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712 acres bequeathed from Tuleyries to the University of Virginia in 1926, farmed commercially under a farm manager at first and planted as an arboretum from the 1930s. In 1976 it stopped farming for profit, leasing about 500 acres to a local farmer and keeping about 80 for teaching. Designated the State Arboretum of Virginia in 1986.
The ginkgo grove at the State Arboretum of Virginia, at Blandy Experimental Farm, in November 2018.
What this image does and does not showA photograph of the arboretum as it looked in 2018. The grove is a planted collection, and the picture is not evidence about the farm's working history or anything else described on this page.
Photograph by Linda M Morgan, November 3, 2018, via Wikimedia Commons. Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Rights Changes: Scaled from 5248 by 2952 pixels down to 1600 by 900 and re-encoded as JPEG, with the camera metadata, including its location tag, dropped. Nothing cropped, retouched or added.
Source: Ginkgo Grove at the State Arboretum of Virginia.jpg Open the full image
712 acres left to the University of Virginia in 1926 to "teach boys how to farm." A century later it is the State Arboretum of Virginia.
Graham F. Blandy died in 1926 and his will left 712 acres of the Tuleyries property — not including the mansion house and adjacent lands — to the University of Virginia. It was to be called the Blandy Experimental Farm, with the goal, in the will's own phrasing, to "teach boys how to farm." The University took possession the same year. Horace J. Martin had been farm manager of Tuleyries during the first two decades of Blandy's ownership1. One of the surviving pre-Blandy structures on the property, still standing as the Education Building, was originally an apple packing shed "believed" to have been built around 1900, its construction "likely" coinciding with the maturity of the Tuleyries orchards and the harvesting and shipping of apples2.
The first full season was 1927. Orland E. White, the first director, walked onto weed-filled fields and scattered old orchards. Harry Antrim, the farm manager, was placed in charge of the property's commercial enterprises. White's arithmetic for the year was blunt: it took $8,000 to run Blandy, and the apple crop brought in $4,0001. By the late 1930s the old orchards around the Quarters building were gradually removed as the Arboretum's own planting expanded; Harry Antrim died in 1931 and was replaced as farm manager by his son Robert2.
The commercial-farming era ended fifty years after the University took possession. In 1976 Blandy decided to abandon farming for profit altogether, leased approximately 500 acres to Edward B. Lee Sr., a local farmer, and set aside approximately 80 acres for the use of Fairfax Community College students1. The transition from farm to arboretum was already underway, and it was formalized ten years later: in 1986, the year after Edward F. Connor became director, Blandy Experimental Farm was designated the State Arboretum of Virginia2.
Six claims across ninety years. The will's phrase 'teach boys how to farm' names an intent the farm outgrew twice: first when its arithmetic couldn't support commercial farming, then when its mission became a state botanical collection instead. The Arboretum's own annual reports and the University's stewardship record would fill much of what the current collection does not.
The article says Graham F. Blandy died in 1926 and that his will left 712 acres of the Tuleyries property, not including the mansion house and adjacent lands, to the University of Virginia, to be called the Blandy Experimental Farm with the goal to "teach boys how to farm"; the University took possession in 1926. It adds that Horace J. Martin had been farm manager of Tuleyries during the first two decades of Blandy's ownership.
The bequest that created the institution, the land it did and did not include, and the owner-versus-manager distinction on the estate before it.
The will and deed were not inspected. The 712 acres are not the whole estate: the mansion and adjacent lands stayed out, so Tuleyries and Blandy are different pieces of ground with different histories after 1926.
Evidence role: supports. The manager, the death and the bequest's exclusions.
Clarke County Historical Association; adapted from the Blandy Experimental Farm "Phase 1 Archeological Investigations" prepared by Rivanna Archeological Services, Charlottesville (no individual byline) · 2012 (publication)
Locator: Printed pages 53-54, on the farm manager under Blandy and the bequest
Relevant passageDuring the first two decades of Blandy ownership, Horace J. Martin was the farm manager of Tuleyries. Graham F. Blandy died in 1926. His will left 712-acres of the Tuleyries property, not including the mansion house and adjacent lands, to the University of Virginia.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: ccha-proceedings-28. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The name, the purpose and the 1926 possession.
Clarke County Historical Association; adapted from the Blandy Experimental Farm "Phase 1 Archeological Investigations" prepared by Rivanna Archeological Services, Charlottesville (no individual byline) · 2012 (publication)
Locator: Printed page 54, on the will and possession
Relevant passageThe will stipulated that the property was to be called the "Blandy Experimental Farm" with the goal to "teach boys how to farm." The University of Virginia took possession of Blandy Experimental Farm in 1926.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: ccha-proceedings-28. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
The article says the surviving Education Building was originally an apple packing shed "believed" to have been built ca. 1900, and that its construction "likely" coincided with the maturity of the Tuleyries orchards and the harvesting and shipping of apples.
A working building of the orchard era that still stands, with the source's own hedges kept.
"Believed" and "likely" are the source's words; no construction record was inspected. The building is on land that later passed to the University; it is not separately mapped here.
Evidence role: supports. The packing-shed sentence with its qualifications.
Clarke County Historical Association; adapted from the Blandy Experimental Farm "Phase 1 Archeological Investigations" prepared by Rivanna Archeological Services, Charlottesville (no individual byline) · 2012 (publication)
Locator: Printed pages 52-53, on the packing shed
Relevant passageThe extant Education Building, originally an apple packing shed, is also believed to have been built ca. 1900. The construction of this building likely coincided with the maturity of the Tuleyries apple orchards and the process of harvesting and shipping.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: ccha-proceedings-28. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
The article reports that in the first full season, 1927, Orland E. White, the first director, found weed-filled fields and scattered old orchards; that Harry Antrim, the farm manager, was placed in charge of the property's commercial enterprises; and that White noted it took $8,000 to run Blandy while the apple crop brought in $4,000.
Commercial apple growing continuing under the University, who ran it day to day, and a first-year comparison of costs and crop income.
A source-reported comparison, not accounts: no total revenue, loss or accounting method is given. Director, farm manager and owner are three different roles and are kept so.
Evidence role: supports. Antrim's charge and the 1927 figures.
Clarke County Historical Association; adapted from the Blandy Experimental Farm "Phase 1 Archeological Investigations" prepared by Rivanna Archeological Services, Charlottesville (no individual byline) · 2012 (publication)
Locator: Printed page 54, on the first season
Relevant passageAntrim was immediately hired as the Blandy farm manager and was placed in charge of the commercial enterprises of the property. In 1927, White noted that it took $8,000 to run Blandy but that the apple crop brought in only $4,000.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: ccha-proceedings-28. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
The article says that by the late 1930s the old orchards surrounding the Quarters building were gradually removed as planting within the Arboretum expanded, and that Harry Antrim died in 1931 and was replaced as farm manager by his son Robert.
The turn from orchard ground to arboretum ground around the Quarters, and the succession of farm managers.
It concerns the orchards around the Quarters; the article does not say every orchard on the 712 acres was removed, and this site does not say so either.
Evidence role: supports. The orchard-removal and manager-succession sentences.
Clarke County Historical Association; adapted from the Blandy Experimental Farm "Phase 1 Archeological Investigations" prepared by Rivanna Archeological Services, Charlottesville (no individual byline) · 2012 (publication)
Locator: Printed pages 54-55, on the orchards and the managers
Relevant passageBy the late 1930s, the old orchards surrounding Quarters building were also gradually removed as planting within the Arboretum expanded. Harry Antrim died in 1931 and was replaced by his son, Robert Antrim, as farm manager.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: ccha-proceedings-28. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
The article states that in 1976 the decision was made "to abandon farming for profit altogether", that Blandy leased approximately 500 acres to Edward B. Lee Sr., a local farmer, and that approximately 80 acres were set aside for the use of Fairfax Community College students.
The end of the University's own for-profit farming, and the two ways farming continued on the land afterwards: a farmer's lease and student instruction.
Abandoning farming for profit is not the end of farming: the same sentence leases most of the land to a farmer. Lease terms, crops and duration are not stated, and no later farm operation is dated here.
Evidence role: supports. The 1976 decision, the lease and the student acreage.
Clarke County Historical Association; adapted from the Blandy Experimental Farm "Phase 1 Archeological Investigations" prepared by Rivanna Archeological Services, Charlottesville (no individual byline) · 2012 (publication)
Locator: Printed page 56, on 1976
Relevant passageIn 1976 the decision was made to abandon farming for profit altogether and Blandy leased approximately 500 acres to Edward B. Lee Sr., a local farmer. Approximately 80 acres were set aside for use of Fairfax Community College students.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: ccha-proceedings-28. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
The article reports that Blandy Experimental Farm was designated the State Arboretum of Virginia in the year after Edward F. Connor's 1985 appointment as director, that is, 1986.
The institution's later public designation.
The year is inferred from "the following year" after 1985 in the source; no designation instrument was inspected.
Evidence role: supports. The 1985 appointment and "the following year".
Clarke County Historical Association; adapted from the Blandy Experimental Farm "Phase 1 Archeological Investigations" prepared by Rivanna Archeological Services, Charlottesville (no individual byline) · 2012 (publication)
Locator: Printed page 56, on the arboretum designation
Relevant passageIn 1985, Edward F. Connor appointed Director of Blandy. ... The following year, Blandy Experimental Farm was designated the State Arboretum of Virginia.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: ccha-proceedings-28. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
The article says the surviving Education Building was originally an apple packing shed "believed" to have been built ca. 1900, and that its construction "likely" coincided with the maturity of the Tuleyries orchards and the harvesting and shipping of apples.
The article says the surviving Education Building was originally an apple packing shed "believed" to have been built ca. 1900, and that its construction "likely" coincided with the maturity of the Tuleyries orchards and the harvesting and shipping of apples.
A working building of the orchard era that still stands, with the source's own hedges kept.
"Believed" and "likely" are the source's words; no construction record was inspected. The building is on land that later passed to the University; it is not separately mapped here.
Evidence role: supports. The packing-shed sentence with its qualifications.
Clarke County Historical Association; adapted from the Blandy Experimental Farm "Phase 1 Archeological Investigations" prepared by Rivanna Archeological Services, Charlottesville (no individual byline) · 2012 (publication)
Locator: Printed pages 52-53, on the packing shed
Relevant passageThe extant Education Building, originally an apple packing shed, is also believed to have been built ca. 1900. The construction of this building likely coincided with the maturity of the Tuleyries apple orchards and the process of harvesting and shipping.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: ccha-proceedings-28. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
The article says Graham F. Blandy died in 1926 and that his will left 712 acres of the Tuleyries property, not including the mansion house and adjacent lands, to the University of Virginia, to be called the Blandy Experimental Farm with the goal to "teach boys how to farm"; the University took possession in 1926. It adds that Horace J. Martin had been farm manager of Tuleyries during the first two decades of Blandy's ownership.
The article says Graham F. Blandy died in 1926 and that his will left 712 acres of the Tuleyries property, not including the mansion house and adjacent lands, to the University of Virginia, to be called the Blandy Experimental Farm with the goal to "teach boys how to farm"; the University took possession in 1926. It adds that Horace J. Martin had been farm manager of Tuleyries during the first two decades of Blandy's ownership.
The bequest that created the institution, the land it did and did not include, and the owner-versus-manager distinction on the estate before it.
The will and deed were not inspected. The 712 acres are not the whole estate: the mansion and adjacent lands stayed out, so Tuleyries and Blandy are different pieces of ground with different histories after 1926.
Evidence role: supports. The manager, the death and the bequest's exclusions.
Clarke County Historical Association; adapted from the Blandy Experimental Farm "Phase 1 Archeological Investigations" prepared by Rivanna Archeological Services, Charlottesville (no individual byline) · 2012 (publication)
Locator: Printed pages 53-54, on the farm manager under Blandy and the bequest
Relevant passageDuring the first two decades of Blandy ownership, Horace J. Martin was the farm manager of Tuleyries. Graham F. Blandy died in 1926. His will left 712-acres of the Tuleyries property, not including the mansion house and adjacent lands, to the University of Virginia.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: ccha-proceedings-28. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The name, the purpose and the 1926 possession.
Clarke County Historical Association; adapted from the Blandy Experimental Farm "Phase 1 Archeological Investigations" prepared by Rivanna Archeological Services, Charlottesville (no individual byline) · 2012 (publication)
Locator: Printed page 54, on the will and possession
Relevant passageThe will stipulated that the property was to be called the "Blandy Experimental Farm" with the goal to "teach boys how to farm." The University of Virginia took possession of Blandy Experimental Farm in 1926.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: ccha-proceedings-28. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
The article reports that in the first full season, 1927, Orland E. White, the first director, found weed-filled fields and scattered old orchards; that Harry Antrim, the farm manager, was placed in charge of the property's commercial enterprises; and that White noted it took $8,000 to run Blandy while the apple crop brought in $4,000.
The article reports that in the first full season, 1927, Orland E. White, the first director, found weed-filled fields and scattered old orchards; that Harry Antrim, the farm manager, was placed in charge of the property's commercial enterprises; and that White noted it took $8,000 to run Blandy while the apple crop brought in $4,000.
Commercial apple growing continuing under the University, who ran it day to day, and a first-year comparison of costs and crop income.
A source-reported comparison, not accounts: no total revenue, loss or accounting method is given. Director, farm manager and owner are three different roles and are kept so.
Evidence role: supports. Antrim's charge and the 1927 figures.
Clarke County Historical Association; adapted from the Blandy Experimental Farm "Phase 1 Archeological Investigations" prepared by Rivanna Archeological Services, Charlottesville (no individual byline) · 2012 (publication)
Locator: Printed page 54, on the first season
Relevant passageAntrim was immediately hired as the Blandy farm manager and was placed in charge of the commercial enterprises of the property. In 1927, White noted that it took $8,000 to run Blandy but that the apple crop brought in only $4,000.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: ccha-proceedings-28. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
The article says that by the late 1930s the old orchards surrounding the Quarters building were gradually removed as planting within the Arboretum expanded, and that Harry Antrim died in 1931 and was replaced as farm manager by his son Robert.
The article says that by the late 1930s the old orchards surrounding the Quarters building were gradually removed as planting within the Arboretum expanded, and that Harry Antrim died in 1931 and was replaced as farm manager by his son Robert.
The turn from orchard ground to arboretum ground around the Quarters, and the succession of farm managers.
It concerns the orchards around the Quarters; the article does not say every orchard on the 712 acres was removed, and this site does not say so either.
Evidence role: supports. The orchard-removal and manager-succession sentences.
Clarke County Historical Association; adapted from the Blandy Experimental Farm "Phase 1 Archeological Investigations" prepared by Rivanna Archeological Services, Charlottesville (no individual byline) · 2012 (publication)
Locator: Printed pages 54-55, on the orchards and the managers
Relevant passageBy the late 1930s, the old orchards surrounding Quarters building were also gradually removed as planting within the Arboretum expanded. Harry Antrim died in 1931 and was replaced by his son, Robert Antrim, as farm manager.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: ccha-proceedings-28. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
The article states that in 1976 the decision was made "to abandon farming for profit altogether", that Blandy leased approximately 500 acres to Edward B. Lee Sr., a local farmer, and that approximately 80 acres were set aside for the use of Fairfax Community College students.
The article states that in 1976 the decision was made "to abandon farming for profit altogether", that Blandy leased approximately 500 acres to Edward B. Lee Sr., a local farmer, and that approximately 80 acres were set aside for the use of Fairfax Community College students.
The end of the University's own for-profit farming, and the two ways farming continued on the land afterwards: a farmer's lease and student instruction.
Abandoning farming for profit is not the end of farming: the same sentence leases most of the land to a farmer. Lease terms, crops and duration are not stated, and no later farm operation is dated here.
Evidence role: supports. The 1976 decision, the lease and the student acreage.
Clarke County Historical Association; adapted from the Blandy Experimental Farm "Phase 1 Archeological Investigations" prepared by Rivanna Archeological Services, Charlottesville (no individual byline) · 2012 (publication)
Locator: Printed page 56, on 1976
Relevant passageIn 1976 the decision was made to abandon farming for profit altogether and Blandy leased approximately 500 acres to Edward B. Lee Sr., a local farmer. Approximately 80 acres were set aside for use of Fairfax Community College students.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: ccha-proceedings-28. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
The article reports that Blandy Experimental Farm was designated the State Arboretum of Virginia in the year after Edward F. Connor's 1985 appointment as director, that is, 1986.
The article reports that Blandy Experimental Farm was designated the State Arboretum of Virginia in the year after Edward F. Connor's 1985 appointment as director, that is, 1986.
The institution's later public designation.
The year is inferred from "the following year" after 1985 in the source; no designation instrument was inspected.
Evidence role: supports. The 1985 appointment and "the following year".
Clarke County Historical Association; adapted from the Blandy Experimental Farm "Phase 1 Archeological Investigations" prepared by Rivanna Archeological Services, Charlottesville (no individual byline) · 2012 (publication)
Locator: Printed page 56, on the arboretum designation
Relevant passageIn 1985, Edward F. Connor appointed Director of Blandy. ... The following year, Blandy Experimental Farm was designated the State Arboretum of Virginia.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: ccha-proceedings-28. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
See a related record at the Clarke County Historical Association
Also indexed as: Blandy; State Arboretum of Virginia.
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Upton Boyce planted apples on the Tuleyries land in the 1880s. Fifty years on, 712 of its acres belonged to the University of Virginia, which in 1976 stopped farming them for profit without stopping the farming.
What the evidence says Orchard growth, the 1926 bequest, the 1927 season, and the 1976 change documented from one article, read as indexed text.