Mary Theobald-200 year old houses aren't that unique in Virginia.

What makes this one special is this is the only house that is owned by the people of Virginia.

Maureen McDonnell- this is aome where 54 families - governors and rsfa@es have lived -I don't know of any other home where that many families wld have moved in and out of.

Thomas Bahnson Stanley III - This is, is a sensational place house the first family of Virginia.

It's not ostentatious, but it's very comfortable.

Calder Loth - we have a really fine house and it'sery Virginia.

It's very dignified but not pretentious.

Very elegant without being showy.

vid Baldacci - I've always loved the front of the house, the porch and the fountain out front and I tend to focus on the steps because as a writer who makes his living making things up my imagination runs wild when I think about the I come up to those steps eachhen time in my mind's eye I see people walking up and down those steps, very great historical significance during the course of American history and that sort of gives me chills Music @ Gov.

McDonnell- coming in for that first time after the inauguration, after the parade and coming in with my family and my kids it really was an extraordinary feeling.

I literally carried my wife over the threshold so to speak of the mansion.

Maureen McDonnell- We had turned and waved and were just about to walk in and he reached down and picked me up and I just went "ah and I think that, that image and that memory will be frozen in my mind forever.

Gov.

McDonnell-when I thought about all of the histo of this house, some of the founders of the American republic that had walked thrgh@ here, Lafayette who's been here, a number of other events of great fame that have happened here.

The governor's office itself was here for 100 years where so many things that were important in the history to the commonweth were here.

It survived the Civil War when a lot of Richmond was burned.

An I thought wow, I actually get to live in this place of history for , for the next 4 years it was a, it was an immensely humblingndhappy experience for me and my family.

Music Narrator -In 1779 Virginia's second Governor, Thomas Jefferson, wrote the order to move Virginia's Capitol from Williamsburg to Richmond.

@wusing was arranged for Governors in the new Capitol city but thd home was in bad repair and less than stellar.

The temporary housing stretched more than 30 years.

Previous proposals for a new house had gone nowhere but Governor John Tyler, Sr.

had an ace up his sleeve - near the end of his term he found way to pay for it.

Vacant land in the vicinity of Capitol Square owned by the Commonwealth was to be sold and the proceeds used to build the new mansion.

In early 1811 - James Monroe, who would later become president of the United States - signed the bill authorizing construction of the new executive residence.

The old house was torn down and sold for $530 - presumably for its wood.

$20,000 was allotted for construction, including dependencies and landscaping.

Calder Lh- it was designed by a architect, builder from Maine named Alexander Parris.

He was schooled in the Federal style the new Federal style which is roughly a takeoff on the adamesque styl the vy light neo-classical style that was popular in England in the late 18th century.

Bryan Green - it was a very, very simple building, a very modest building in fact there was a move to replace it in the early 20th century because it was so modest.

The best way I think to think of this building is that it's the antitheses of the governor's palace in Williamsburg.

Narrator -The house s mpted in less than 2 years and came in under budget.

Final costs were tabulated in March 1813 just before Governor Barbour and his family moved in - the price tag - $18,871.

Kathleen Kilpatrick- The early documents, including the legislation refers to it as being a place of honor and dignity and I always think of, of thoseords because I think that the design by Parris and the way in which the way in which the maion continues to be used are the realization of those early words.

there's certainly a pride in this as Virginia's First House, it is the oldest executive mansion that continues to serve in that purpose and it was purpose built as an executive mansion.

Mary Theobald - It is a private residence.

It is a, a place of business.

It is an office for the governor and it's constantly in use for social events and educational events and for, open for tours.

There is no other house that has this broad a purpose.

Narrator -The mansion, called the Government House in the early years, has not only been through a lot of families and seen a lot of history over its 200 year existence, the building itself has undergone a lot of changes.

Bryan Green - that's one of the interesting things about the life of this building is that it's never gone out of use and its evolution has never stopped.

It's always reflected the lives of the people who dwelled within it and worked within it.

Mu@c Maureen McDoúnell- It was all lit by candles, the plumbing - outdoor plumbing, the necessary was outside, the kitchen was outside, and those are all growing things that the mansion had to go through the different periods whent went from candle to gas to electric.

Mary Theobald - it was uncomfortable by our standards buno one then knew any different and so it was actually sort of, the upper, the upper experience.

Narrator -The alterations made in the 1840s to the mansion by Governor William Smith would have shocked his predecessors who were more concerned with replacing worn rugs and broken windows.

Mary Theobald - he installed the first modern conveniences, if you will.

A primitive toilet and a shower bath in the basement and this was this sort of toilet was a just a most, pretty much an indoor privy and the waste from the kitchen and the toilet would go down an open trench along the road, Governor's Road, down to empty in the canal.

Narrator -Innovations on the house continued with the next Governor.

Mary Theobald - Governor Floyd was the one who installed gas lighting and that was cheaper than candles and so it was an improvement over, the quantity of light, but gas was dangerous.

It was smelly gas leaks were smelly and it, and it could cause explosions so this was quite a daring innovation.

It did allow the governor to have more evening entertainments.

It made, made for a more pleasant evening.

You could stay up longer and read at night and they were both great readers.

Music Narrator -The 1860's brought the Civil War.

Richmond served as the national States of America as well as the state capitol of Virginia.

Maureen McDonnell- Governor William Smith was our governor and his wife's name was Elizabeth.

They were here right before the fall of Richmond.

Narrator -Governor Smith buried confederate money and bonds and loaded 60 boxes of important papers onto steamboats then left for Danville.

Elizabeth and her daughter stayed behind to secure the house and pack up Virginia's silver for safe keeping.

Maureen McDonnell- She heard that all of the Confederate soldiers were clogging all of the roads and she thought well, we'll stay the night and leave before dawn.

We'll slip out early before dawn, before you know everything gets chaotic again.

Well that decision almost cost her and her daughter her life because by morning retreating Confederate soldiers started torching the military and by morning there werexpsions and fires were raging through the city and a lot of the embers were falling on the mansion, it wp ovy because a group, the diligence of our Richmond citizens that circled the mansion to save it.

They made a bucket brigade and passed water to the roof and to try and keep the fires outof otherwise we would have lost the mansion.

Narrator -50 years after the war in 1915, a Confederate Soldiers reunion was held in Richmond.

Governor Henry Stuart, nephew of J.E.B.

Stuart, hosted a gala recetion for the occasion at the mansion.

Music Narrator -In the 1880s, against the backdrop of the Gilded Age, plain and old fashioned.ked Virginia's governors ignored the unadorned exterip and concentrated on decorating the inside.

There was no single Victorian style for household furnishings.

No surface was left unembellished, no fabric tolerated unless patterned.

Bare space was a problem looking for@ clutter, the era also brought light to the house.

Mary Theobald-Governor Fitzhugh Lee was the one who brought electricity to the mansion and what they called a speaking telegraph which of course was a telephone.

The electricity was very new, it was only 7 or 8 years after Thomas Edison demonstrated his light bulb and a t of peoplwouldn haveangerous, that kind of thing in their hom@ but this was even before the White House had electricity.

There were no wall sockets at that time.

And so what you'd have, there'd be an electrical wire coming down from the ceilg and it would go to a lamp on the table or, or across the room so ere were wires hanging everywhere which looks terrible to u but until the wall socket was invented they would just have to nail wire around the edge of the room.

Music Narrator -Up until this point in its history, the Governor's mansion had largely been the work of men, but that was out to change.

Governor Andrew Jackson Montague and his wife Elizabeth were frequent visitors to the White House during President Theodore Roosevelt's administration and had seen firsthand the improvements made there.

Mary Theobald - Betsy Montague wanted to pedecorate the house in the colonial revival style which is what the White House had and, and the old Victorian mish mash was out of favor but she didn't have the money for that so she came up with a scheme where she wrote her own spending proposal and planned to deliver it herself in person to the finance committee when it next met- no woman had ever done that before, certainly no governor's wife, that was quite nervy of her, very, very bold.

She has a little luck.

A few days before the finance committee was to meet there was a reception at the mansion, and the finance committee chairman, she described later as being a very large man, well he sat down on one of the rickety chairs and he crashed to the floor, so when Betsy Montague showed up at the finance committee a few days later she remembers that she was met with great sympathy and they voted $7,500 with which let her redecorate the house in the colonial revival style.

Governor McDonnell-First Ladies do an awful lot that goes unnoticed and so we've of the 200th anniversary to have all of the living First Ladies have their portraits painted in their inaugural gowns by a Virginia woman artist and we had a big celebration last year with 8 out of the 10 living First Ladies coming here with several of the governors to celebrate the unveiling of the portraits.

It was a special moment.

Music Narrator -Governor Albertis Harrison once said, "Every decent mansion has a ghost.The Executive Mansion is no exception.

Over the past hundred years or so, residents, employees and visitors have heard or sensed the ghost.

Governor Holton- we knew the ghost was there and we enjoyed the presence of the ghost.

I was asleep one night in what they call the governor's bedroom when she turned some pictures over in the middle of the night and made a loud noise that I thought was something coming from the children's room so I got up and went and checked on that but when I came back the pictures which had been leaning up against the wall, had been turned over more than a 90 degree turn so somebody had picked them up and turned them over this way onto the floor to make that loud clattering noise.

That ghost did that to tease me@ Narrator -During Hurricane Agnes in 1972, ABC correspondent Ann Compton, had an encounter with the ghost.

Ann Compton- a lot of that rain came down the James River and threatened the very center of the Capitol City, Richmond.

When the power was completely out, Governor Holton's secretary, Felicia Pendergast, came and got me and took me over to the mansion where there are 2 staircases from the main hall upstairs.

The light over the ladies' staircase was on and power was out throughout the city.

The ghost of the Virginia Governor's mansion.

I saw the light on myself.

Narrator -And how about butler and prankster, Tutti Towne - has he met her?

Tutti Towne-(laughs) I, me and her are friends.

(laughs) she's kind of my partner in crime.

(laughs) ... I kind of get everybody here so she don't kind of mess with me so I think we kind of jell together.

Governor McDonnell- I have not met her.

I have not heard her.

Now, having said, governors I think try to perpetuate the legend in part by playing tricks on the new gornor.

And so Governor Kaine uh helped with that and he was very devious in what he did to me.

He left cell phones in places like closets and on top of the elevator and then they would call that late at night and it would have an automatic, automatic ring that would sound like a, like a ghost.

So that was his trick to me, it did freak us out a little bit I have to say until uh my crackerjack kids along with the maintenance staff here sort of uncovered the trick and we found out it was just cell phones s/that's the closest we've come to the ghost Music Narrator -The early 20th century was a time of expansion.

Virginia's population had more than doubled since Jefferson's capitol had been constructed and government had grown accordingly.

The Virginia Legislature had added two wings to the capitol.

It was time for the First House to expand.

Calder Loth- The architect was a man named Duncan Lee.

This was his first project.

He was only 22 years old.

And he was called upon to do this.

And they did@ need more room here.

It was, the standards of entertainment were (laughs) increasing so they wanted a fine dining oom and because the space is so constricted here they couldn't do a big wing on it so he very carefully designed an octagonal wing orclipped corners with an al room inside it creating this dining room.

Bryan Green-It's the lovely room behind us and at one point there was a very large mantelpiece that was dead on axis so you would look through archway and see that mantelpiece, it just, and you stand at the mantelpiece and look through the front doors you could see the George Washington sculpture it really created this terrific axis, axis through the butding.

which again was one of the things that colonial revival was all about the creation of these long views and axises.

Calder Loth- and that meant that the old dining room which was one of those rooms at the back of the original plan didn't have to be there any more so that, those two rooms we combined into the one big room we have now, the ballroom which makes a very grand space, reception room for entertaining.

Narrator -Over the next several years more changes and additions were made.

In 1926, just before the keys were to pass to a new governor, Little Billy Trinkle created some changes of his own.

William Francis Trinkle- Little Billy was my Uncle who we call Big Billy because he had a son named Little Billy.

Mary Theobald- Someone handed a sparkler to little Billy who was almost 5 on, a few days after Christmas and he got too close to the tree, you know what happens to a Christmas tree, a dry tree when it gets anywhere near a flame and it exploded into flame.

The butler rushed in and tried to put it out.

Couldn't.

The fire spread so fast, fortunately everyone got out very quickly except Lee.

William Francis Trinkle- my grandmother had gotten out of the mansion, been evacuated and realized her oldest son was upstairs asleep.

And she ran back in, they fought her, tried to keep her from going back in but she got in and ran up the steps and then she became trapped.

Found my uncle asleep, woke him up Mary Theobald- got him to jump out the window into the arms of Clayton Setgray, the butler, and miraculously neither of them was hurt.

It was 3 stories down at point because it's in the back of the house, by that time the fire department had come.

They throw up a ladder but it only goes up 2 stories.

Fire chief Captain Rust, goes to the top of the ladder and prepares to try and catch her.

She jumped, he cght her, managed to hang on to her ankle, upside down he's holding her.

They throw up another ladder next to her, get her that way and lower her to the ground.

William Francis Trinkle-and it was at the end of my grandfather's term and she was in the hospital for months and my grandfather moved into the room next door and finished his term living in the hospital next to her.

so this is ... theHing that was on my grandmother's hand, Helen Ball Sexton Trinkle, when she ran back into the mansion during the fire and this was left to her son, my dad, Jimmy who left it to me.

Mary Theobald- Little Billy was found later hiding under the smokehouse and his first words were "I did it."

William Francis Trinkle- he took a lot of grief I think (laughs) but he was very good natured.

He was a wonderful man.

Music Narrator -The functional Fifties style focused less on historical accuracy and more on upholstered comfort, simple lines, and minimal ornamentation.

Outdoors, the wrought iron fence was replaced with a brick wall that could be more easily guarded.

Jinks Holton- each governors wife did make a change and had added something that hadn't been there before including the little stand there where policeman stands at the entrance to the governor's mansion.

And until one of the Governor's wives came up with the idea of a little covered stand with a seat in it those poor men just stood out there no matter what the weather was.

Mary Theobold- Josephine Almond took pity on the guards, the Capitol Police stood outside all day, 24 hours a day and she just felt very sorry for them.

She wanted to have a guard house.

Well there was some resistance to this because it would ruin the look of the house or something but she insisted.

Music Narrator -The Battleship USS Virginia, built in the shipyards of Newport News, was lached in 1904.

It was a tradition in those years for battleships to have a silver service to use when hosting guests or for ceremonial occasions.

Nearly half a century after the ship's launch, the set of silver which originally contained 52 pieces, would find its way back to the Commonwealth.

Betty Markham- When Governor and Mrs.

Almond were Governor they went to South Carolina and that Governor and First Lady had South Carolina's battleship silverware, so they thought "when we go home let's find out where is Virginia's battleship silver."

So they went to the department of the Navy and they said "well, funny you would ask, it's out in San Diego.

We're getting ready to ship it to the Marine Corps base in Quantico."

Sarah Scarbrough- so through a little be of convincing and I think a litt bit of help from her husband as well, Governor Almond, they were able to get that silver service on loan to the mansion from the Navy.

Betty Markham- they had a $165 C.O.D.

charge onit and when they arrived at the mansion and I understand that they had to scurry around to collect the $165 so that they could have the silver service left here at the mansion.

Ann Bellemore -and there's only one thing missing and that's the key to the cigar box.

Sarah Scarbrough-and then back in 2004 the Navy decided they wanted it back.

So fortunately Governor Warner was adamant that was not going to happen and he, under his administration they were able to obtain it and get ownership rights to the silver service so it is ours to keep.

Music Narrator - Traditionally, the governor's wife was expected to manage the mansion, its staff and official entertainment by herself.

In the 1970s, the General Assembly acknowledged that demands had grown beyond what one person could handle and authorized the hiring of an executive assistant for the first lady.

Governor Linhóod Holton's administration would bring other changes as well.

Governor Holton- the day I was inaugurated, John Mitchell, the Attorney General of the United States, was there as the representative of the President, President Nixon, to attend my inauguration and his wife, Martha, was with him.

She went bouncing through theansion the day we wt over there for lunch after the inauguration and in a loud boisterous voice, walking down between the parlors, "well, Jinks it's just beautiful but where in the Hell are the antiques?"

(laughs) but Jinks was determined to have it represent the period or periods that existed since its creation @ Bryan Green- The the Citizens Advisory Council was created in 1973 by Mrs.

Holton who was first lady at the time.

Jinks Holton- In the beginning the first 3 people that were in charge of it, one of them was the head of Colonial Williamsburg, and one was the State Department and the Whitehe House and they would go to New York and see something they thought we should have like a chandelier, so they would borrow it and have it brought down and hung here and then they would tell me "have a party" and have a party meant that somebody who comes to this party is going to contribute that and they always did.

(Anne) you never had to send t chandelier back (Jinks) no I never had to send anything back Bryan Green- And I think that's also at the time when you start to see the building evolving into more of a museum, into more, it was always open for public functions, it was always a very public building but you start to see this, this move to treat it like a museum and to actually interpret it to people.

And it's not just a place that you come for a reception but this is a place that you'd now come to learn about the commonwealth, to learn about the governors, to learn about the building.

Sarah Scarbrough- The Giles Cupboard, the mansion was very fortunate to get.

It is one of the very few pieces that we actually have that belonged to a former governor and this was acquired several years ago by the Citizen's Advisory Council with Emil Jenkins, a late CAC member who is the one who spearheaded that effort.

Maureen McDonnell-there's a special little table in the governor's office that belonged to Patrick Henry.

I love to point that out to people.

Audrey Trussell-It was received by Mrs.

H.C.L.

Wells and is from the 18th century and one of the neatest parts of that table is that if you look on the very bottom of it there is a plaque that says "from Patrick Henry's Plantation."

Sarah Scarbrough- Governor Byrd came into office in the late 1920s, and realized that the State House did not have a piano and this is because it was burned in the Trinkle fire.

So he petitioned the General Assembly for money and much like today pay r thin like that and so to he said, fine, I'll sell the state limo because I have my own automobile and I will buy a piano with it.

So 1920s, he bought that piano which we still have today, it's played year round, tuned once a year and has real ivory keys on it.

Maureen McDonnell- we love that, my kids love it, to play the grand piano and then, but there's a little old piano that's very, very vintage that's in the first lady's parlor that's a very special piece.

Sarah Scarbrough-this piano is not in working order like the Byrd piano, but it too is a veryhmportant piece because it is another piece that tually belonged to a former governor.

Now we do know that the spinet piano in the ladies' parlor was not aually here when Governor Barbour lived in the mansion.

It belonged to him, it was at his plantation home in Barboursville, which is the home of Barboursville Vineyards currently but certainly a great piece that we were able to acquire to represent our first resident.

Bryan Green- surprisingly, the dwelling has very few objects that are tied directly with sitting governors.

And so there's always a great interest in returning pieces that have clear provenance to sitting governors of course as you can imagine they, they don't show up very often.

But those are really at the top of the wish list to bring in pieces that, that help to more personally tell that story and to more closely connect this building with i, its previous inhabitants.

Narrator -Governor Charles "Chuck" Robb and his wife, Lynda Bird Johnson Robb, began the tradition of inviting former governors and their families back to the nsion for a reunion.

The custom continues today.

William Francis Trinkle- It's wonderful coming here.

It's always.

It feels great to come here and we're always welcomed regardless of who's in the mansion and it's, it's wonderful, wonderful to be here and to feel our history.

Sarah Sakach- I am connected, fortunately, to James Barbour and am a direct descendant, I don't know how many greats he is but he's a great, great, great, great, great grandfather.

I feel like I belong here but before I felt my father made a point of telling me "tell them you are a direct descendent James Barbour" and it was always awkward for me but it paid off because I got to see his portrait and you know had a connection.

Ann Holton-our mutual love for this house and getting to share that with all the other inhabitants who have had the special opportunity to be here has been a, a, very wonderful thing and it is something that brings us together and the we can all find common ground on.

it's really a unique experience.t kes the former governors and spouses and families sort of a unique club and we have that in common with each other and enjoy sharing that with each other and it's always nice to remember there are things that we can come together on when there are so many things that folks differ on Jinks Holton-and we do gather at least once a year and sometimes more than that with the other governors and wives and we just don't even have to have any working up to getting used t each other.

We just jump right in together Governor McDonnell- we had about 3 or 400 people here literally from all over the country and some of them were related not just to one governor but 3 or 4 gernors.

it was a lot of fun.

Incredibly intriguing to see the see that many people that really knew the history of Virginia, knew not only what their own ancestors had, had done for the state but knew a lot about other governor's accomplishments.

It's really, really a very heartwarming and extraordinary event and weook forwato keeping that going.

Narrator-During the administration of Governor Gerald Lee Baliles, the Citizens Advisory Council accomplished its first major exterior renovation returning the facade to its 1830s appearance.

Jeannie Baliles- when we were here during the late 80s we renovated the outside of the mansion.

We put the parapet back on top and the panels between the windows that had been bricked over years ago.

@ Calder Loth- they were .originally part of the design of the house.

They show in the very earliest drawing we have of the house you see those patterns there with decorative festoons and little rosettes in them.

That was typical.

You see this sort of thing in England, you see it in new England houses and apparently by the 1880s, after the Civil War they had seriously deteriorated.

And they were taken out.

This time we didn't put them back in wood and composition we put it back in cast stone so it (laughs) wouldn't fall apart.

And we made one little concession, instead of the rosette, in the middle of the swag, we put a dogwood blossom.

that's our state flower, we thought that's an appropriate little subtle change thate coulma there tmake it a little more meaningful to this house.

Jeannie Baliles-Went back to, not the original color of the mansion but the second color was the yellow that you now see and we thought that was so much more attractive.

Calder Loth- the brick was originally painted, but painted red and that was a normal treatment for buildings.

It's called red wash.

A mixture of iron oxide, sometimes there's blood in it, linseed oil, all sorts of awful thing to get the red color and it was kind of a primitive wate@ proofing technique.

And it was also a way of making ordinary brick look like the real fine pressed brick.

Jon Baliles- it was like moving into a new house after they, they scraped down layers and layers and layers and found this yellow that it is today and the yellow makes all the difference in the world.

It really makes the house stand out.

Music Narrator -Just before the start of the third millennium, the mansion underwent its most extensive renovation.

The overarching goal was to return the historic portions of the structure to their 1830s appearance while making the entire complex safe, secure, modern and accessible to the handicapped.

Governor James Gilmore III and his wife, Roxanne, played important roles as part of the team.

Governor Wilder- the Gilmores deserve a great deal of credit for what they did in terms of refurbishing it.

it is and was rathern old building.

1813.

Now when you consider a building 200 years old that's long enough for some people to say are you still living in it?

And so that was why it was important to refurbish it and to do what was done to bring it to its present.

Calder Loth- it was really obvious that the house needed a lot of attention.

The syems were antiquated.

heating and air conditioning.

The kitchewas antiquated.

bathroom facilities, all of that seriously needed urading.

And at that same time a lot of cosmetic work was done on the inside to give the interior pretty much, particularly on this floor the look that it has now.

Tony Griffin- people were working day and night because things could happen during the day and then phingwouúd have to happen at night that were not thgs.

I s kia one thekinds of on point guys every day.

Here's, contractor had 40 questions every day those, those kind of things.

Tutti Townes- kitchen was the biggest change.

the way it was before was a basic, ordinary house kitchen.

You had a stove just like 4 little eyes on top of it, and we had counters in the middle.

Mark Herndon- They came to me and said "Mark, put together your wish list."

And I did, thinking that some of it, you know when you get down to the end some of it will be, will be crossed off but you know they really came through with what we needed to do the job that we are expected to do and produce the product that you should expect out of you know your governor's mansion so I was quite pleased to see that it, you know, it came to fruition and then it was you know it was what we had hoped it would be not with any extravagance, but what it should be.

Tony Griffin-one of the main things we did exterior was removed all of the I would guess probably 100 years worth of lead based paint that was on the front of this mansion and on the portico, columns the wood and everything was scraped back, all of the lead paint was removed and we went back almost to brick.

Narrator -Another project undertaken in the 1999 renovation was the cleaning of a 400 year old portrait.

It had been given to Virginia as a Christmas gift in 1926 by Nancy Langhorne Astor the Danville girl who grew up to marry an English viscount.

Conservators were astonished to see that it had been painted over three or four times the only part of the portrait that remained unchanged was the subject's face.

Sarah Scarbrough- one of the things that our book, FirsHouse, found was that the portrait of what we, was said to be Queen Elizabeth the first for many, many years was not actually the queen.

through some research, through a lot of research that the author of the book, Mary Theobald did, she discovered some files at the library that determined she was not the queen but instead a lady of her court, a lady in waiting primarily determined because of the crown, the crown on the portrait downstairs is not that of royalty but that of somebody in the urt.

Music Thomas Bahnson Stanley III- My grandmother was a great gardener and she had great taste.

She helped redecorate parts of the mansion as I'm sure all of the first ladies did but I think her particular contribution was the garden Narrator -Governor and Mrs.

Stanley turned to prominent landscape architect, Charles Gillette.

His approach emphasized the symmetry of the space.

Going beyd pltings, he added a brick privacy wall and connected the old kitchen to the house with a brick walkway and balcony.

The work was finished in time for garden week in April 1956.

Over the years, Gillette's garden design strayed.

Tony Griffin- we were able to have the Garden Clubs of Virginia team up with us and we have partnered with them over the years and they funded the restoration back to the 1954 original plan to the greatest extend we could almost every plant was the exact cultivar or if it was a newer cultivar it was just an improved variety of the same species so the garden back there is pretty much the same as it would have looked 50 years ago as far as the design NarratorAlso on the grounds is a vegetable and herb garden.

Maureen McDonnell- the garden was one of the first things I brought to the mansion just because my maiden name is Gardener and my dad loved to garden and I, it just seemed appropriate.

I felt the mansion should have a garden.

I knew during different periods that they had had a garden.

Governor McDonnell- there's a functional garden with everything from tomatoes to spices to lettuce that is used down in the kitchen Maureen McDonnell- right along the edge of my garden the net year I added wine grapes and it, what really motivated me there was, there's an old law that's on the blkstill Governor McDonnell- that goes bk to 1619, actually one of the first acts of the assembly, act twelve where every settler over the age of 18 was directed to plant at least 10 wine vines was very tough for wine vines to grow in England so they said the New World will supply wine to the Crown Governor McDonnell- so we're about 400 years late but we planted our 10 wine vines now Maureen McDonnell- my grapes, my harvest I am blending with vineyards across Virginia, 7 vineyards that all are serve on the Virginia wine board and making the first ever blend of red wine, it's gonna be called 1813 for the bicentennial.

Music Narrator - An untold number of distinguished people from all over America and all over the world have visited Virginia's Governor's Mansion.

The first international celebrity to grace the Mansion with his psence was the Marquis de Lafayette almost 50 years after he fought for America's independence.

Audrey Trussel- he came to Richmond and it was his only stop in the South when he was here and so they invited him over to spend the night but naturally he had a pretty big entourage with him so there wasn't room for them so they stayed in a hotel.

He did, however, come up the steps and change his clothes in the bedroom on the third floor which is named the Lafayette bedroom in his honor so he will forever have a place in the mansion.

@ Narrator -Throwing off British Rule in 1776 did not mean Virginn's turned their backs on the British Monarchy.

Several paad a visit to the mansion.have Audrey Trussel- King Edward VII came through on a tour, he was actually sent to Virginia an the United States, when he was a Prince of Wales by his mother the Queen.

He stopped in Richmond and they had a little luncheon for him here on a Sunday afternoon.

Along with those royal visitors, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother stopped by, and she was given a huge reception here.

Afterwards the grandsons of the governor presented her with some mini-furniture replicas of governor Stanley's furniture factory.

Thomas Bahnson Stanley III- Our family was in the furniture business and my father built miniature perfectly built, perfectly finished furniture for the Princess Anne and Margaret and I'm only 4 years old but you only meet the Queen, you know a very few times in lifend it was pretty memorable when that happens.

Audrey Trussel- Queen Elizabeth the II came in 2007 when Governor Kaine and first lady Holton were here in office and she came to the mansion for a big reception.

They gave her a tour of the mansion themselves and took her around Capitol Square before she addressed the General Assembly.

She donated to us a Windsor chair, that is a one of a kind, the only kind out is in the United States of that America and we proudly display it here in the bedroom in the mansion.

Narrator -During its two centuries, the mansion has played host to a large number of Roosevelt in 1905.uding TheodorV Mary Theobald- Teddy Rooseve was a friend of the Montagues.

He came for a visit.

Interestingly during that period though governors paid for official entertainment out of their own pockets which just astonished me when I learned that and the Montagues were not wealthy and the couldn't affor to have a dinner party for the president and his wife so what they did was a compromise.

They invited Mrs.

Edith Roosevelt to a tea and they invited the president to a luncheon at the Masonic templeith all of the businessmen in town who paid individually for their own mls but when the president was here the youngest child, little Janet, her, must have heard talk about Teddy, Teddy, and the Teddy, Teddy bear was just starting to be popular at that time, named after Teddy Roosevelt and she came running into the to see him and, and screaming Teddy, Teddy I want Teddy.

And jumped into his lap and fortunately the president was not offended by this because he had little children too and healmed her down.

Narrator-Visitors to the mansion run the gamut of American history from Charles Lindbergh who visited just five months after his historic solo flight across the Atlaic to tennis legend and civil rights activist, Arthur Ashe.

Governor Wilder- I had, a said would it be ok if I brought a couple of family friends, I said no problem.

And so those family friends turned out to be about 15 people (laughs) so they came to the door, the story really should be told that the staff had been told that Ahur and I were going to have dinner, when the 15 or so people arrived, to them it mattered not.

Tutti Townes- We were having lobster so we had to make sure we had enough lobster.

That was one of those ones where I had to speed bullet and kind of flew out to a connection and got some and brought back (laughs).

Narrator -Stars of the silver screen and television have been made welcome at the mansion as well.

Willard Scott - Well we did a great TODAY show if I may be so bold, and we did it from the gate outside.

And it was terrific, I mean it was a fun show but anyway of course it's such a beauiful building and the capitol I think is spectacular.

Tutti Townes - I was here for Arthur Ashe.

I've been here for Nelson Mandella when he went over there.

I was here for Rosa Parks.

I was here for Bill Cosby.

There's quite a few.

I've been around a little bit.

mes Garner was the only one that I really, really was excited about.

Me and my dad we used to sit and watch his show so he was the only one that kind of freaked me out but everyone else was like normal.

Narrator -Because the period decor lends itself to historical films, the mansion has been used as a set for several movies over the years.

Sarah Scarbrough- I got a call from the film office one afternoon that said we have a very important scouting event coming up, we need you to stay late.

We've got a group coming at 7:00pm.

so a few of them come and this man comes up and says "Hi, I'm Steven" and I said "Hi, I'm Sarah" not paying attention to anything and could only see about this much of his face because he had a ball cap on and a hoodie on and about 10 minutes later I realized that Steven was really Steven Spielberg Marc Wiley - one of the most fascinating things I've been around here is for the filming of the Lincoln movie and just coming in to work every day and seeing, seng Stephen Spielberg out here and watching him do what he does that was really fascinating.

Governor McDonnell- the house was turned into the White House for the filming of the movie, Lincoln, with all of thosceley acto literly right here as hosting the reception for President Lincoln.

Cailin Young- when they asked my beyond thrilled.

Being able tos be in something with Steven Spielberg and Daniel Day Lewis and then going and watching it and seeing it, you know, seeing, hey there's the mansion, there's the couch, you know, there's the Capitol, the buildings we've been in and it was just so neat and talking to everyone here and we're like we live here and this is so cool you know and getting to just see what goes into it is really, really awesome experience.

Music Narrator - Children of all ages have lived in the mansion.

The Capitol grounds became their playground and the house a grand place for a party.

Mary Theobald- it was the grandest children's party that had ever been held at the governor's mansion on Washington's birthday in 1903 by Governor Montague who invited 100 children.

They came dressed in, as little Georges or little Marthas in knee britches or, or ball gowns and wigs and buckled shoes and they danced the minuet by candlelight and Gay Montague remembers telling her mother that she wanted ice cream at that party.

Ice cream and cake.

Not chicken salad anymore.

And so the mansion staff spent days cranking out enough ice cream to feed 100 children.

Well in February they could store the ice cream containers outside in the cold weather, there's no refrigeration inside, and word got around that some street urchins, bad boys who weren't invited to such a party were going to steal the ice cream.

So the governor put a guard on the ice cream.

Well the guard was distracted and the bad boys made off with all the ice cream except one container and Gay remembers that as the worst day of her life.

Thomas Bahnson Stanley III - My first use in politics was being the baby that was held up and kissed because I was about 10 months old when he was elected Governor, so I was very young you know during his term you know his 4 years here.

But my first memories of this place, this house were starting at about age 3 or 4 and we'd arrive on Sunday at close to dark as I recall and have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or cornflakes because there was nobody in the whole house.

No, no staff, you know it was just my grandpadKnts and me so it was, it was a very low key you know approach to life in, in this house.

Ann Compton- The Holton's brought into the Virginia Governor's mansion, not only a new 1970's, style a more modern approach to things, they brought 4 kids.

The eldest daughter Tayloe starting high school, the youngest son, Dwight, grew up as the little kind of wonderkind running around the Capitol Square and I remember playing tetherball with him on a cold fall afternoon out behind the governor's mansion.

Batting the ball back and forth, back and forth.

Narrator -Anne Holton had the unique experience of living in the mansion as a child and a First Lady.

Ann Holton- We had a great time here as children.

What a wonderful house to live in it was kind of like a you know a little mini castle to explor@ as children and we did explore from the tunnels all the way up to the roof top and we would go and traipse around inside and outside the capitol.

There had not been a lot of children at the mansion for many, many years and so we were a bit of a shock to the system.

The poor capitol police as I say weren't used to having kids here and we kind of made it our business to drive them a little bit crazy (laughs) when we were kids and you know things like the lemonade stand and all of that, we just made the capitol square our playground and I told our children all of that not knowing they would have a chance to use it back against us (laughs) so when we came in with them they kind of expected it to be their playground and it was.

Jon Baliles- being able to walk in this house every day was a good memory in itself.

sometimes I would come and sit in the parlor here when nobody else was around and you just kind of look around and you think the history of this place and what it's been through and I've gotten to know Governor McDonnell over the last few years coming to events here and you know I told him one night that if therwas anything he could impart to his children that was to appreciate how special this place is because you don't think you're going to miss it but you do.

Maureen McDonnell- one of the wonderful memories that I have with the boys was their senior prom.

I asked the boys if they would like to have their prom dinner here and they thought it was a pretty cool idea.

They invited 12 couples.

We started with a reception, invited the parents, did the photos inside and outside the mansion.

They looked beautiful.

We took a large group shot down in the Gillette Garden.

Once all of the photo taki was done, we escorted the parents out, closed the door and the young people had the mansion to themselves and then we seated served their dinner.r and I@ Cailin Young- my family being the jokesters that we are have been playing many pranks on each other, though our favorite in general that we play is during the campaign my Dad had a big pop up cardboard cutout of himself.

So we put that all over the nsand rise pple.

We put it in front of your door so when, as soon as you open it in the morning it's there or down one of the basement, you know the hallways where it's dark and you turn a corner and run smack right into dad.

We put it in the elevator so when you pus it you know it opens up and there's dad.

And you hear people yelping and screaming and it's been an ongoing thing for the past 3 years.

We keep coming up with new ways to scare each other.

Music Narrator -Over the years, governors have brought more than their families with them to Richmond, they've bought their beloved pets as well ranging from ponies and goats to more traditional pets.

Jon Baliles- we got bandit in 1979, he was our first dog, I was about 8 years old and he was a beagle and very loyal and attached, especially to my father and a friend of my father's in Winchester was a home builder and built him a dog house that was a replica of the state capitol which we had out in the garden.

Tutti Townes- we had Bandit was here with Baliles, I think that's my mom's favorite because he stole her pork chops off the oven door.

(laughs) @ Jon Baliles- Doris Townes was preparing dinner and she pulled the pork chops out of the oven but left them on the rack to cool and she turned her back and he st hapned toe right place, right time and got himself a pretty good dinner.

And much to the ire of Doris and he wasn't allowed in the kitchen after that (laughs) Tutti Townes -d favorite was Buster and Bo, that was the Warner's dog.

Yeah, because me and Buster would actually run around the table (laughs) so that was kind of fun.

And then the Allens had a cat.

And his name was Buckwheat.

Me and Buckwheat didn't get along too well.

Buckwheat used to like to swing on the table cloth right after I set the table and he'd kind try to pull all the dished off so me and Buckwheat didn't get along too well.

(laughs) Narrator -The current pet in residence has posed for the cover of Doggie Digest and Family Dog Magazines.

Maureen McDonnell- her name is Ginger.

She's almost 14, we've had her since she was a puppy.

She was most excited about this house because we'd never had a fenced in yard.

And she takes control, she gets out the door and she knows where every squirrel in sight is she loves toisit the Capitol Police at the gate, they always have one of her bags of treats out there, that's one of her first stops whenever show go out the doo and she also learned how to manage or is very patient with the elevator.

Wileywe see her from time to time around the house, she'll come in and visit us and it seems that a lot of the times it's around meals that she'll sp ) and see what we have to offer.

Music Narrator -Weddings at the mansion are a rare occasion.

Throughout its two centuries, the house has witnessed fewer than a dozen weddings and receptions.

Governor Wilder's daughter, Loren, was married in 1993.

Governor Wilder- the wedding actually took place at St.

Pauls Church and the carriage then brought Loren, my youngest daughter on up here.

Loren James- and we had our reception here.

It was very large wedding as weddings go.

It was about 450 I think guests, and one of my favorite parts is that we took a horse drawn carriage from the church to mansion after, after the ceremony.

So that's very memorable.

Cailin Young- we've had a lot of different milestones for all of the children here, my engagement and then wedding.

and when we were first introduced for the first time as husband and wife we got to walk down into the steps into the garden and that was just a surreal moment to be able to be here and share this house with so many friends and family who would never get to see the mansion otherwise and get to be here and be in it and it was just a once in a lifetime thing and I'm so glad, I mean there's so many great memories and great pictures that we you know will get sre now bse of that.

Narrator- Reaching back to the Civil War - a funeral train brought the body of General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson to Richmond.

His black-draped casket was brought the mansion where it remained overnight.

Thousands of weeping mourners filed through to pay their respects.

Likewise, the body of Richmond native Arthur Ashe lay in repose in the mansion after his death in 1993.

Governor Wilder- his wife called and told me that he wanted to be buried in Virginia and that's when I ordered the flags at half mast, and had his body to lie in state in that same room where we had dinner.

That was the first time any person had ever done so, laying in state since Stonewall Jackson.

Tutti Townes- he laid in state they had a line that went out of the front gate all the way up to ninth street all the way back, all the way around and all the way down to main street.

That's how long the line was and it stayed like that for hours by the time that finished that night it was 9:30 that night Music Narrator-The tribute payment is America's oldest ceremony.

It comes from a 1677 peace treaty with the Mattoponi and Pamunkey Indian tribes where the Crown acknowledged "wrongs and Injuries" done to them.

Land was reserved for the tribes and in return they were to pay the royal governor three arrows every year in lieu of taxes.

Whe the details have changed over the centuries, the event still takes place each year.

For the past several decades it has occurred the day before Thanksgiving.

Governor McDonnell- they present it as a ceremony that has taken place these nearly 4 centuries to pay tribute to the governor and present a donation of game in lieu of taxes as part of their duties under that treaty so it's, it's ceremonial now but we think this is important.

it's a part of what makes a diverse and wonderful state.

Music Narrator-Each family in the mansion has celebrated Christmas in its own way, but one aspect remains constant: Christmas is family time.

Christmas Day has traditionally been a private occasion for first families, however, the Christmas season is a very public one with crowds coming to view the decorations and official parties.

Thomas Bahnson Stanley III- We spent Christmas every year here during my grandfather's time in office and there were, by the end of his time there were 10 grandchildren so we had great Christmases here and played throughout the grounds.

One that I recall was getting a complete army outfits, head to toe, you know, army outfits for one of my cousins and myself and he was about a year older.

Cailin Young- waking up Christmas morning really made it feel like home.

All of us together, you know being able to wake up in the mansion for, you're home, it's Christmas and getting to share that experience together it made us really all appreciate everything my dad's done, all the sacrifices he's made and you know that we get to be together and call it home, it's been a really awesome opportunity.

Maureen McDonnell- because the ceilings are 13 foot ceilings we get to have big trees, the biggest trees I've ever had in my life in a home.

it's really special.

Every first family, or every first lady and her Citizens Advisory Council get to make a decision on how to, to decorate.

The first thing I learned coming in was we were going to be hitting the bicentennial so I really took that opportunity to bring back history.

Mary Theobald- with the extensive renovations in 1999 this house is set to go for decades, maybe 50 years or more.

The, the building will be housing governors and their families for many, many years to come.

Governor McDonnell- it is the people's house.

It's an extraordinary relic that goes back to the foundations of Virginia and the nation.

I want as many of our citizens to see it, to feel it, to experience it as their house.

I'm passing through here for 4 precious years and while it's a home, it really belongs to the people.

Maureen McDonnell- This is a bicentennial for Virginia and the First House and I'd really, really love to have everyone realize that and recognize that and make time to visit us and come see this First House, it's your house and we would love to have you as our guest and to share this piece of special, rich history with all of Virginia.

5th Grade Students-Happy Birthday Governor's Mansion.

Steven Spielberg-On this Bicentennial Anniversary of the Virginia Executive Mansion, happy birthd and thank you so much for all the hospitality and cooperation that you gave us when we made Lincoln in Richmond and Happy mansion.

Thank you very much.

Antique Club- Happy Birthday Executive Mansion.

Willard Scott-I love to wish centenarians a happy 100th birthday and it's a pleasure to wish the beautiful Virginia Governor's Mansion a happy 200th birthday - I pray it will be here in 200 more years.

Girl Scouts - Happy Birthday Governor's Mansion.