Gift from Howard Shockey & Sons, Inc. Allows MSV to Continue
and Significantly Expand Free Admission Program

Winchester, VA 5/29/15…Thanks to a generous gift from builder Howard Shockey & Sons, Inc., the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV) now offers free evening admission to its six-acre gardens and Glen Burnie House every Wednesday from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m.

Offered every Wednesday now through September 2, 2015, these free, weekly summertime evening garden hours expand the MSV’s existing free Wednesday admission program offered year-round from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

According to MSV Executive Director Dana Hand Evans, Howard Shockey and Sons, Inc. sponsored the weekly  fee-free admission program last year following the renovation and reopening of the Glen Burnie House. Evans notes that since mid-June of 2014, more than 5,000 people have visited the MSV on Wednesdays at no cost. According to Evans, the MSV plans to expand its hours of operation in the future, and the support from the Shockey firm allows the MSV to gauge community response to free evening access to the MSV landscape.

According to Jeff Boehm, president of Howard Shockey & Sons, Inc., the company is pleased to partner with the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley by underwriting the free-admission Wednesday entry program for another year. “Shockey believes that the MSV is a tremendous asset to our community—and to all of Virginia—and it is our hope that more visitors will experience the Museum and explore all that it has to offer,” he says.

Along with being the general contractor for the Museum’s Glen Burnie House renovation project and the installation of a new Spring Garden in the MSV’s formal gardens, Howard Shockey & Sons, Inc., is working with the MSV to implement the Museum’s Master Plan for its 214-acre campus. The installation of a network of hiking and walking trails—accessible to the community year-round and at no charge—is among the notable items included in the Master Plan.

Located on the largest green space in the City of Winchester, Glen Burnie sits on land that Winchester-founder James Wood settled in 1735. Wood’s son Robert built the oldest portions of the house in 1793 and 1794. Descendant Julian Wood Glass Jr. (1910–1992) became the house’s sole owner in the 1950s, and then with partner R. Lee Taylor (1924–2000) transformed Glen Burnie into a country retreat surrounded by six acres of formal gardens. In 2011, the house closed for an extensive preservation and renovation project and reopened in 2014. Its new visitor experience includes panels that tell the story of the people who have lived in the house over time, a fully furnished miniature model of the house, and displays of the objects that Glass collected and used in Glen Burnie. The house also now hosts changing exhibitions, with the current display being Beauty in Botany, an exhibition featuring 22 botanical-themed works by seven regional botanical artists. In addition to visiting the house, visitors are encouraged to bring picnics to enjoy in the gardens, which feature fountains, statues, and an extensive variety of plants.

In the event of inclement weather (lightening or thunder), the gardens will not be open during the evenings. In addition, the extended evening hours now in effect for Wednesday do not include the Museum building and galleries, which will continue to be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Please, no pets; only service animals are permitted in the house and gardens.

The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley is located at 901 Amherst Street in Winchester, Virginia. The MSV complex—which includes galleries, the Glen Burnie House, and six acres of gardens—is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. The Museum galleries are open year-round; the house and gardens are open April through October. Admission is $10 or $8 for seniors and youth ages 13 to 18. General admission is always free to youth ages 12 and under and to MSV Members, and thanks to generous sponsorship from Howard Shockey & Sons, Inc., it is free to all every Wednesday. During the weeks between Memorial Day and Labor Day, the house and gardens will be open free of charge each Wednesday until 8 p.m.  Additional information is available at www.theMSV.org or by calling 540-662-1473, ext. 235. –END–

About Howard Shockey & Sons, Inc.

Founded in 1896, Howard Shockey & Sons, Inc. is one of the largest continuously operating construction companies in Virginia. Julian Wood Glass Jr. chose the firm to modernize his ancestral home in 1959, and more than 50 years later, the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley selected it to shepherd the Glen Burnie House into the twenty-first century and implement a Master Plan for the Museum’s 214-acre landscape. Additional information is available at www.shockeybuilds.com.

Photos by Rick Foster.