts German siding. The original cedar shingle roof was replaced with raised seam metal, as was the fashion in the area after the turn of the century. The windows further unite the two styles with six or eight small panes at the top, recalling colonial sash patterns, while the single large pane at the bottom incorporates the modern glass technology of the Victorian era. Inside the home is a fine paneled Queen Anne stairway, beautiful Colonial Revival molding with bull’s eyes in the top corners and pocket doors from the foyer into the parlor. Of special note are five fireplaces, each of a different design. The three on the first floor have mirrored overmantles. Over the years there have been few changes to the floor plan, which speaks highly of the home’s comfort and adaptability to changing life styles. The major changes to the house were the addition of first and second floor bathrooms, and the enlargement of the kitchen by removing the wall to the butler’s pantry. The historic exterior of the house is protected from alteration in perpetuity by an easement given to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

Talbott’s Tavern is open through the courtesy of Chris & Elyssa Wood