Restoration Fellowship

Build your expertise in landscape restoration

Students studying landscape architecture may benefit from one of our research fellowships in landscape restoration. Research sites are selected by the Fellowship Committee, a sub-committee of the GCV Restoration Committee.

As part of a continuing effort to build a comprehensive record of culturally significant gardens in Virginia, we offer research fellowships for graduate students working towards a master’s degree in landscape architecture (MLA) or equivalent.

We offer two fellowships, promoting the research and documentation of historic public and private Virginia gardens: The Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship was named in honor of the GCV landscape architect who served from 1978 to 1998. In 2005, the William D. Rieley Fellowship was created, named in honor of the GCV’s landscape architect from 1998 to 2021.

Once the fellowship is completed, each fellow’s paper is published. Printed copies are held at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture, the headquarters of the Garden Club of Virginia, and the Cherokee Garden Research Library at the Atlanta History Center. 

Since the Garden Club of Virginia began offering Fellowships in 1996, dozens of historic sites in Virginia have been researched and documented by graduate students from throughout North America.