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.
Apples on the estate
In the decades after the railroad reached the county, Upton Boyce planted apples at Tuleyries: about thirty-four acres north and east of the house, the article says, six acres and fifty trees in the 1880 census, eighty-three acres east and southeast of the mansion by 1905, alongside corn, oats, wheat, cattle and pigs. A packing shed, "believed" built about 1900, still stands as the farm's Education Building; the article thinks it "likely" went up when the orchards matured and apples had to be sorted and shipped. Under Graham Blandy, who owned the estate for two decades, a manager named Horace J. Martin ran the farm.
Source note: Roots of a Clarke County Treasure: From Alexander Henderson to Joseph Tuley and Graham Blandy, 2012
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.
What the source supports
The growth of a commercial orchard on the Tuleyries estate between 1879 and 1905, as the article reads the census and its sources.
Uncertainty
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.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The 1880 census figures and the 1905 total.
Roots of a Clarke County Treasure: From Alexander Henderson to Joseph Tuley and Graham Blandy, the Virginia State Arboretum and Blandy Experimental Farm Have Been 225 Years in the Making (Proceedings of the Clarke County Historical Association, Volume XXVIII, 2012, printed pages 45-56)
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
Source note: Roots of a Clarke County Treasure: From Alexander Henderson to Joseph Tuley and Graham Blandy, 2012
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.
What the source supports
A working building of the orchard era that still stands, with the source's own hedges kept.
Uncertainty
"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.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The packing-shed sentence with its qualifications.
Roots of a Clarke County Treasure: From Alexander Henderson to Joseph Tuley and Graham Blandy, the Virginia State Arboretum and Blandy Experimental Farm Have Been 225 Years in the Making (Proceedings of the Clarke County Historical Association, Volume XXVIII, 2012, printed pages 45-56)
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
A will, a director, and a farm that lost money
Graham Blandy died in 1926. His will gave 712 acres of Tuleyries, but not the mansion or the land around it, to the University of Virginia, to be called the Blandy Experimental Farm and to "teach boys how to farm". The University took possession that year and hired Orland E. White as director. In the first full season, 1927, White found weedy fields, miles of stone walls and scattered old orchards; Harry Antrim, the farm manager, was put in charge of the commercial side, and White recorded that running the place cost $8,000 while the apple crop brought in $4,000.
Source note: Roots of a Clarke County Treasure: From Alexander Henderson to Joseph Tuley and Graham Blandy, 2012
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.
What the source supports
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.
Uncertainty
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.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The manager, the death and the bequest's exclusions.
Roots of a Clarke County Treasure: From Alexander Henderson to Joseph Tuley and Graham Blandy, the Virginia State Arboretum and Blandy Experimental Farm Have Been 225 Years in the Making (Proceedings of the Clarke County Historical Association, Volume XXVIII, 2012, printed pages 45-56)
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.
Roots of a Clarke County Treasure: From Alexander Henderson to Joseph Tuley and Graham Blandy, the Virginia State Arboretum and Blandy Experimental Farm Have Been 225 Years in the Making (Proceedings of the Clarke County Historical Association, Volume XXVIII, 2012, printed pages 45-56)
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
Source note: Roots of a Clarke County Treasure: From Alexander Henderson to Joseph Tuley and Graham Blandy, 2012
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.
What the source supports
Commercial apple growing continuing under the University, who ran it day to day, and a first-year comparison of costs and crop income.
Uncertainty
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.
Source
Evidence role: supports. Antrim's charge and the 1927 figures.
Roots of a Clarke County Treasure: From Alexander Henderson to Joseph Tuley and Graham Blandy, the Virginia State Arboretum and Blandy Experimental Farm Have Been 225 Years in the Making (Proceedings of the Clarke County Historical Association, Volume XXVIII, 2012, printed pages 45-56)
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
During 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.
Trees for a different purpose
The farm kept working under Antrim and, after his death in 1931, under his son Robert. But by the late 1930s the old orchards around the Quarters were coming out as the arboretum's plantings spread. Decades later, in 1976, the University decided "to abandon farming for profit altogether". The same sentence in the article tells what happened next: about 500 acres were leased to Edward B. Lee Sr., a local farmer, and about 80 acres were kept for community-college students learning to farm. In 1986 the farm was designated the State Arboretum of Virginia.
Source note: Roots of a Clarke County Treasure: From Alexander Henderson to Joseph Tuley and Graham Blandy, 2012
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.
What the source supports
The turn from orchard ground to arboretum ground around the Quarters, and the succession of farm managers.
Uncertainty
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.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The orchard-removal and manager-succession sentences.
Roots of a Clarke County Treasure: From Alexander Henderson to Joseph Tuley and Graham Blandy, the Virginia State Arboretum and Blandy Experimental Farm Have Been 225 Years in the Making (Proceedings of the Clarke County Historical Association, Volume XXVIII, 2012, printed pages 45-56)
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
Source note: Roots of a Clarke County Treasure: From Alexander Henderson to Joseph Tuley and Graham Blandy, 2012
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.
What the source supports
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.
Uncertainty
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.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The 1976 decision, the lease and the student acreage.
Roots of a Clarke County Treasure: From Alexander Henderson to Joseph Tuley and Graham Blandy, the Virginia State Arboretum and Blandy Experimental Farm Have Been 225 Years in the Making (Proceedings of the Clarke County Historical Association, Volume XXVIII, 2012, printed pages 45-56)
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
Source note: Roots of a Clarke County Treasure: From Alexander Henderson to Joseph Tuley and Graham Blandy, 2012
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.
What the source supports
The institution's later public designation.
Uncertainty
The year is inferred from "the following year" after 1985 in the source; no designation instrument was inspected.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The 1985 appointment and "the following year".
Roots of a Clarke County Treasure: From Alexander Henderson to Joseph Tuley and Graham Blandy, the Virginia State Arboretum and Blandy Experimental Farm Have Been 225 Years in the Making (Proceedings of the Clarke County Historical Association, Volume XXVIII, 2012, printed pages 45-56)
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
Owners, managers and land
Graham Blandy owned; Horace Martin, Harry Antrim and Robert Antrim managed; the University possessed; Edward Lee leased. Tuleyries the estate, the 712 acres of the bequest, the experimental farm and the arboretum are four different things that share ground. And "farming for profit" ended in 1976; farming did not. This site keeps each of those distinctions because the source does.
About the evidenceWhat the evidence says
Orchard growth, the 1926 bequest, the 1927 season, and the 1976 change documented from one article, read as indexed text.
Every statement here rests on one local historical article, the Proceedings of the Clarke County Historical Association for 2012, known to this project only as indexed text because the PDF could not be retrieved. Within that limit the article is specific: acreages by date, the bequest's exclusions, named managers, a cost-and-income comparison, the late-1930s orchard removal around the Quarters, and the 1976 decision with its lease and student acreage. It does not claim the removal of the remaining orchards, nor an end to farming.
- An account exists✓ Supported by a source
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.
See the evidence
✓ Supported by a sourceAn account existsThe 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.
What the source supports
The growth of a commercial orchard on the Tuleyries estate between 1879 and 1905, as the article reads the census and its sources.
Uncertainty
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.
Source
Later historical account Evidence role: supports. The 1880 census figures and the 1905 total.
Roots of a Clarke County Treasure: From Alexander Henderson to Joseph Tuley and Graham Blandy, the Virginia State Arboretum and Blandy Experimental Farm Have Been 225 Years in the Making (Proceedings of the Clarke County Historical Association, Volume XXVIII, 2012, printed pages 45-56)
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
- An account exists✓ Supported by a source
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.
See the evidence
✓ Supported by a sourceAn account existsThe 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.
What the source supports
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.
Uncertainty
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.
Source
Later historical account Evidence role: supports. The manager, the death and the bequest's exclusions.
Roots of a Clarke County Treasure: From Alexander Henderson to Joseph Tuley and Graham Blandy, the Virginia State Arboretum and Blandy Experimental Farm Have Been 225 Years in the Making (Proceedings of the Clarke County Historical Association, Volume XXVIII, 2012, printed pages 45-56)
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.
Later historical account Evidence role: supports. The name, the purpose and the 1926 possession.
Roots of a Clarke County Treasure: From Alexander Henderson to Joseph Tuley and Graham Blandy, the Virginia State Arboretum and Blandy Experimental Farm Have Been 225 Years in the Making (Proceedings of the Clarke County Historical Association, Volume XXVIII, 2012, printed pages 45-56)
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
- An account exists✓ Supported by a source
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.
See the evidence
✓ Supported by a sourceAn account existsThe 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.
What the source supports
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.
Uncertainty
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.
Source
Later historical account Evidence role: supports. The 1976 decision, the lease and the student acreage.
Roots of a Clarke County Treasure: From Alexander Henderson to Joseph Tuley and Graham Blandy, the Virginia State Arboretum and Blandy Experimental Farm Have Been 225 Years in the Making (Proceedings of the Clarke County Historical Association, Volume XXVIII, 2012, printed pages 45-56)
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
Each statement above is assessed on its own evidence. Nothing here is averaged, scored or voted on, and a well-attributed account can be documented while what it describes stays unconfirmed.
What did the 1976 lease say, how long did it run, and what did Fairfax Community College's students grow on their eighty acres?
Know more about this story, or see something to correct? Help fill a gap. It stays private until it is reviewed.
Remember this place or someone in this story? Share a memory, even if you do not know the date. It stays private until it is reviewed.
Go deeper: every source under this story Follow another threadTomatoes under glass on Route 7.
Another Clarke County growing operation seen through what one account remembers.