Summer research fellowships
Students studying landscape architecture may benefit from one of our fellowships in historic landscape research. Research sites are selected by the Fellowship Committee, a subcommittee 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. In summer of 2025, the William D. Rieley Fellowship will be offered.
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.
Now accepting applications for the 2025 Historic Landscape Research Fellowship:
A Comparative Study of Terraced Landforms in the Chesapeake Region
Spend your summer researching and documenting the landscape history of National Historic Landmarks in Virginia. One paid ($10,000) fellowship is awarded to a qualified graduate student.
Research will explore and analyze terraced landforms along the shoreline of the James River in Surry County. This comparative study will focus on three sites with historic “falling gardens”:
Four Mile Tree:
Located on a bluff high above the James River across from Jamestown Island, Four Mile Tree ranks as one of the oldest and most prominent properties in Surry County, with a history that can be traced to the first year of English settlement. The grounds include the oldest legible tombstone in Virginia (1650), the mid-18th century house (altered), and remains of a unique 19th-century enslaved peoples’ quarters built with pisé (rammed earth/clay).
Pleasant Point:
Although altered to its present appearance, Pleasant Point remains an example of a simple, early 18th-century plantation house retaining its early lines, structural system, outbuildings, and landscape features.
Cedar Fields Farm:
An important Colonial site with terraces consistent with Pleasant Point and Four Mile Tree, and possibly others in the vicinity.
About the GCV Historic Landscape Research Fellowship Program: The Fellow will spend a period of three summer months living in Virginia researching the respective historic sites. The Fellow’s final report – including measured drawings – will be published as well as archived into the collection of the Garden Club of Virginia at the Kent-Valentine House, The Cherokee Library at the Atlanta History Center, and the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library at Colonial Williamsburg. Digital copies are provided to the Virginia Museum of History & Culture and the Library of Virginia. Oversight and mentoring will be provided by the Fellowship Subcommittee of the GCV Restoration Committee and Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects.
Qualifications: Applicants must be candidates for a master’s degree in landscape architecture, historic preservation, landscape or architectural history, archaeology, anthropology, history, or horticulture. As there is a significant amount of driving required, applicants must be licensed to drive in Virginia and have use of a personal vehicle during the term of the fellowship.
Stipend: The Fellow will be paid a stipend of $10,000 plus certain living expenses. Housing will be provided in the vicinity of the Fellow’s project site.
Deadline: Complete applications are due by noon on March 20, 2025.