Our Clarke
An estate near Boyce whose land carried a commercial apple orchard under Upton Boyce from the 1880s — eighty-three acres of it by 1905 — and a packing shed of about 1900. Graham Blandy's will gave 712 of its acres to the University of Virginia in 1926, excluding the mansion and the land beside it. The mansion and its grounds are not the experimental farm.
An estate whose land carried a commercial apple orchard under Upton Boyce from the 1880s — eighty-three acres of it by 1905 — a c.1900 packing shed that still stands as the Education Building, and, on Graham F. Blandy's death in 1926, a bequest of 712 acres to the University of Virginia.
The Proceedings article on Tuleyries reports that Upton Boyce planted about thirty-four acres of apple orchard north and east of the mansion in the late nineteenth century, and that the 1880 agricultural census recorded him already commercially planted1. By 1905 the orchard had grown to eighty-three acres — a large commercial venture for the district. The land use, not the mansion, is what most shaped the site's daily working life for two generations.
The article says the surviving Education Building on the property was originally an apple packing shed, believed to have been built around 1900, and that its construction likely coincided with the maturity of the Tuleyries orchards1. "Believed" and "likely" are the article's own hedges, and worth reproducing here: the shed's date is stratigraphic guesswork tied to the growth of the crop, not a documentary date.
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 and used for scientific research on plants1. The bequest split the estate: the mansion and its immediate grounds passed one way, and the working land another, into a university-run research farm that still functions.
Three claims establish the estate's late-nineteenth-century orchard, its surviving packing-shed structure, and the 1926 bequest that carved off 712 working acres to the University of Virginia. Missing from the corpus so far: the Blandy will itself (available at the Circuit Court will books), the deed for the University's parcel, the pre-Boyce ownership chain, and whatever survives of the mansion's own occupancy history. All are locatable next research targets.
The Proceedings article reports that Upton Boyce planted about thirty-four acres of apple orchard north and east of Tuleyries in the late nineteenth century, that the 1880 agricultural census recorded six acres of apple orchard with fifty trees, and that by 1905 he had eighty-three acres in orchard east and southeast of the mansion.
The growth of a commercial orchard on the Tuleyries estate between 1879 and 1905, as the article reads the census and its sources.
Three figures for three dates; they are not one number. The article is a synthesis; the census and the 1905 source were not inspected by this project.
Evidence role: supports. The 1880 census figures and the 1905 total.
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 51-53, on Upton Boyce's orchards
Relevant passageThe 1880 agricultural census documents that Boyce had only six acres of apple orchard with fifty apple trees, and twenty-five peach trees planted in 1879. ... by 1905, Boyce had a total of eighty-three acres in orchard east and southeast of his Tuleyries mansion.
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 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 Proceedings article reports that Upton Boyce planted about thirty-four acres of apple orchard north and east of Tuleyries in the late nineteenth century, that the 1880 agricultural census recorded six acres of apple orchard with fifty trees, and that by 1905 he had eighty-three acres in orchard east and southeast of the mansion.
The Proceedings article reports that Upton Boyce planted about thirty-four acres of apple orchard north and east of Tuleyries in the late nineteenth century, that the 1880 agricultural census recorded six acres of apple orchard with fifty trees, and that by 1905 he had eighty-three acres in orchard east and southeast of the mansion.
The growth of a commercial orchard on the Tuleyries estate between 1879 and 1905, as the article reads the census and its sources.
Three figures for three dates; they are not one number. The article is a synthesis; the census and the 1905 source were not inspected by this project.
Evidence role: supports. The 1880 census figures and the 1905 total.
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 51-53, on Upton Boyce's orchards
Relevant passageThe 1880 agricultural census documents that Boyce had only six acres of apple orchard with fifty apple trees, and twenty-five peach trees planted in 1879. ... by 1905, Boyce had a total of eighty-three acres in orchard east and southeast of his Tuleyries mansion.
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
See a related record at the Clarke County Historical Association
Also indexed as: Tuleyries estate.
Know something about this place or record? Help fill a gap. It stays private until it is reviewed.
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.